Page 102 of Ten Day Affair

“I know. It's just too bad it ended like it did. It wouldhave been much better if he rode his private jet off into the sunset after an amazing week or two weeks. How long has it been?"

"Ten days." But who's counting?

"Oh, right. Anyway, now it's all tainted with all of this drama, and that bites ass.”

I don’t answer. Not out loud. She’s right. We were good when the rest of the world wasn’t creeping in, when it was just music and skin and whatever that feeling was that made it hard to walk away.

"Let's change the subject."

"Ahh. So this is the distraction you said you needed."

"You won't believe why my dad called me earlier," I say, pushing my drink aside.

Arden leans forward, eyebrows raised. "Oh god. I'm bracing myself. With your dad, it could be anything. Is he marrying Hattie?"

"Worse. He basically told me I had to stop sleeping with Cole."

Arden's hand flies to her mouth, eyes wide. "What? How does he?—"

She looks around and lowers her voice. "How does he know you've been sleeping with Cole? And since when does your father tell you who you can and can't sleep with? You're twenty-six, for god's sake."

I rub my temples. "It's about the board and hospital employee ethical dilemma. He said it could jeopardize my career and affect matters of the board."

"Shit, I guess that is true, if people know." She takes a long sip of her drink.

"Right."

"How did he find out?"

“He approached Cole after the board meeting. Caughthim completely off guard. And Cole didn't deny it. Just stood there like a deer in headlights."

"What a shit show." Arden swirls her drink.

"Understatement."

"So, how did the talk with Cole go? Did you end up going over there like you planned?"

I nod, staring at the condensation forming on my glass. "It was tense. I bit his head off for not nipping the sex question in the bud with my dad. But eventually I smoothed things over, for the most part. I thanked him for trying a last-ditch effort to stop the vote," I trace a pattern in the water droplets.

"Sounds like a tidy way to close things. Is he still leaving on Saturday?" Arden studies my face.

"I asked him about that. He said he was supposed to, but now that the vote is over, he'll probably leave tomorrow." My voice catches slightly.

"Shit."

"Yeah, he literally said nothing is keeping him here anymore."

"Ouch. That's a stab to the heart."

"It's reality." I shrug, trying to seem casual.

"True."

I don't say anything as a lump rises in my throat.

Arden tilts her head. "Maybe he said that to see if you wanted him to stay."

The question hits me harder than I expect. Did he? Was that some kind of opening? The image flashes in my mind of Cole standing there, waiting for me to say something, anything to make him reconsider. The way his eyes held mine just a beat too long before I turned away.