Page 111 of Your Fault

I tried to smile back.

“Would you mind giving us the office for a minute, Soph?” Nick asked.

Soph.

She nodded and walked out.

As we walked over to his desk, Nick grabbed a piece of paper and stuffed it into a drawer. Then he hit a button, and the walls started to darken. In fifteen seconds, I could no longer see anything outside those four walls.

Then his hands were on me, the heat of his body engulfed me, and he pulled back on my ponytail and pressed his lips into mine. It wasn’t a deep kiss, and soon he had pushed me back a few inches to let his eyes rove my body, my face, my trembling hands.

“I missed you, Freckles,” he said with a hard-to-decipher expression on his face.

I felt like I was drowning, and suddenly, all I wanted was to get out of there and to hear Michael again telling me I was strongenough to fight against anything, that I needed to confront my fears, that I was strong, that I was smart, that no one and nothing could knock me down… All I’d needed was to see him and her together, and my self-esteem had collapsed through the floor.

“What’s that piece of paper you just put in the drawer?” I asked, to distract myself more than for any other reason. I watched him turn suddenly tense.

“Nothing, just work stuff,” he said. “Noah, please tell me this stupid break is over because I’m about to lose my mind. You haven’t answered my calls, you’ve been ignoring my messages…”

“I needed time to think,” I said, and my voice sounded hard and distant.

Frowning, Nick asked, “Noah, what’s going on?”

“I need more time.”

He had been caressing me, but then he stopped, and as he did, I felt very small beside him. He looked down at me and said, “No.”

“Nicholas, I…”

“I haven’t seen you for seven days, I’ve given you time to think, even though I don’t know what the hell it is you’re supposed to have been thinking about…”

He walked toward the window behind his desk. Before he could say more, the door opened behind me, and Sophia walked in.

All she needed was one look to realize things weren’t going well.

Nicholas walked toward her, turned back to me, said, “Wait here,” and walked out.

Sophia and I looked at each other in an uncomfortable silence. As she walked over to her desk and pulled out her chair, she said, “Sit down if you want. Can I make you a coffee or something?”

I said no and remained nailed to the spot.

“Noah…I think I know why you’re here… You need to realize, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’d give anything for that job.It’s not like New York is on the other side of the world, lots of people have long-distance relationships, and it would just be—”

“Wait, what?”

My heart started galloping, and I was afraid it would burst out of my chest.

“What did you say?” I asked, walking toward her.

She repeated the same words that had just emerged from her mouth, and they echoed in my head like some bizarre chant.

Opportunity. New York. Long-distance relationship…

Sophia looked at Nick’s desk and then at me, and her eyes opened wide as her cheeks flushed scarlet.

“I…I thought that Nick…”

“What opportunity are you talking about?”