Page 69 of The Ice Queen in the Corner Office

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Jill

“Jill,” Elizabeth said, sticking her head in my door. “Have a nice vacation?”

I pasted a phony smile on my face. “It was very relaxing.”

Her smile slipped a bit and she hurried away. Apparently, my phony smile could use some work. I stared down my computer screen, trying to focus on the numbers, but all I could see was red.

Since Friday, when Alex had bailed on me without a word, a text, or a note of any kind, I’d swung from anger to sadness and back again every few hours.

In truth, I had no right to feel either emotion. I’d known better. I’d been fully aware of the dangers and the risks, and I’d fallen for him anyway.

If I was mad at anyone, I should have been mad at myself. But I wasn’t, because he’d pushed. He’d insisted I give him a chance. He’d forced me to let him in, to drop my mask and all my armor, and then he’d walked away.

He might not have made explicit promises, but he’d implied promises and I’d trusted him. Either he was playing me the whole time, or he’d gotten scared and run.

Either way, I needed to see him, because I’d been dreading it since I woke to an empty bed and found his car gone. I was afraid if I saw his face, I’d fall apart in front of him and then I’d never be able to work with him again.

I needed to talk to him and find out if I could stand to be in the same room with him or whether I needed to start looking for a new job.

I stood and marched down the short hall to his office. His door was open, and I could see that he wasn’t there even before I reached Agatha’s desk.

I didn’t bother faking a smile for Agatha, she’d see right through it anyway. “Where is he?” I asked, trying to keep my voice calm and polite, because none of this was Agatha’s fault.

“He’s taking a personal day,” she said.

“Right.” My anger revved up to rage. How dare he not be there when I needed to talk to him? How dare he be taking a personal day, enjoying an extension of his vacation, probably not sparing a thought for me, while I was here unable to think of anything else?

“I don’t know what happened between you two,” she said. “But Alex…There’s been an emergency in his family. He’s not quite himself right now.”

“Really? You mean he’s not an egotistical, arrogant, unfeeling, heartless jackass?” Honestly, her words about a family emergency dimmed my anger a bit, but not enough. Unless the emergency was that he’d lost his hands and his voice, he could have contacted me and let me know what was going on.

To my surprise, she gave me a sad smile. “He’s still all those things, I’m sure. But, if he’s hurt you, it’s with good reason.”

All the anger slid out of me to be replaced by a sadness like nothing I’d felt before. Not even when my fiancé had kicked me to the curb had I felt so sad.

I’d taught myself never to shy from reality, and the reality was that Alex had chosen to leave me. There was no reason good enough to excuse that. The truth I had to face was that whatever I’d thought we’d had, it hadn’t meant as much to him as it had to me.

“I understand that he can’t control family emergencies, but he could have taken a few minutes to text me or let me know what was happening. If he cared about my feelings at all, he would have done that.”

She frowned. “I think the situation might be a bit more complicated, honey. He told me he’d be at his condo all day. Why don’t you pay him a visit?”

“Yeah. Pretty sure that’s the worst idea I’ve ever heard.”

She straightened and went back to typing away at her computer. “You’re probably right, honey. You just sit back down at your desk and let all that anger and hurt fester, while you scare your employees and carve worry lines into your pretty face. That does seem like the more sensible thing to do.”

I was beginning to hate her. “I see why Alex likes you so much. The two of you have a lot in common.”

She grinned. “You say that like it’s an insult, but I take it as a compliment.”

I sighed and tapped my nails on her desk. “Fine. May I please have his address?”

Her grin became triumphant and she scribbled it on a sticky note. I reached for it, but she pulled it back at the last minute. “I’ll give you this in exchange for an invitation to your wedding.”

“Sure.” She handed over the post-it. “But it won’t be Alex I’m marrying.”

Her smug grin didn’t fade as I’d hoped. Damn she was good. She waved her fingers and went back to work.

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