Page 54 of The Executive Assistant

“You won’t pick up your phone!” Emilia told me, crossing her arms.

“You can’t just text us that you and Cameron broke up and go MIA,” Brooke added.

After Cameron had ended things, I had texted Emilia and Brooke the news. Afterwards, they’d sent me about a hundred messages, and I grimaced, remembering how I’d forgotten to reply to them.

“I’m sorry. I’ve just been really busy with work,” I said.

“We know you’re obsessed with work, but this is a big deal, Alison! You were so happy with him. What happened?” Emilia asked.

I sighed as I pinched the bridge of my nose, struggling with the pulsing and pounding in my head. I really didn’tfeel like detailing how everything was my fault, but they were my best friends. Maybe it would be good for me to talk to them and get all of this off my chest.

They followed me into my living room. I needed to go to work soon, but I supposed I’d play my CEO card and go in a little later than normal. Work would still be waiting for me when I got there.

Once Emilia and Brooke sat down on my couch, I stood in front of them with pure guilt written all over my face. “First off, it’s my fault.”

“How?” Emilia asked.

Brooke looked confused. “What did you do?

“He took me on a weekend getaway. It was so romantic and amazing… until there was a work emergency. He had been pushing me to relax and not get sucked into work so much, so I missed a bunch of calls and emails,” I explained. “I blamed him. I thought it was his fault we’d turned off our work notifications.”

“He didn’t do it on purpose though, did he?” Emilia asked.

“No,” I said, slumping. “Of course not. He couldn’t have predicted there’d be an emergency, not when we’d just submitted our latest campaign. But in the moment, I was panicking. He was trying to have a conversation, but I just snapped at him. I told him to get into work mode — to do his job and fix things.”

Brooke and Emilia were quiet for a moment.

“I’d feel awful if one second, I was on a holiday with my boyfriend, and the next second, he was reprimanding me like I was a bad employee.”

“I know,” I said, covering my face with my hands. “I know. In that moment, I was bossing him around like he was below me. When he broke up with me…he said he needed to be equals with someone.”

“Oh, babe,” Brooke said softly. She tugged me over and I fell onto the couch between them. Emilia wrapped an arm around my shoulder.

“We drove back to the office. I was so angry that he’d taken me on a holiday hours away, but he couldn’t have known…and the whole getaway had been so incredible and thoughtful. I just didn’t see any of that in the moment.”

Brooke rubbed my arm.

“Anyway, then we returned to the office, and I spent the next week working flat out. He wanted to talk but I dismissed him. I was overwhelmed with work, and all I could think about was how much of a stupid idea it was, getting involved with him.” I squeezed my eyes shut. “But as soon as the campaign was finished, and all the stress disappeared, I realised how much I missed him. We talked, but then…he broke up with me.”

“I’m so sorry,” Emilia murmured.

I blinked a few times, trying not to cry. “The worst thing is, I can’t even get mad at him. He said he can’t date awoman who’s also his boss, and I completely understand where he’s coming from.” I inhaled a shaky breath. “It’s not healthy to have such a power imbalance. I never would, but technically I could fire him whenever I wanted. I have influence over his career, his salary…” I trailed off, fighting the urge to wince. When I said it aloud, it was so obvious that a relationship with my employee wouldn’t work. How could I have been so blind?

Because in the moment, all of those reasons had faded away. All I’d cared about was being with Cameron. He’d made me laugh until my stomach hurt or smile until my cheeks ached.

He was special to me, and I lost him.

My eyes watered. “I feel terrible. I just miss him so much.” I had done far more crying over the past two weeks than I’d like to admit.

“It’s okay,” Emilia said, giving me a comforting squeeze.

“This doesn’t mean you guys are done forever,” Brooke added.

I sniffled a little before we all broke away from each other. “I’m not going to push him. If he’s over me, he’s over me. I’ll just have to move on too.”

“It won’t be that easy,” Brooke said, her eyes big with sympathy.

“I know, but it’ll have to happen eventually,” I sighed as I brushed my hair away from my face. “I’m just going to put my head down for now and work.”

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