Page 38 of Breaking All The Rules

“I’ve given him the opportunity to talk to me about it, and he hasn’t bothered.” I tilted my chin up, even though she couldn’t see me.

“Have you, though?” I could hear the judgmental tone in her voice.

I stalled, trying to answer her as I struggled to find a way to prove that I was right. The problem was that I hadn’t allowed him to talk to me after I walked out Monday night. Tuesday, he had been in meetings all day, and when his afternoon appointment with Brent got rescheduled, I closed my door and pretended that I was on a phone call to avoid him. I had been acting childish all along and couldn’t keep blaming him for not talking to me about what happened.

“Well, I know that the silence means that you know that I’m right. I’m gonna let you go so I can throw Jackson in a bath before bed,” she said with a hint of sarcasm. “I’ll call the lawyerin the morning and let you know how it goes, but I doubt I’ll get to meet with him this week since tomorrow is already Thursday.”

“Sounds good. Please keep me posted.”

“I will,” she assured me. “Oh, I almost forgot. Gabi wanted to see about getting together for a few drinks Friday night. Are you free?”

“I’ll have to check my schedule and get back to you,” I joked. She knew I didn’t have a life on Friday nights.

“I’m sure you can catch up on your TV shows on Saturday,” she teased.

“Hey, I could have plans on Saturday, too. You never know.”

“Yes, as long as they end by four so you can have an early supper...”

I could hear her laughing on the other end as she pulled the phone away to try to hide it.

“You’re such a little shit. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Go give my stinky nephew a bath.”

“Ugh,” she groaned. “He is stinky.”

“I was kidding.”

“I’m not. I swear, no matter how clean I get him, he finds a way to undo it within minutes. But anyways, I will talk to you tomorrow.”

“Sounds good. I love you.”

“Love you too.”

I was reluctant to admit it, but I felt better after talking to my sister. Probably because I knew she was right; I just hadn’t wanted to admit it before now. I folded the rest of the laundry and put it away. It was still early, and I was tired of eating takeout, so I grabbed my keys to run out to buy some groceries. And by groceries, I meant frozen pizza and wine.

Twenty-One

Ethan

“What is that smell?” I asked Kate as I stopped at her desk and sniffed the air. It smelled like something was on fire.

“Um, toast,” she said quietly, glancing down the short hallway to Eva’s office. “Ms. Sanchez made toast this morning.”

I pulled my lips in, forcing myself to hold the laughter in. I tapped my knuckles against the top of Kate’s desk a few times and smiled before I walked down the hall. I was surprised that the fire alarm wasn’t going off, given that the closer I got to her office, the worse the smell was.

I stood outside her door and knocked lightly on it, pulling her attention away from the computer. On a plate beside her keyboard were two pieces of black toast.

“Morning,” I said as she looked up at me and then glanced down at the toast nervously.

“Good morning,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry about the smell, I made—”

“Toast,” I finished for her. “I thought I smelled your culinary skills from the elevator.”

She grimaced and looked down again at the burnt disaster in front of her.

“Is that your breakfast?” I nodded to it.

“Yeah. But I’ll probably save myself the embarrassment and just eat a granola bar. I think I still have one or two in my desk.” She pulled open the drawer to check and frowned when she couldn’t find any. “I guess there goes that option as well.”

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