Page 20 of Objection to Love

“Hey, don’t look at me like that; it’syourschedule.” He straightened and crossed his arms over his chest. “That was very impressive deflecting, by the way. But all it’s done is make me more interested in knowing why you were home so early.”

He seemed genuinely curious, and there wasn’t a hint of the teasing or barely tucked away smile that seemed standard for him.

So, against her better judgment, she told him the truth.

“I got some difficult news at work today and decided to take the rest of the day off.”

His face grew even more serious, his eyebrows pulling in as he studied her. “Is everything okay?”

Em stood up and paced to the sliding glass door, needing a little distance from the attractive form of Garrett Clarke standing in the middle of her small kitchen. “Yes. It’s nothing severe. Stupid, really. I acted childishly about the whole thing. It’s nothing.”

He didn’t follow her to the door, which she was grateful for. But he did press the subject.

“It doesn’t seem like nothing.”

Em pursed her lips.

Garrett lifted his eyebrows.

She sighed, her shoulders falling. “I made it sound worse than it really is. It would seem that my coworkers all get together after work… and they don’t invite me. They think I’m a workaholic, that I don’t know how to have fun, and that I’m going to burn out like some pathetic creature named Jenkins.” The words came tumbling out of her mouth, and almost immediately, she wished she could scoop them all up and shove them back in.

Thiswas not successful, impressive Em. This was ridiculous.

“I’m sorry,” he said, with more than a little pity in his gaze.

Silence permeated the space between them, and, any second now, he would make an excuse to leave, and she wouldn’t blame him.

But he didn’t.

She relaxed her balled-up fists, not realizing she’d tensed them in the first place. “It’s okay. I’m sure you agree.”

“I don’t agree.”

Em hoped she didn’t look as pathetically hopeful as she felt in that moment.

He lifted half his mouth in a smile. “As you’ve pointed out, I hardly know you. But I definitely don’t think you’re pathetic.”

Em frowned. “But you think I’m a workaholic who doesn’t know how to have fun.”

Garrett stood and shrugged. “Only you know that, September. Other people only see what you show them. Do you know how to have fun outside of work?”

Em stared at him, then at her nails. “I… I don’t know.”

It was quiet for a few seconds.

“Then I think that might be your answer.”

Em grimaced at his blunt response. She needed April. April loved to sugarcoat things—she would make Em feel better.

“But if you’re so worried about it, why don’t you do something?”

Em stiffened. “Like quit my job? Maybe when I die.”

Garrett raised his hands in self-defense. “Wow, not quite what I meant. More along the lines of stop working late. Maybe do something fun on the weekends.”

“Why would I do that?”

Garrett shrugged again. “Because you seem pretty upset. And, in my experience, if something upsets you, you change it. No use continuing on in some depressing vein. Would you be happy going to work tomorrow without changing things, knowing what you learned today?”

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