Page 84 of Love Off Course

“You’re going to be late,” she tells me in her no-nonsense tone. “You better go now.”

I stare at her long and hard because I know when I return, she’ll be gone.

She’ll leave because I begged her to.

She’ll leave because she loves me.

With an ache in my chest, I walk out my front door and don’t look back.

Chapter 25

Sheridan

Two weeks later…

I check my phone for only the tenth time today.

Nothing from Camilo.

God, I am so lovesick. It’s pathetic.

He told me to go. So I left. I just assumed he’d be back for me by now. I’m not the only one who was deep into the thing that was us. He was right there with me.

So why isn’t he here now?

“Miss Reid,” Helen says from my open office door. “The conference room is set up for your meeting.”

“Thank you. Will you be sitting in and taking notes?”

She frowns and nods, eyeing me like I have three heads. “It’s my job.”

“Oh, good. You take way better notes than me.”

“Is everything okay?” she asks, fidgeting. “You’ve been…different…ever since you came back.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No,” she rushes out. “Not bad. Just…”

“Weak?”

“I was going to say nice.”

I flinch at her words. “Nice? I’m not nice?”

Her cheeks flame crimson. “I, uh, that’s not what I meant.”

“No,” I say with a sigh. “I get it. I can be a bit of a monster. You can speak candidly.”

Helen crosses the room and sits in the seat on the other side of my desk. “You’re not a monster, you’re just intensely focused and particular. Lately it seems as if you care about those around you, not just yourself or your dad.”

“I’m sorry if I’ve always been a bitch,” I mutter. “I have no excuse.”

She smiles. “There were other jobs out there. If I didn’t like it, I could have left.”

“I’d have doubled your salary to make you stay,” I tease.

Her laugh is foreign. It’s then I realize I’ve never heard it. I don’t know much about Helen except she’s been my assistant for three years. That’s it. I know nothing else.

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