Page 52 of Breaking Point
Swallowing thickly, I pull back and dip my chin, trying my best to not show how rejected I feel right now. Maybe she has a boyfriend?
Or maybe she doesn’t want to be seen with such a fuck-up.
“Drive safe, I’ll see you tomorrow,” I say.
I walk away before I can watch her leave.
The door slams shut behind me and my feet are nowhere near as quick to drag me to the living room as they were to rush after Bella. If no one was sitting in my living room, I’d rub my chest because it won’t stop aching. I’ve never been fearful of losing an assistant, let alone one that has only worked for me for a couple of days.
What the fuck is wrong with me? Is it the alcohol?
That would make sense. I’ve never been nervous around women or had such panic of losing someone I haven’t known for long. I don’t see why I’d start now. This is all just anxiety, a reason for my body to lean toward the thing it’s craving—alcohol.
Turning to Lucy, I find her eyes still on the front door hallway, her assessing look making me feel uneasy. All the while, Kieran flips through Netflix while eating cereal.
“You should have spoken to me about this before we sprung it on her.”
Lucy’s gaze searches mine before she shrugs. “We don’t have much time, Grayson.”
“Yeah, well, I nearly lost a good assistant.”
“But you didn’t,” she points out, a small smile on her face.
Biting my cheek, I turn and head into the kitchen. If I’m going to be sober, I want one last drink, one where I know it’ll be my last?—
When I open the newfound spot for my liquor cabinet I’m stunned to find my printer nestled atop the shelves instead of amber liquor, along with paperwork and office supplies. My hand freezes on the cabinet handle.
“I’ll be damned,” I whisper.
“What?” Kieran asks around a mouthful of food as the unforgettableGilmore Girlsintro song fills the living room.
Lucy tsks. “This is not the time forGilmore Girls!”
“Hey! It’s always a respectable time for those women!”
Shaking my head, I close the cabinet and move on to the next, pleasantly surprised to find the pantry stocked with food despite the bags of groceries sitting on the counter. I move on and on and on, opening up every navy blue cabinet and drawer in mykitchen, accompanied by the sound of my agent and best friend’s worried murmurings behind me.
“Crawford?”
“Yeah?” I answer absentmindedly as my heart grows so full of warmth I feel as if it’s about to implode.
“What are you doing? Do you want to rearrange?”
“No!” I blurt, a small smile stretching across my lips despite trying to hide it.
I come to a screeching halt at a small weekly whiteboard calendar leaning against the kitchen’s backsplash. Before I can think I’m swiping it up, along with the whiteboard marker.
“I think he needs to be evaluated,” I hear Kieran whisper.
Scrawling a message along the top notes section, I can’t help but grin as I see my messy scrawl next to her precise neat one. Then standing to my full height, with my hands on my hips, I take in the surrounding kitchen and exhale a rush of air, releasing tension in my shoulders I didn’t realize was there.
“She reorganized.”
Lucy cocks her head. “Did you not want her to?”
“Every assistant has come in here and moved everything into the wrong spot and without me telling her, she moved everything back to where it’s meant to be.”
Lucy and Kieran look at me like I’ve grown a second head, but they don’t get it. She didn’t ask for my assistance; she didn’t ask where I liked things. I didn’t eventellher to reorganize. She watched me closely enough to gauge I hated where everything was. Not only that but…perhaps we are in sync. Somewhere, somehow on the same wavelength, because how does this beautiful girl know how to fix everything just the way I want it to be?
