Page 4 of So Worth More
Clara was the gossip queen and my first point of call. “Hey Clara,” I greeted the small brunette as I paused next to her desk. She was busy looking through samples and I hated to interrupt her, but I really didn’t want another intervention from Parker Senior. While I loved the older man, he loved to meddle, especially when he saw something that needed fixing. If it got back to him that me and Will weren’t talking again, there was sure to be another intervention.
I’d been in Will’s apartment only once since I had visited during “the migraine incident” as he was calling it, one that had resulted in the only true apology from Will, ever. The second visit hadn’t ended any better either, with me accidentally overstaying my welcome by sleeping the whole night after being fucked into the mattress by Will. This necessitated a brief but glorious shower the next morning to wash off the smell of cum. Will had been cold as he laid down rules post shower and I hadn’t spoken to him for a week after that for talking to me like I was a child. I’d vowed never to return to Will’s place after that morning’s fight so there were no care packages in Will’s future from me. Anyway, I was sure my presence would be unwelcome.
There was a part of me that felt that maybe Will’s absence was because of me, a little squirming feeling of guilt. Perhaps it was my fault and Will was avoiding me but even that didn’t feel quite right. Will had shown me, over and over, that we weren’t anything, just a convenient hookup, so there was no way that there were feelings involved. He must truly just be feeling unwell. It wasn’t the first time a migraine kept him out of the office either.
Clara looked up at me pushing her gold framed glasses up her nose. “Hey boss, what’s up?”
“Nothing much, just getting James up to speed since Will’s off with a migraine. I’ve had to take on some of their stuff to stop them falling behind, so I might need you to put in an hour or two of overtime next week, is that okay?” I asked her.
She gave me a quick smile. “Sure! You’ve had chickenpox, right?”
“Ugh, yeah?” I looked at her, confused until I realized Suneya was missing. “Is Akio ill? Do you need time off too?” I asked, concerned about their little guy.
“Akio is fine aside from a good dose of chickenpox and nah,” Clara interrupted. “Work is my quiet time away from the family. Suneya has this handled. We might switch out next week depending on how needy he is. He always prefers her when he’s ill, which I get, she’s far more patient than I am,” she said with a laugh and I laughed with her as this was no lie.
Suneya was a saint for putting up with Clara at times; add in a four year old, and I had no idea why Suneya wasn’t prematurely gray from stress. “Your wife is an angel,” I said to her. “Take time off if you need it or do what I assume Suneya is doing, and work from home if you can manage.”
“Thanks boss,” she said, giving my hand a squeeze.
* * *
Later on I caught Clara filling in the interns and runners that Will was off ill and that between us, James and I had everything in hand. Sighing with relief at that bullet dodged, I took a minute to think about whether I should contact Will and check in with him. While we might not be hooking up any more, we still had to work together and we couldn’t lose all the progress that we’d made in the interim of our…whatever we were calling it. Disaster is what Abigail referred to it as.
Thinking of my twin, I picked up my phone and asked her if she wanted to get dinner. As much as I liked my Friday gym sessions and drinks with the guys, I really didn’t feel up to fielding their questions about Will. In fact, I thought that maybe it’d be better to catch one or two of them individually and ask them not to say anything. I knew we hadn’t been very discreet at the gym, or at the bar, but I was hopeful that since Will had been friends with them too before he and I had started hooking up, that Will wouldn’t want to cut them out just to avoid me. Sending off a quick text to Henry would be best. He was the ringleader and the most level-headed of the group.
Andy - Hey dude, no gym for me tonight or drinks. Am having dinner with Abby.
Henry - NP man, next week? Have you changed days? Haven’t seen you or Will.
Andy - Yeah man, shit’s been weird with him so been trying to give him some space. He’s been off work sick, too. We aren’t hanging out anymore.
Henry - REALLY? *shocked face emoji*
Andy - Seriously, it’s a big thing *rolling eyes emoji* he didn’t want you guys knowing we were hooking up.
Henry - *three laughing face emojis* dude he was not subtle about it. So you guys aren’t together?
Andy - Nah, just scratching an itch on occasion.
Henry - Weekly, at least.
Andy - Whatever. Over now anyway. See you next week sometime?
Henry - How about coffee or a game over the weekend?
Andy - Sounds good, let me know what the plan is.
Henry had clearly been the right choice, though I was curious as to what the others would think about all the drama when they heard. It hurt to be so dismissive of the thing I had with Will, which is why I knew it was the right choice to stop. I scrubbed a hand through my artfully messy dirty blond hair, took a deep breath and pushed thoughts of Will away.
Four - Andy
As my twin, Abigail always felt that it was her responsibility to ensure “her little brother was happy”. She only had ten minutes on me, but that was enough for her.
For the most part, it’d just been the two of us during our adolescence while mom worked two jobs to keep a roof over our heads after dad walked out on us, up until we lost her in an accident when we were in college. Abby had graduated with a costume design degree and worked the theater circuit with the occasional movie thrown in. Work wasn’t always consistent so Abs also worked out of the home she shared with her boyfriend as a tailor. Alterations had partly funded college expenses and filled the fridge when we had lived with mom.
Dark to my light, with dark brown hair and chocolate-colored eyes. Smaller than me, but with a much bigger personality, my sister was fierce with a long memory when it came to people that hurt me.
Dylan Jeffries from third grade knew this well. So I really didn’t want to tell her about what
