Page 36 of A Little Too Late
Yipes!I look like a nightmare, and I smell like a distillery.
“Hello? Ava?” a voice calls from the living room. A female voice. I don’t recognize it.
“Um...” I say, clutching the comforter. “Yes?”
“It’s Sheila, Reed’s assistant. I brought you some clothes. Also, your coat and your boots.”
I play that back in my mind, and it makes no sense. “You did? How?”
“The clothes are mine, and Reed got the purse and the coat from your desk.” She appears in the bedroom doorway a moment later. “Sorry to let myself in, but Reed said you’d be pissed if you slept through the nine o’clock meeting.”
I sit up in bed. “Oh God. What time is it?”
“Eight.” She enters the room and sets a gym bag down on top of the rumpled bed. “If you get dressed and head home to change, you can make it with plenty of time. Oh, and I also brought you this.” She lifts her other hand to reveal a white paper bag, the kind from the canteen. “It’s a toasted bagel with just a little butter. I would have brought coffee, but Reed said not to.”
“Oh.”
Oh hell. I clap my hand over my mouth. Because a toasted bagel with just a little butter isexactlywhat he used to bringme when I had morning sickness. The carbs helped. But coffee absolutely revolted me when I was queasy. Heremembered.
My eyes fill suddenly.
“Oh man, are you okay?” Sheila looks alarmed.
“Yes,” I sob. “But last night, I got wasted and puked in front of my ex.”
Sheila cringes, her face full of sympathy. “Oh ouch. Can I assume your ex is Reed?”
“Yes,” I gasp, furiously wiping my eyes. “And I think it’s even worse than that. I think I word-vomited, too!”
“Wow. This trip is even more interesting than I ever imagined.” With a shy smile, she sits at the foot of the bed and hands me the bagel bag.
My stomach gurgles, and I draw the bagel halfway out and take a life-affirming bite. It’s still warm from the toaster. “Omigod thank you,” I groan. “I needed this.”
“It was all Reed’s doing.” She shrugs. “Were you his high school sweetheart?”
“No.” I take another bite. “It’s weirder than that. I grew up on the East Coast and didn’t move here until after he dumped me in college. When he walked into the office and saw me behind the desk, he lookedsoconfused.”
Sheila cackles. “I would pay cash money to see Reed look rattled. Even for five minutes. The girls at work call him the Ice King.”
Well, that’s fascinating. “As in—a guy without feelings?”
“Yup.” She pops the “p.” “I always wondered who broke his heart.”
“Not me,” I grumble, my mouth full of bagel. “Must have been some other girl.”
“I wonder.” Then she gives her head a shake and bounces off the bed. “As much fun as it is to gossip about my hot butemotionally stunted boss, I have to get downstairs and set up a conference room for this meeting.”
“Oh hell! I was—”
Sheila holds up a hand. “I got it. Just put on my track suit and go run home to make yourself presentable. See you down there!” Then she disappears to do my job for me.
That girlreallydeserves a raise.
Forty minutes later, I’m freshly showered and hurrying back into the hotel. My hair is up in a bun. I’m wearing a dress and enough makeup to hide my hungover pallor.
I’m not even late, so I force myself to skid to a stop outside the Evergreen Room and take a slow breath. The morning won’t be easy. I’ll have to look Reed in the eye today and apologize for being his crazy drunk ex, barfing in his hotel room, and generally making myself look like an incompetent drama queen.
Three days ago, I honestly thought of myself as a woman who had her shithandled. Then he showed up and everything went off the rails.
