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“No, it is not. I’m going to have words with Monty,” Maggie declares.
“No. Please don’t say anything, especially at the office. He doesn’t want anyone to know about us.”
“I can ask Wyatt to talk to him, see what’s going on in his head,” Maggie offers.
“Okay,” I agree. “But he can’t make it obvious.”
“He won’t. I won’t fill in all the details. Just enough,” Maggie says. “Hold on, let me go out in the hall to call him.”
“Thanks, Maggie.”
Once she’s out in the hallway, I tell my roommates, “I’ve got to find a new job, and it may not be in town. A story for another time,” I say just as the apartment door opens again.
I barely glance up at first, expecting to see Maggie.
Instead, every muscle in my body locks up.
Because Maggie isn’t alone.
Monty steps into the apartment behind her with his usually perfect hair a tousled mess, his suit jacket askew. His gaze finds mine and my brain short-circuits.
For a second, I’m pretty sure I’ve just imagined him in my apartment.
Like I’ve lost my mind after the amazing weekend we had together and now I’m hallucinating my off-kilter ex-boss standing in my apartment. Then I smell his cologne, stronger than the faint trace he left on me earlier.
Celia or Daphne makes a tiny choking sound beside me.
And Maggie, well, my best friend looks way too calm for someone who just brought so much emotional destruction into our living room.
Monty doesn’t look at anyone except me when he says, “I don’t accept your resignation.”
A startled laugh escapes me before I can stop it, mostly because my brain still hasn’t caught up enough to form an actual response.
“You-you can’t make me work for you,” I say.
His jaw tightens slightly. “Would you at least tell me why you quit?”
“Right now?” I ask faintly, gesturing toward my audience.
“Yes, now.”
Taking a deep breath, I let it out and give him the truth. “I don’t think I can keep working for you and pretend that nothing happened between us. I thought I could but there’s no one night, one weekend to get you out of my system.” I laugh and swipe my fingers under my eyes without looking at him. “I’m not sure if a million weekends would be enough.”
“Kendall…”
“No. Monty. Don’t apologize or offer me more money because I can’t work for you anymore…” When I trail off and Monty doesn’t say anything, I tell him, “Please just go.”
“No. Not yet. Not until I get a chance to say this.”
“To say what?” I ask as Mr. Jingles jumps from my lap and goes over to sniff our new visitor.
“I reserved the resort for a June sixth wedding.”
“What? Why?” I ask as dread sinks low in my gut. “Did you and Vanessa…get back together?”
“God no,” he says as he pulls out the ring case and opens it. “I feel the same way you do, cupcake. A million weekends with you wouldn’t be enough time for me. I didn’t expect things to happen the way they did. I tried to forget about you, to move on. But I couldn’t. I always knew we made a great team and a part of me has always wondered if…if we would be good together. Now I know that the answer to that question is a resounding yes.”
He pauses to take a breath while Mr. Jingles winds himself around his legs. Monty studies my face while I try and comprehend everything he just said.
