Page 41 of When the Walls Come Down
I spun on a toe, headed straight for the door, but I didn’t make it more than two steps.
“Maggie, wait.” He caught my arm but immediately released it. “Wait, don’t go. Please, I’m sorry.”
Slowly, I turned back around and crossed my arms over my chest. I was tired and frustrated. Toss in a little bit of brokenheartedness and it was not the makings for me to be able to handle a verbal duel with the likes of Shane. “I have nothing left to say, Shane.”
He fisted one hand on his hip and used the other to grip the back of his neck. “Okay, then just listen to me. I know Casey hired you for a reason. Christ, Peach, you’re more qualified for this job than anyone I’ve ever met. And that includes myself and my pitiful solo degree from a very reasonably priced public university.”
I bit my lip to hide my smile. I told myself it was because he’d made a joke and not because I was back to being Peach.
He held my gaze as he closed the distance between us. As per usual, he stopped too close, but I wasn’t complaining. “We don’t have to figure this out tonight. But don’t leave pissed off. I shouldn’t have said any of that. I’m stressed and this shit has my head spinning.” He hooked his index finger around my pinky. “Don’t let me fuck this up tonight. Stay. Have dinner with me. Let me make it up to you with some seriously lackluster small talk over an unbelievable steak.”
I sighed and lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. “I am hungry. And you did go through the trouble of getting Chris to make me a fresh drink.” I tapped my bottom lip. “Or would that be a clueless drink. You know, being so young and hip, I’m not particularly good with synonyms.”
He smiled and just like that, nothing was fixed, but it didn’t seem like a lost cause anymore.
“I am sorry,” he repeated.
“Yeah. Me too.”
He moved first, using our linked fingers to guide me back to our stools. Once we were settled, he took my purse from my shoulder and hooked it over his knee. How something so simple could be so romantic, I’d never understand. But watching him eat a steak, pausing every few bites to keep my purse from slipping off his leg, was one of the sweetest things I’d ever seen a man do.
Not including the lilacs, of course.
The conversation over dinner was stilted and our banter fell flat. It was hard to even focus as they brought out our plates. He wasn’t wrong about that steak though; it was top notch. Things felt off, but an hour later as we headed to the door together, I felt like maybe there was hope for us after all.We walked into the building and Clarke was on his feet. “Good evening, Shane.”
I waved like I always do.
“And Ms. Light. I had maintenance replace your locks. I put a note on your door in case I didn’t catch you. I put your new keys in your mailbox. You’ll want to grab them before you head up.” He gave her a bright smile. “Shane told me about it. So I got right on it this morning.”
Maggie looked up at me with a smile that almost—almost—made me forget about the fuckery I was in.
I didn’t want to lose my job, and I definitely didn’t want to lose her, not when it felt like the beginning of something so great. Seriously, when was the last time I’d had the gumption to just stroll up to a woman? Then to have her be this spitfire who wound me up and made me start thinking about possibilities I hadn’t even considered for myself in such a long time…
It just didn’t seem fair.
But debating fairness with the universe was a losing battle. One I’d lost more than once.
No. I needed a solution. One that made everyone happy. One where everyone came out on the other side winning. So, basically, a miracle. I had to come up with a fucking miracle.
“Thank you, Clarke,” she said.
On our way to the elevator bank, we stopped and got our respective mail and her new keys.
It was quiet.
It sucked.
The ride upstairs sucked too.
Then the awkward silent gaze we shared at the end of the hall outside our doors…you guessed it. Sucked.
Her face mirrored how I felt. Kind of sullen. Disappointed. Maybe a little worried. And I could barely stand seeing her so bummed—not when I couldn’t fix it. At least yet, and that’s what I needed to focus on.
Selfishly, I just wanted to go inside and map a path out of this mess because I didn’t see any way going to her place or her coming to mine would make either of us feel any better at the moment.
