Page 61 of Puck Me Twice

“I am aware,” she says dryly.

“And my employee.”

She pauses. “I wasn’t aware that is how you viewed her.”

“How else am I supposed to view her?” I’m genuinely curious. It never occurred to me to see her as anything other than my employee.

“She’s your age, she’s single, she’s pretty…”

My mind gets stuck. “But she works for me.”

“I know.”

“And she’s your niece.”

“Yes,” Hildy says, sipping her tea. “I didn’t realize that was such a problem for you.”

“It’s not. It wouldn’t be. It—fuck.” I scrub at my forehead. “I would not date your niece without consulting you first, and I would not consult you about your niece unless I were interested in seriously pursuing her. And the fact remains, I am only interested in seriously pursuing Vanessa—the same woman I’ve been interested in for several years now.”

She presses her lips together. “Is she that woman who came here a few nights ago?”

“It was a few weeks, and yes. We are dating.” It feels stiff and formal for our relationship. “We’re together,” I try again. “Well—I want to be, I may have messed everything up. Which is why I wanted to talk to Brigitte,” I add. “I was hoping she had some insight as to where I went wrong.”

“Did you apologize?” Hildy asks dryly.

I nod. “I sent her an apology gift and a note. That was a few days ago.”

“What did you do prior to that?”

“I… well, I told her I was interested in getting married, and she was not expecting that,” I finally explain.

“Have you been dating long?”

“Not terribly long, no.” With a sigh, I lift my tea, then set it down without drinking. “That may be part of the problem.”

She gives me a cold look that tells me in no uncertain terms that I’m a fucking idiot. “Perhaps.”

“So… what do I do about it?”

“Well, you could give her time to acclimate and decide if she feels the same,” Hildy offers.

“Or?”

“Or, you could force the issue and make her resent you more,” she continues. “Possibly ending it altogether.”

Ending it? My blood runs cold at the thought. I have waited all this time to get Vanessa back into my life—I don’t think I could stand it if she were to leave me now.

“I don’t like that.” I don’t want to force her into anything.

“Well…”

“Thank you,” I tell my friend and neighbor. “I needed a woman’s perspective.”

She shakes her head. “I think you knew what to do all along. You just did not want to admit it.”

twenty

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