Page 26 of A Matter of Time
I could protest again but there didn’t seem any point. She’d already made up her mind.
“Life’s short, Tonia,” she added bluntly. “If you’re really over this, then go and talk to Marley and let her move on too. And if you’re not over it, then you should deal with it now. It’s been six years already. What if something happened to Cam? What if, God forbid, he ends up in a bed like this, or worse, and you realize that you missed your chance? Don’t put it off any longer. If there’s anything this whole shitshow has taught me, it’s that. That’s why we’re still having everyone over to the gallery on Friday. Life goes on, and I don’t plan on wasting a minute of it. Don’t waste yours either, Tonia. Let it go for real, or face up to it, but don’t just pretend it doesn’t bother you when it clearly does.”
That impassioned speech seemed to sap the last of her energy and she sank back into her pillows just as Dex returned, looking much fresher and smelling a lot better too.
“What’s wrong, baby?” he quickly asked, sitting down on the bed on Shawna’s other side and picking up her hand.
“Nothing,” Shawna assured him, giving him a smile. “Just trying to talk some sense into your sister. You know how tiring that can be.”
He nodded in agreement as I rolled my eyes. “Alright, it’s clearly two against one now and I don’t like those odds. I’ll leave you two in peace.”
I leaned down to give Shawna a hug, trying to ignore how frail she seemed again. How had I not noticed it before? The happy bride dancing at her wedding six months earlier seemed like a distant memory.
“Promise me you’ll think about it,” she whispered in my ear, and I nodded.
“I will. I promise.”
As I made my way back to my apartment, that was exactly what I did, and the more I thought about it, the more I had to admit she might just have a point. What did I have to be afraid of? Nothing Marley could say would change the facts, so what would it hurt to talk to her?
By the time I got back to my apartment, I had made up my mind, and I quickly sent my mom a text.Could you get someone a message for me?
~Cam~
After Tonia left my office, I packed up to head home, but as I made my way past Jason’s office, I noticed he was still there. Since he seemed to be alone and not on his phone, I changed course and headed to his door instead.
“You got a minute?” I asked as I rapped lightly on the open door.
He flashed me a welcoming smile as he leaned back from his computer. “Sure. What’s up?”
I closed the door behind me and went to take a seat across from him. Since I hadn’t planned this, I didn’t know exactly how to begin, but I felt like I owed it to Tonia to take some responsibility for what happened between them today. I might make things worse by sticking my nose into it even further, but hopefully, that wouldn’t be the case. Surely, I must have reached my maximum number of screw-ups in one week by that point.
“I just had a chat with Tonia Callahan, and I understand things got a little awkward between you two at lunch.”
Jason grimaced in confirmation. “I hope I didn’t make her feel bad. It took me by surprise, and I don’t think of her like that. I want to keep the whole relationship professional.”
“She understands completely,” I assured him. “And the thing is… she only asked you for a drink because she thought you were flirting with her, and she only thoughtthatbecause I told her you liked her.”
“What?” My boss definitely didn’t look impressed with that, as I suspected he wouldn’t be. It would have been easier for me to keep my mouth shut, but I didn’t want him to have the wrong idea about Tonia. That wouldn’t be fair when I’d set her down the wrong path to begin with.
“I misunderstood our conversation last week about relationships in the office. I thought you were talking about Tonia since she showed up that day.”
“And so, you told her that?” Jason looked less impressed with me by the second. “That whole conversation was confidential. Even if Ihadbeen talking about her, which I wasn’t, you shouldn’t have said anything.”
“I get that, I do,” I promised. “Problem is, I always seem to lose my head when Tonia’s around.”
“Always?” He repeated the word curiously, and I knew I would have to come clean.
“She and I go back a long way. If it had beenanyoneelse, I wouldn’t have said it, and even with her, I probably wouldn’t have said it if it weren’t for what happened on Friday.”
I told him the whole story, almost, explaining how Tonia and I used to go out back in high school, how we had a bad breakup and had avoided each other since, and how I overreacted on Friday and went down to Corpus Christi. He might not have followed along with everything, but by the time I finished, at least he looked a little more sympathetic.
“You should have told me you knew her,” he pointed out.
“I know. I should have done a lot of things, but like I said, she has this effect on me where I seem to turn into a complete idiot. I hoped I’d outgrown it, but after this week, I don’t think it’s going to happen. I think I just have to accept it.”
That made him smile, thankfully.
“And I just really wanted you to know that her asking you out today wasn’t typical for her. She’s very professional. I think I just got in her head with what I said, and I don’t want you to have the wrong impression.”
