"As you already pointed out, I had a meeting today. With a man." I walk to the door and open it. "It's over, Celine. You need to leave."
My phone dings from my pocket.
Celine smirks. "Is that her? Texting you to say goodnight?"
"Go. Now."
She meets me at the door. "I know you spent the day with her. And probably last night. Father said you drove to Vermont last night but that was all a lie, wasn't it? You were at her apartment. Spending the night with her just days after being with me. You're sick, you know that?"
"Goodbye, Celine." I lock eyes with her until she finally turns away and leaves.
I shut the door and check my phone. The text is from Sophie. Already miss you.
Miss you too,Theo, I text back. That's your new name in my phone.
I like it! I changed yours to Jason.
Bummer. I was starting to get attached to Bart. But Jason's good too.
Goodnight Jason.
Goodnight Theo.
I really miss her. I wish we could be together tonight, and we would be if it weren't for Celine. I thought for sure she'd figure out I was with Sophie when she asked why I stuck around after the meeting. But she didn't even bring up Sophie's name. She's convinced it's someone else.
She's way off base, which is good. I don't want her even thinking it might be Sophie. She'd get her fired for sure, and then try to get me fired too.
Sophie and I just need to get through this week. Once the client dinner is over we won't have to worry about Celine.
Monday morning I get called into Roger's office as soon as I get to work. I have no idea what this is about but it has me concerned because he's never summoned me to his office like this. He keeps a very rigid schedule and his meetings are set up days or weeks in advance.
"Good morning, Roger." I walk in his office, head held high, shoulders back, exuding confidence even though I'm currently lacking it.
"Aiden, sit down," he orders from behind his desk.
I sit on the black leather office chair, looking out at the city skyline just behind him. It's a bright and sunny fall morning so I decided to walk to work. As I made my way down the crowded streets, surrounded by buildings on all sides, I kept imagining being back in Vermont with the tall trees and fresh air, the mountains...and Sophie.
I didn't get to talk to her much yesterday. She spent all day at the office. Celine met with her in the morning and gave her a list a mile long of unnecessary tasks that had Sophie working until eight last night. By the time she got home, she was exhausted. When I called her, she sounded off, almost distant. It wasn't the Sophie I was used to, but I'm sure it's because she was tired and needed to sleep.
Roger lets out a sigh, waking me from my thoughts. "I received some news last night at the family dinner."
I wait in silence, realizing what this is about. Celine told him about our breakup. She should've told him last week but she waited, probably thinking we'd get back together.
"We missed having you there," he says. "When Evelyn asked where you were, Celine broke down in tears. Evelyn was, of course, distraught as well when she heard the news."
Evelyn is Celine's mother. She's just as controlling as her daughter, expecting everyone to do as she says, and when they don't, she turns against them. That's where Celine learned it.
"It just wasn't working between us," I say. "I'm sorry Celine is hurting but I didn't want to keep something going that wasn't going to last."
He stares at me, not saying anything. I wish I knew what was going on here. He doesn't seem angry, although I could be reading him wrong. I can't really tell what he's thinking. I don't think he'd fire me for breaking up with his daughter, but maybe he would. I'd be shocked if he did. I've got four big deals in the works, along with the inn, a much smaller deal but still an important one. If it goes through, it'll be our first property outside of the state.
Roger taps his pen on the table several times before setting it down. "Aiden, I'm very aware of the needs we have as men. The desire for something new. Something different."
What is he saying? Is he accusing me of cheating?
"Roger, I don't think you understand. I didn't have someone on the side."
He smirks. "There's no need to lie to me, Aiden. This is just between us men." He leans back in his chair. "Is it someone at the office?"
"No, and whatever Celine told you isn't true. I wasn't cheating on her. Frankly, I'm insulted you'd think that I would, and I'm very uncomfortable having this conversation. I'd like to be excused. I have a lot I need to get done."
"We're not finished here." His tone is laced with anger. He doesn't like being told that he's wrong but I'm not going to sit here and admit to something I didn't do. "I'm taking you off the inn deal."
"You're what?" I move to the edge of my chair.
"That Vermont inn deal you've been working on. I'm assigning it to someone else. I'll be assigning you to another property. One here in the city."
"Why would you do that? I'm the one who found the inn. I did all the research. Built a relationship with the owner. I was about to present you the offer I've been working on."
"Send it to me and I'll look it over, but the deal will be going to someone else to finish up."
He can't do this. I can't let it happen. Nobody at this firm cares about a small country inn. They'll see Tom as an old man in a desperate situation that they can take advantage
