Chapter 28
Aubrey felt like a traitor even though she wasn’t guilty of what Eric had accused her of. A part of her wanted to run after him and explain everything to him, but her stubborn pride wouldn’t let her. First, she’d acted like a coward this morning and abandoned him in her apartment simply because she didn’t want to have an awkward conversation with him about last night when he woke up. Now, she was standing here and watching him walk away from her, when she should stop him and apologize to him, but she couldn’t because she didn’t want to lose face in front of her receptionist and the obnoxious Barry who was a major part of her problem.
“Well, why didn’t you say anything?” she asked him angrily.
“Me? What was I supposed to say? Did you see that guy’s face? He would have knocked me out cold if I’d said a word to interrupt him.”
“Then, get lost!” she yelled at him. “Go! I don’t want to hear anything you have to say. Go away!”
Just then, Bunmi came in. She was instantly worried when she saw how upset Aubrey looked. “Aubrey, are you ok?” She asked.
“No,” Aubrey said, and her lips began to tremble. “No, Bunmi. I’m not ok.”
“Oh, Aubrey. I’m so sorry that brute upset you,” Barry said, approaching her with outstretched arms. “Come here.”
“I told you to leave,” Aubrey said, stepping away from him. “Go away, Barry, and don’t you ever come back here again.”
Blinking her tears away, she turned around and walked into her office with Bunmi following her closely. Inside, she said, “When the designers get here, tell them to see me immediately. We need to go over the new batch of designs one more time before they go into production.”
“Of course,” Bunmi replied dutifully. “Anything else?”
“I need a moment to myself, please. And do make sure that man leaves the store immediately. If he refuses to leave, call the police and report a trespassing.”
“Ok,” Bunmi said, and left.
When Aubrey was finally alone, she let the tears she’d held at bay to finally come running down her face. The last time she had shed actual tears was when her mother died many years ago. Ever since that time, Aubrey had believed that nothing else in this world could ever shake her like that again, but she’d been wrong. Hurting Eric had shaken her, and she didn’t even know why. Had she meant those three powerful words she’d whispered to him last night? Did those words come out of her subconscious? She wasn’t the impulsive type, so blurting out those words while they made love had shocked her as much as they’d shocked him.
Spending time with Eric last night had made her realized something that she had refused to admit to herself for so long—she was lonely. She was extremely and utterly lonely, and for one night in so many years, she hadn’t felt that way. Instead, she had felt cherished, important, lovable…and she wanted that back.
Aubrey wiped her tears and breathed deeply. “What am I going to do now?” she asked herself aloud.
First off, you need to be honest with yourself, she told herself internally. You need Eric in your life, so stop acting tough. Drop the act and go after your man.
“Ok,” she said out loud, filing that fact into a compartment in her mind.
Second off, you need to get rid of Barry. Kick him out of your life permanently. If it’s going to take a restraining order to keep him away from you, then so be it.
“Cool,” she said, liking that thought.
Someone knocked on her door, so she quickly checked her face on the reflective surface of one of her shiny award plaques before responding. She didn’t want to attend to her staff with a messy, tear-stained face.
“Come in,” she said when she was sure that she looked presentable.
Fransisco, one of her in-house designers, poked his head in when he opened the door. Morning, boss. You wanted to see us?”
“Hi, Fransisco. Yes, are the rest of your team around now?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Ok, great. I’ll meet you guys in the production room in a bit.”
“Sure,” he said and left.
Aubrey drew in a breath and exhaled slowly. “Get yourself together, Aubrey,” she told herself. “You are going to be ok.”