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Thirty Eight

It has been an okay morning. So far, I have just been bustling around the office, keeping my head in my work. Occasionally, I would answer a few replies that I got from Rogue, and I didn't make it a habit to answer frequently in case Robert caught me because he set a new rule of no answering personal calls or texts ever since someone messed up while receiving a personal call and ignoring what she was supposed to do.

Ever since then, work has been a little, if not more stressful than ever before. I kept it in mind that I needed to limit how many times I answered texts from Rogue and also keeping in mind that he was busier than me being the boss and all, and knowing him, he wouldn't ignore a call or text from me whether he was doing something important or not. With that in mind, the day was slower than I needed it to be.

Until Robert called me into his office and told me that I could go home early today. Normally, I would be happy and ecstatic to leave work early but early meant getting off work at three or four, not one in the afternoon. It was way too early, and Robert wouldn't have told me to leave work unless it was an emergency, but I didn't have an emergency. Either way, I was taking this as a blessing.

I told my colleagues that I was leaving, whose eyebrows shot up when I told them, and even Erica wondered if there was an emergency. After clarifying that there was none and today was one of those miracle days, I walked out of the office.

I ran into Veronica.

You know that feeling you get when you accidentally meet someone that you're trying to avoid? The moment when your heart lifts and drops from being cornered? That was how I felt when I saw her. And she smiled and waved at me, which made me want to turn around, go back inside and pretend that I didn't see her, but that wouldn't work because Veronica stood out like the plague. Of all days, today she dressed to impress. She wore red high knee boots and a thick fur coat. Her hair was side-swept and curled, and when she saw me, she took off her sunglasses.

I took a step as my heart continued to drop. There was no reason to feel guilty, but I felt guilty considering her husband admitted to having some type of feelings for me, and knowing that she knew about it but didn't hate me for it made me wonder who the hell she was because I would have felt differently. I would have hated me, but not Veronica. Veronica was a different breed. She seemed way out of this world and it was impossible to think she could ever want to be in the same room with me, but here she was, acting like she always does with me—caring and friendly towards me as if we had been friends forever.

"Beth!" She was a few feet away from me before I even realized she had gotten closer and it was too late now to pretend I didn't see her. She engulfed me in a bone-crushing hug. She smelled nice. She smelled so good and warm, and it was comforting. It irked me. I pulled away. She beamed at me. "So, what do I get for getting you out of work early?"

I blinked and registered her words. "This is your doing?" I asked, even more confused than her reason for being here.

She nodded as if she had accomplished something beyond her capabilities, but it was just getting me out of work early. It wasn't a great accomplishment and I suddenly got disconnected from my luck. Before I could blink, she had thrown an arm around my shoulder and seemed to be walking me to a brand new Porsche car.

"Your boss is so easy to bend," she continued as she laughed. "I'm so glad we're able to see each other today! We're going to have so much fun." She threw the other hand in the air with a hearty laugh that threw me off guard.

Suddenly, I dragged my feet to a stop when we reached the car. I untangled her arm from my neck and she shifted to give me a confused glance, sensing the lack of energy she was receiving from me. How could I? Her husband had somewhat feelings for me and she was acting like everything was fine between us. Like it didn't warrant her to feel uncomfortable or hate towards me.