Winnie and Jayson fell into another weird silence as they walked back to the office.
The conversation between them over lunch had felt to Winnie like an interview. She knew Jayson's agenda and remained professional. If she across as uninterested, and maybe perhaps uninteresting, he would stop pushing.
Unfortunately, he really wasn't getting the message.
"Winnie?" he broke the silence, or rather the bustling hum of the city easing Winnie's nerves in this particular situation. She turned to look at her boss.
"I wanted to ask, are you seeing anyone?"
Unprepared for this leap in topic, Winnie looked away in search of not an answer, but an appropriate reply.
She looked ahead and hastened her pace. "I don't think it's–" she began but Jayson immediatly cut her off.
"Look, I just- I get if you're not in a good headspace because of everything with your mom–"
A pang of shock stuck Winnie. She halted. Turned. "How do you know?"
"Anna, told me," Jayson looked confused.
Anna was a co-worker of Winnie's that she had confided in when her mother was first diagnosed. Anna would sometimes still ask Winnie how things were, but she kept her answers short. At work, she wanted to work and leave her emotions at home.
She wasn't mad that Anna had told Jayson, only dissenting the way in which Jayson had brought it up.
"Jayson, as my boss, this is boundary I don't want you to cross," Winnie stated clearly.
His face fell and she could tell she was about to recieve a blabbery apology and a justification. At the same time, Winnie felt her phone buzz beneath the hand she had rested over her bag. Timothy. He tugged at her thoughts, withdrawing her from the present.
Winnie simply turned, striding away from Jayson. She resumed her path back to the office, leaving him behind. She wasn't sure if he had followed. She didn't look back when she got to the building. Once inside, she retrieved her phone.
—
T:
Can't wait ;)
—
The message was only open for a second before an incoming call appeared.
Her mother.