She stared at him from narrowed eyes. “Everything,” she huffed before she stood and stalked out of his office.
CHAPTER 7
Callie
Callie knew she shouldn’t tell Chantara what happened since she’ll never hear the end of it, but she also couldn’t not tell her.
“Oh my god!” Chantara exclaimed. She pulled a half-burnt pizza out of the oven. The thing was ancient and beat up. It cooked like it looked. “So, of all the people you could have kissed, it was Matt. Your boss.” She dissolved into a fit of giggles. It was a long time before she recovered.
Callie didn’t laugh. “I don’t find that funny at all,” she hissed. “The guy had the nerve to ask me to go out with him.”
“What?” Chantara swiped away a few tears. She grabbed a knife out of the knife block and hacked away at the pizza. It looked half-frozen on one side, burnt on the other.
“We really should get a toaster oven. I think it would cook far better than that piece of shit oven.”
“Nope. No way.” Her best friend shook her head. “You are not off the hook. You can’t just change the subject like that.”
“I wasn’t,” Callie protested. “But we really should get a toaster oven. Maybe we can find a second hand one.” She liked thrift and vintage shopping. Most of her wardrobe was vintage and the rest was certainly unconventional. When she wasn’t at work, she was much more colorful than her black skirt, white blouse, black cardigan combo.
“He asked you out?”
“Yeah. Of course, I said no.”
“Why!” Chantara hacked away at the frozen part of the pizza. “You know, I think you’re right. This is going to need to go in the microwave and that part isn’t even edible. But- but why would you turn Matt down?” She frowned then seemed to reconsider. “Never mind. I know why. It’s not even the fact that he’s your boss.”
“Or that he wears a watch that cost more than my car like a hundred times over. Who even wears watches anymore?”
“It’s not about the watch either.”
“Okay, Miss Know It All, what’s it about then?”
“It’s about the fact that you since you and Ben broke up, you’ve been determined to deny yourself any kind of life. You think that you have to punish yourself or live this barren lifestyle or- or be a saint or something. You’re afraid of ever being hurt again so you wall yourself up and you won’t let anyone in. You’re too scared to take a chance, even on just having a good time. No one said if you went out with him that you would have to date him. It was one night. One time.”
“You don’t know that! I have no idea what he really wanted! I have no idea why he’d even ask me out. Me! I’m his admin assistant. That’s just wrong.”
“Maybe that’s it. Maybe it’s a secret fantasy he’s always had, to take down his secretary. Maybe he wants to bring you to work after hours when no one else is there and bend you over his desk and-”
“Chantara! Seriously!”
Her best friend giggled. She stuffed the half of the pizza that was still frozen onto a napkin and threw it in the microwave. The thing didn’t work much better than the oven, but it still had enough life left in it to zap their dinner. She divided the food up onto two plates and passed one over. Callie set hers down on the table. She picked up a burned piece and nibbled away at the toppings. She was sure the crust wasn’t edible.
“Well, really… Matt is hot. Would it be so bad to give him a chance?”
“Yes! Yes, it would be bad. And I haven’t locked myself up in some ivory tower. I just…”
“You have. You haven’t been out with anyone or even considered it for a year and a half. You can’t let Ben win. You can’t let him ruin your happiness. That guy was a pig. I’m glad he left before you married him. God, you dodged a real bullet. It’s great that he showed his true colors sooner than later. I never thought you should marry him anyway.”
“Yes, I know. I remember how often you used to tell me to break up with him.”
“That’s because I always knew he was a dick. I never thought he treated you well.”
“He was nice enough. At first.”
“That’s the problem. Everyone says Matt is a good guy. He seems nice. He’s smart and capable and has money. What could be so wrong with that? And he’s also tall, blonde, handsome, and probably has a big dick.”
“That is waayyyyy too far!”
Chantara shrugged. She bit off a giant piece of burned pizza and chewed as though she didn’t mind the taste of char or the fact that it was hard as a steel band. “There are worse things in the world. Just saying.”