“I…We work together…” I said dumbly, not quite sure if that reasoning was true anymore.
He laughed slightly. “Sounds like you’re not too sure about that.”
I groaned and flopped my head back against the couch. “It’s complicated.”
“So, uncomplicate it for me.”
I sat up and faced him. “You really want to hear about this?”
He took my hand in his and stroked the back of my hand. “I was married to a woman that I thought I loved. But after seeing Alec with you, I know I didn’t even have a tenth of the love that Alec has for you. I want to know what that’s like someday.”
I swallowed the lump building in my throat, “Well, it just happened one day. We’ve worked together for years, but one day, I just saw him differently. I don’t know, maybe I always had a thing for him. And then I thought we would get together. Things were about to happen and then his girlfriend was there.”
“Wait, he tried to start things up with you and then went back to his girlfriend?”
“It’s not as bad as it sounds. He didn’t want to be a cheater and his girlfriend showed up at the bar. He stopped before anything happened between us. He didn’t even kiss me.”
“And what did you do?”
I shrugged. “I went on and pretended that nothing had happened. I didn’t want it to affect our work relationship.”
“But he broke up with her?”
“After he was shot. He ended it with her and then…are you sure you want to hear all this?”
“Oh, I think I need to now.”
“Well,” I picked at the loose threads of the bottom of my pants. “He waited, after he broke up with her. He wanted to give me time and…and then we were together and he wanted to go talk to our boss. But I didn’t want anyone to know. I didn’t want all the pressure.”
“So, you had a hidden relationship?”
“Not really. It was just fucking.”
He looked at me skeptically. “Are you sure about that?”
“Well, it was on my part. He kept trying to talk me into more.”
“Okay, so when did it all implode?”
“About a year after we got together, I found out that I have a medical condition that would make it hard to have kids. I’ve seen all the guys at work, the way they act when they become parents. I didn’t want to take that away from him.”
“So, you took matters into your own hands.”
“Well, not exactly. I mean, I didn’t tell him about it and I tried to end it with him, but he has a way of pulling me back in. And then I found out I was pregnant a year later. But it was an ectopic pregnancy and…it was not a good way for him to find out about everything.”
“So, if I may point out something to you…”
“Go for it.”
“You didn’t trust him because he mislead you by wanting you when he had a girlfriend, but you lied to him for a whole year. And you think you’re the injured party?”
I cringed, but I knew he was right.
“Florrie, I hate to say it, but it sounds like you’re the one making the mistakes here. No matter if you wanted a relationship or not, you were the one that was doing the lying.”
“I know,” I finally admitted. “Believe it or not, we broke up for a good six months, but then…”
“You started fucking again. Let me ask you something. After seeing the lengths he would go to for you, and seeing it for what it really is, how can you still deny that he’s the guy for you?”
“I wish I knew.”
“You need to figure that out. Because neither of you is ever going to be happy without the other.”
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