“You’re an asshole, Marcus,” I mumble under my breath as the call goes through.
“Hi,” she gasps, sounding out of breath.
“Is this a bad time?” I should’ve waited until she was home.
“No. I can talk. What’s up?”
“How are things at work? You mentioned you showed your designs to your boss?”
“Ah… that was two weeks ago. I told you she didn’t want to see them.”
I drop my head into my hand, feeling like an idiot.
“You did.” I want to punch some sense into myself. “Is there no way you can change her mind?”
“No. She made it clear that she wasn’t interested.”
“That sucks. What are you going to do now?”
She sighs, and I hear her walking somewhere.
“I’m going to hold out here until I have enough experience to get into a bigger fashion house.”
“That makes sense.”
There’s a moment of silence and then she asks, “Did you need anything?”
“No, why?” Why would she think that?
“Oh, you never call me at work. I thought something was wrong.”
I close my eyes and let my breath out slowly.
“I just wanted to hear how things are at work.”
“Okay,” she stretches the word out as if she finds it hard to believe that it’s the only reason for my call.
“I have to go,” I blurt out before I screw the call up even more.
“Thanks for checking on me.”
“Sure.”
I drop the phone on my desk and scowl at the advice column on my screen.
888
WILLOW
I pay the cab fee and climb out. Staring up at the massive building, I hope I didn’t overdress. I decided to go with a charcoal
cocktail dress I made a couple of weeks ago. It has a scoop neck which gives the outfit a feminine look. The material is crisscrossed over my back, showing glimpses of skin.
I was a bit worried after Marcus called me at work. It was super weird.
But I decided to take it as a good sign. Marcus wouldn’t call unless he cared. Maybe it was his way of telling me things are good between us?
I give my name at the door, and when I step inside, I can’t help but smile. The place looks great. I saw it before they decided to give it a makeover. I’m glad they replaced the tiles. The old ones were scratched from years of wear.