“I want to apologize,” I said as softly as possible. “For my behavior. I am sorry.”
There was silence on the other end for what felt like a lifetime. She must have been shocked. This apology was probably the last thing she was expecting.
“Are you really sorry?” She asked, sounding much less miserable.
“I am. But I am not letting you out of the cont
ract. That’s not negotiable.”
“Then why are we having this conversation right now?”
“Because I want to apologize. Because you deserve an apology. This contract is meaningless if you hate me.”
“Well I don’t…hate you. I never said that,” she said, and I felt relief spread through my whole body.
“In that case, I will see you in the office tomorrow?” I was clutching the phone very close to my ears. “You are out of vacation days, you know. The other tellers might think I’m playing favorites.”
She giggled, to my surprise. “Well, you are.”
“They don’t need to know that. Anyway, I would really like to see you tomorrow at the office and we can discuss the contract and how to proceed in a manner that pleases you. How does that sound?”
She simply said “Okay,” which was still better than a “No.” I could work with “Okay.”
“Have a good night Aria, I will see you tomorrow.”
“You too,” she said and then hung up.
Tomorrow I would have to employ all the skills I had accumulated as a businessman in negotiation, so that when the conversation was over, Aria would think it was her idea to continue with the contract.
For now, I was just relieved, and fell into my bed, finally relaxed after a very difficult few weeks.
THE BOSS #3
Chapter One
Aria
After the bizarre phone conversation I had with Zayden, I was very confused about my own feelings. He had apologized, and certainly sounded remorseful. If he wanted to continue this – whatever this was – he probably would not go back to his controlling ways. Or so I hoped. On the one hand, I really, really wanted to believe him—the truth was that I missed spending time with him, even though I hated to admit it. On the other hand, if I had learned one valuable lesson in my 20 years of existence, it was that people did not change. This wasn’t for lack of trying, but human nature demanded a deeply ingrained sense of self that was intrinsic to each person, and getting rid of that was not very different from getting rid of an actual organ. My dad had taught me this. Growing up, I saw the efforts he made to be more financially responsible; he really wanted to change, and it was obvious even to a 10-year-old. Yet he managed to drag my family into bankruptcy, the price of which we were still paying today. Especially me. If it hadn’t been for my dad’s terrible decisions, I wouldn’t be in this situation right now. My mom wouldn’t be in the situation she was in to begin with. Sometimes, it was very difficult not to hate him.
My thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door, and I was glad, because I was entering dangerous territory; allowing my thoughts to drift towards my father was like opening a can of worms that was best left shut very tight.
“Come in,” I said yawning.
The door swung open. It was Nick. “So, you’re being kidnapped for breakfast.” He looked pleased with himself, perhaps because he had been trusted with the job of kidnapping me. Stacey usually saved any endeavor that involved persuading me for herself, knowing Nick was too weak against my glare.
“I am starving. I’ll get ready in five.”
“Wait, what?” Nick looked disappointed. “You aren’t going to make me convince you?”
“No, Nick, I’m sorry,” I laughed. “Tell you what, I’ll tell Stace I didn’t want to go, but you worked your big Nicholas charms and I changed my mind.”
“This is why I keep you around,” he said, and winked. “She’s meeting us at the diner. She went for a run. I don’t know what’s gotten into her.”
“She wants to be healthy?” I asked quizzically.
“What for?” He looked so clueless I wanted to pet him. “What does that do? She is already perfect, as far as I see it. Is she trying to tell me to work out more?” He tentatively surveyed his skinny arms.
I sighed. “It’s not a trick. She’s been reading too many blogs again. You know she’s a hypochondriac. She thinks she will die of a premature stroke if she doesn’t start running.”