“Kristen,” I whispered her name under my breath.
Had I really just walked out on her in the middle of our date? I felt myself cringe, but I couldn’t bear to pick up the phone to call her, let alone turn the car around and drive back. She was going to hate me. A small voice at the back of my head wondered if maybe that was a good thing.
Chapter Sixteen
Kristen
“I’m handing in my two weeks’ notice,” I said as I sipped my lemonade.
“What?” Melody asked, gawking at me over her plate of linguini.
“It’s been two weeks now, and things still haven’t thawed out between us. I mean, he talks to me, and he’s polite; it’s not like it was the first time he freaked out, but still… He didn’t even acknowledge what happened that night. Nor does he talk to me with any sense of familiarly. It’s like we’ve gone back to being strangers. Except that we’re not strangers—not anymore.”
“You sound hurt.”
“I am hurt,” I admitted. “We had a connection at dinner, Mel; if I'm honest, we had a connection long before that. He was the one who asked me out in the first place. He initiated dinner, and he picked me up, and things were going great until we sat down at the restaurant. Then we started talking, and things seemed to be going well and then… He just blanked.”
“Blanked?” Melody repeated.
“It was like he wasn’t even there for a second,” I said. “Like he had gone someplace else and wasn’t even aware that I was sitting in front of him, talking to him. When he zoned in again, he just looked at me, got up and left.”
“Have you ever considered the possibility that the guy has PTSD or something?”
“Post-traumatic stress disorder?” I said. I frowned thoughtfully. “I suppose it’s possible.”
“What were you talking about when he zoned out?”
“Uh…we were talking about…Noah,” I said, recalling the evening. “He was opening up to me about life as a single father and how he was scared that he wasn’t enough for his son. So I was just trying to reassure him, you know… I was trying to make him feel better.”
“Do you know how his wife died?”
I did know a little bit about how Daphne died, but I didn’t want to get into it. “She was killed in Afghanistan on her tour of duty. I think it may have been a bomb.”
“Oh my God.”
“Yeah.”
“How did you find out about that?” Melody asked. “Did he tell you?”
“He never talks about Daphne,” I said. “He’s never once mentioned her. I just found out.”
“But how?” she persisted.
I didn’t want to have to tell her the truth and see the shock and surprise on her face. It was too long a story to get into now in any case. My lunch break was only an hour long.
“Office gossip,” I said, protecting my secrets.
“Well, no wonder the guy’s messed up,” she said. “His wife was killed, and he was left with his young son who he knew he’d have to raise alone. That kind of thing has a way of messing with your head.”
“I knew he wasn’t ready to get involved with anyone,” I sighed. “I should never have agreed to go out with him. Now I’m forced to leave anyway, and things are just going to be awkward.”
“When are you planning on handing in your notice?”
“I’m going to tell Jake about it today when I get back into the office,” I said. “He wasn’t in all morning because he had meetings across town. Once he’s notified, I can hand in my official letter whenever he needs it.”
“You’re sure you want to do this?”
“It’s weird for me to be around him now,” I sighed. “The sad truth is… I like him. I mean, I think I really like him, and I don’t think I can continue to work for him now. This is the second time he’s freaked out on me, and I can’t help thinking that…it’s me.”