Linda blinked. “Simon? You...have feelings for Simon?”
Heather waved her hands frantically. “No. That’s not it at all. I just meant that working for Simon keeps me busy. Distracted from the divorce—” She shook her head. “That’s embarrassing. I totally didn’t mean it to come out that way.”
“So that’s why you blush every time I say his name,” Linda murmured.
What? Had she really done that? Forget the floor swallowing her. She wanted the whole building to crash down on her. Save her from her humiliation. And Linda’s stern gaze. “No. You have it all wrong,” Heather rushed on. “I’m not the least bit interested in Simon—”
“First his former PA betrays him, and his new PA has a crush.” Linda tsked. “It could be worse, but he isn’t going to like this—”
“You’re not actually thinking of telling him anything, are you?” Pure panic made her quiver with terror. Surely Linda wouldn’t go blabbing to Simon.
“Oh, calm down,” Linda said. “You wouldn’t be the first young woman to have a crush on him. Just keep it yourself, okay?”
“I don’t have a crush on him,” Heather insisted, knowing deep down what a lie that was. “Really I don’t.”
“Your secret’s safe with me,” Linda said, ignoring her pleas. “Besides, he won’t give you a second glance. He’s too wrapped up in work to notice anyone.”
“Oh. So, he doesn’t have a girlfriend?”
Linda arched an eyebrow. “I thought you said you weren’t interested.”
“I’m not,” Heather said.
“He’s single,” Linda said. “It seems to be a perpetual habit with him. Most of his relationships don’t last long. Hell, he doesn’t even have friends.”
Heather chewed on her bottom lip. That sounded so lonely. Add all that to his strained relationship with his parents and Heather’s heart ached for him all over again. All that wealth and it seemed he had nobody to share it with. “That’s sad.”
“Don’t bother trying to get close to him,” Linda said. “It’ll only lead to heartbreak. And that’s if all you’re looking for is friendship with him. Simon doesn’t do relationships. Of any kind.”
That much had changed since high school. Sure, he hadn’t been very popular before high school, but after girls started noticing him when he was a sophomore his social life completely changed. Suddenly he had popular friends, girls fawning over him. Plus, his relationship with her had blossomed into a full-blown romance. What had happened to make him so solitary again?
“I completely understand,” Heather said. “Everything has to be professional.”
“Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, what else do you want to know?” Linda asked.
Grateful to get away from the awkward topic of Simon, Heather started asking Linda more professional questions. After she got a ton of useful information from her, Heather started to go over Simon’s speech with Linda.
After about an hour in Linda’s office Heather was done, so she headed back to her office to work on sending out reminder emails about the upcoming Dover, Inc. conference. With that task done, she got down to filing and color-coding documents that her predecessor had neglected.
At the sound of her cell phone ringing she answered eagerly, a secret part of her hoping to hear Simon’s voice.
“Hello?”
She tried to suppress a groan at the sound of her ex-husband’s voice, but it was futile. “Gary? Where have you been?”
“Look, babe, I got sidetracked,” Gary said smoothly.
Heather hated it when he called her ‘babe’. “Sidetracked by what? Or, should I say, who?”
“Oh, come on. Don’t be like that. Tiffani needed me, and I figured you’d just take Finn to school like you usually do anyway.” Gary had a new girlfriend and, though Heather sure as hell wasn’t jealous, she hated that Gary used his new relationship as yet another excuse to not spend time with their son. She didn’t expect her ex to live like a monk, but his new girlfriend really was the worst.