Chapter 167

Despite the lingering odd tension between Logan and me, our professional lives pressed on, ever forward. At work, we kept things strictly business. I went into his office first thing in the morning for the daily updates, and I hadn’t been back since.

I hated this tension, and I didn’t understand it. I wished Logan and I could actually sit down and talk about it, but at least during work hours, that was a tremendously bad idea. He’d entered some kind of statue mode when I tried to bring up our personal lives, almost like the stress fully took over his body.

I didn’t want to cause him discomfort, so for the most part, I kept my personal issues to myself and focused fully on work instead.

Around midmorning, my phone rang. I answered it like always.

“Thank you for calling Hatfield Supply. This is Hazel. How may I assist you?”

“Assistant! There you are,” Tina said on the other end of the line. “I’ve been trying all morning to get you, but that incompetent receptionist kept sending me to the wrong desk.”

“Tina… What a surprise…”

I knew she didn’t like me. What reason could she possibly have for wanting to call me?

I couldn’t just ask Why are you calling, without being unforgivably rude, however. These high society types often saw that kind of straightforwardness as being antagonistic, when really, I just want to know why she was calling me and not Logan.

“What kind I do for you, Tina?” I asked. A nicer way of asking why.

“I feel like you and I started off on the wrong foot,” Tina said. “As you are clearly so important to my dear Logan… Well, I guess you and I need to have more of an understanding of each other. It’s a shame, really, that you hate me so much.”

“I don’t hate you,” I said. If anything, I only felt bad for her. She clearly had feelings for Logan, feelings that he would never be able to reciprocate as he was already in a relationship with me. For her to be willing to subject herself to unrequited love made me feel sad.

I half-wished she would have said no to the agreement. Her saying yes seemed to only make her and Logan both miserable.

Or maybe I was just projecting onto her. She didn’t really sound sad at all.

Kind of the opposite, actually.

“That’s good. I’m so glad you feel that way,” Tina said. “In an effort to expand our friendship, why not meet me for lunch? I know a good place. My treat.”

Eating out with Tina was the very last thing I wanted to do, but, I reasoned, maybe becoming better friends with her would help convince her to back off of Logan a little bit. If she saw me as a friend more than a competitor, perhaps Logan would be less stressed and things could return to some kind of normal.

“Alright,” I said. “Name the time and place.”

She did. I wrote it down and promised to meet her there.

Just before lunch break, I ducked my head into Logan’s office. “I’m headed out for lunch. I’ll be back in an hour.”

I’d thought about telling him my lunch was with Tina, but I didn’t want to stress him out more than he already was. I could handle Tina on my own. More, I could win her over to my side. I was sure of it. I just needed the chance, which she was blessedly handing to me with this lunch offer.

Logan seemed pleased. “Good. Enjoy your time away.”

“Call me if something comes up and I’ll rush back,” I said.

“Nothing will come up. I’m sure of it.”

With that assurance, I left the office, went down the elevator, and headed out of the building. Tina’s restaurant suggestion was halfway across town so I hopped on a bus to get there. By the time the bus arrived, I was running five minutes late.

I rushed into the restaurant, an apology ready on the tip of my tongue. Looking around, I didn’t immediately see Tina. Knowing her though, she had some favorite table tucked into a corner somewhere.

“May I help you?” the hostess asked.

“I’m supposed to be meeting my friend here. Tina St. Louis?”

The hostess paled at the name. “Miss St. Louis is not here today, nor were we expecting her. She always calls us before she arrives to ensure the staff she prefers is working…”

I don’t understand. I wrote down the name of the restaurant Tina suggested as soon as she told me. I even confirmed the address. There was no mistake… unless Tina had forgotten and gone to another place?

That seemed unlikely.

The more likely scenario, I was realizing, was that Tina purposefully set me up to ditch me.

I didn’t have Tina’s personal number. She’d called my desk phone at the office. I couldn’t call her and confirm what was going on.

Maybe she was just running late, I reasoned, still willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Hopeful, I waited for thirty minutes for Tina to walk through the door. When she didn’t, I left my number with the hostess, begging her to call me if Tina actually did arrive in the next thirty minutes. Then I boarded the bus and went back to the office.

Since Tina hadn’t called to arrange this lunch until midmorning, I still had the lunch I brought in the fridge in the breakroom. I went to grab it first, then headed back toward my desk.

The minute Logan’s office was in view, I stopped in my step.

Sitting there in the chair across from Logan was Tina herself. They had takeout containers opened on his desktop. Both were digging in.

Oh, how I wanted to walk right in there and overturn that to-go container right on top of her head.

My friends’ warnings resounded in my ears now, blaring like bull horns.

She wants to steal your man.

She didn’t want to make friends with me by sharing lunch. She wanted to lure me out of the way so she could have a solo, uninterrupted lunch with Logan.

As I watch, Tina reached her arm out and spears something in Logan’s container with her fork. His smile was too tight to be genuine. It tightened further as he watched her steal food straight from his plate.

Looking up, his eyes caught mine. He did a double take. Maybe he hadn’t expected me for another thirty minutes. Maybe he thought Tina would have come and gone by now.

I should have told him Tina had also invited me to lunch. Then we could have avoided this entire display.

But I hadn’t. So now Tina, glancing back at me, smiled with viscous smug satisfaction.

“How was your lunch, assistant?” she called out to me through the open door.

She knew exactly how it went, the jerk.

I held up my lunch bag. “I decided to eat at the office after all.”

Tina laughed.

“What’s funny?” Logan asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

“Oh, it just amuses me when people pack their own lunches,” she says. “It’s sad, don’t you think?”

“Hazel is a good cook,” Logan said. “Her food rivals that of any restaurant.”

I appreciated him standing up for me, but I was also embarrassed, because my lunch today wasn’t a big effort. I was tired. It’s only a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

“How nice,” Tina said. Her smile was sharp. “Tell us, what do you have in there, then?”

I paled a little. “I’m going to eat in the break room,” I said and turned on my heel. As I walked away, I heard Tina speaking to Logan.

“Just like I told you. She doesn’t make any effort to try to get to know me…”

I nearly swiveled right around to confront her, but I stopped myself, not wanting to make a scene in the office.

Later, though. I would tell Logan everything.

My friends had been right. Tina wasn’t committing to this agreement out of the goodness of her heart.

She wanted Logan, and that meant pushing me out of the picture entirely.

I wasn’t going to let that happen.