Page 163 of Revenge Puck

I exhale slowly.

“Figure it out, Bishop,” I say to my empty kitchen.

Because one thing is painfully clear.

I might not know the solution yet?—

But walking away from Juliette isn’t one of the options.

I won’t do it.

TWENTY-SEVEN

JULIETTE

Declan sort of apologizing at lunch was almost a win.

It happens so infrequently that I briefly contemplate calling our mother to brag about him—that’s how low the bar is in our family.

Men and their pride.

Still, it gives me hope that he came to the office early, before practice, to see me and attempt to work through our differences. An A for effort.

My email pings, snapping me back into reality.

A notification appears in the top right hand of my screen with the subject line:

HR Follow Up: Workplace Disclosure Policy

Right.

That.

I click it open and immediately wish I hadn’t.

Per company guidelines, any romantic relationship between employees must be disclosed to human resources to avoid conflicts of interest…

I stop reading after that, heart racing.

We’re to reportanyromantic relationship?

Including questionable ones, undefined arrangements?

It’s like the universe is sending us a message, except—I’m the one on the receiving end.

Are we serious enough to report?

Are we casual enough to go on ignoring it?

Are we anything?

The idea of sitting in the glass fishbowl of an office explaining my sex life to a woman named Scarlett, who burns lavender candles and has industrial hand sanitizer on her desk. gives me anxiety.

I tried bringing up our relationship status last night, but maybe I was a bit passive about it. We reached no conclusion because he had reached for me, instead. What if I march into HR with a disclosure form and he’s over there thinking we’re having fun?

I would actually die from humiliation.

I glance at my phone.