Page 26 of Love Linked

He shrugged. “I thought it was implied.”

I snorted and shook my head. “That’s hysterical. I can promise you, nothing about your clipped responses and stoic attitude screamed praise.”

He stared at me for a moment. I worried I had gone too far with the teasing. How unprofessional was I being? I had gotten lost in our easy candor and had completely forgotten who I was speaking to.

“Sorry, I—”

“Don’t apologize,” he interrupted. “You’re right. I should be equally as clear when I’m communicating praise as when I’m communicating criticism. I’ll do better.”

“Oh, um. Thanks?” It came out as a question. I cursed my shaking voice. His demeanor confused me, and I found my natural confidence wavering.

“If you’ll excuse me, it’s past time I call it a night.” He nodded at me and pushed away from the wall we leaned on. I gave a pathetic wave goodbye, but he didn’t turn around as he made a beeline for the door.

I leaned my head back and groaned. How had I managed to take a perfectly good conversation and ruin it? He was warming up to me before I obviously offended him.

“How’d it go?” Lila once again appeared at my side. “You were talking for awhile.”

In response, I grabbed her drink and took a long gulp.

She winced. “Not so good? He did seem to rush out of here pretty quickly.”

“Apparently I have a knack for getting on his nerves.”

She patted my shoulder. “There, there. The good news is you might not have to work with him for very long.”

I glanced at her excited face, anticipating my response.

The words about my plan to quit stuck in my throat. I could tell myself it was because of the setting—surrounded by coworkers—but we were alone in this quiet corner. In truth, I was still too scared to say it out loud.

Lila’s face fell at my silence, and I gave her a guilty shrug. Soon enough I would have to face this.

Chapter Eleven

NATHAN

“Big plans for the day, bro?”Oliver sauntered into the living room where I was working on a challenging line of code. I glanced at the time. Unsurprising he would sleep in until eight-thirty a.m. on a Saturday.

I sighed, not wanting to chat this morning. This condo had an open floor plan, and unless I remained in the tiny guest bedroom, I had nowhere to hide.

“Just trying to figure something out,” I muttered.

Clanging came from the kitchen, and I looked up in frustration. Oliver had taken every pan out of the cabinets and now rummaged around the fridge. I looked back at my laptop, trying to focus, only for Oliver to drop a metal spoon. The clattering caused me to close my computer and get up.

“Where are you going?” Oliver asked as I moved to put some shoes on.

“The office. I want to get something done.”

“But it’s Last Sunday Brunch,” he protested.

“Excuse me?”

“The last Sunday of every month, Harrison and I cook up a big brunch and then we usually go do something. Today we’re hitting the climbing gym. It’s tradition.”

“It’s a Saturday,” I pointed out.

He waved off my point. “We can’t do it tomorrow. Harrison has to head into the shop early. Come on. Youhaveto stay.”

“I really can’t.”