Big Chicas Don't Cry(68)

“Not that I know of off the top of my head. Why, did you want to do something?”

“Well, it’s my mom’s birthday. We’re having a barbecue at the house. I thought it would be nice if you could come.”

The fingers that had been rubbing my shoulders stopped.

Uneasiness began to creep through me. “But I’ll understand if you don’t want to. My family is pretty big, and they can be intimidating. You know what? Never mind. It’s not a big deal at all.”

His chest heaved with a deep sigh. “Gracie, I think we need to talk.” Tony turned me around to face him again. I didn’t like the look in his eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

“Remember when I said earlier that I might move?”

“Yes. But I thought you’d stopped looking at other apartments?”

“I did. But only because there’s a possibility I might be moving back to Texas.”

My throat tightened as he told me that he had been invited to interview for a trainer position with a college baseball team. I didn’t recognize the name of the school, but it didn’t matter. It was in Texas. “If they offer it to me, I’m going to take it. It’s an amazing opportunity.”

I swallowed my pain. “It is. I’m really happy for you, Tony.”

He reached out and cupped my chin. It took everything I had not to pull away. “You’re wonderful, Gracie. And I’ve loved spending time with you these past few months.” He then took my hands and squeezed them. “Shit. I’m sorry. Please don’t think I only wanted to get laid. I do care about you, but I can’t offer you what you need right now when my life is so . . . up in the air. You’re the type of girl who deserves a real boyfriend. Someone who can promise you forever. And that’s not me. At least, not right now.”

I didn’t know what to say. My sister and Erica came to mind, and I tried to think of what they would do in this situation. Forcing all my emotions down, I attempted a smile and nodded. “I get it. I care about you too.”

I have no idea if Tony believed my brave front. It probably didn’t matter since he’d gotten himself off the hook of having to deal with a hysterical Gracie. I’m sure that’s why he didn’t try to stop me when I told him I had to get home and grade papers.

During every crisis in my life, big or small, I always turned to God for answers.

But as I drove home later, I didn’t even want to talk to him about this.





Chapter Thirty-Eight


ERICA


He was nearly twenty minutes late to our meeting.

I was already pissed before, but I was raging now.

Adrian had stood me up for his ex-girlfriend.

If I’d had any doubt about Isela’s intentions, they were wiped clean weeks ago. First it started with texts. Then phone calls. He told me it felt weird to be talking to her again, but it also felt nice since they’d known each other for years.

I kept my mouth shut for the most part. I didn’t want to act like a jealous hag. Even though I was.

Although I accepted I had romantic feelings for him, I knew nothing could ever happen between us as long as he was my boss. He was by the book all the way. Not to mention the fact that he’d never once shown the slightest hint that he liked me that way too.

I was resigned to pushing my feelings down, as always.

But it was getting harder now that Isela was encroaching on my territory. She’d shown up at the newsroom an hour ago to take Adrian to lunch.

He’d seemed surprised, even annoyed, I thought, and I settled in my chair, ready to witness him telling her to back the fuck off. Okay, he probably would have never said that. Those were my words.

Yet, he let her convince him, and then they were headed out the door. A few minutes later he texted and said he’d be back in time for our two p.m. meeting to read over the most current draft of a big school board article I was working on. I had found out that construction had stopped on a new high school because it turned out the budget for it had been so mismanaged that the district was in the hole for millions of dollars. The board had hired a consultant months ago to review the books, and his report was explosive.

My story was almost ready. So much so that I wanted to convince him to run it that Friday. My sources at the district had mentioned that another reporter had visited the superintendent yesterday. If someone else was sniffing around, that meant something was about to break, and we needed to be the ones to break it first.

Adrian, however, wanted to get a third confirmation on the report since I’d first received it anonymously through the mail. I’d been able to verify its authenticity by two district employees. He’d insisted we needed one more.

I had planned to be reasonable and hear his side out during our meeting. But the longer it took for him to walk through the door, the less gracious I was feeling.

He finally arrived at 2:27 p.m.

“I know, I know. The food took forever.” He rushed as he sat down next to me and placed a notebook and pen on the table.

I shook my head and shoved the article toward him. “We only have half an hour to go through this now. The staff meeting is at three today.”

“I’m sorry. Do you want to reschedule for tomorrow?”

“No, I don’t. I already told you that we should run it Friday. That means it has to go to Charlie today so he can take it to Tom tomorrow for his sign-off. The graphics team is going to need some time to pull all the stuff together.”