Flirting with Forever: A Hot Romantic Comedy(79)

“You already did.”

His words hit me like a slap. I blinked in shock, the sting making my breath catch.

He didn’t give me a chance to respond. He stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

What had just happened?

It took me a moment to recover but then I went straight for my phone. I needed to reread the article. What had I written that was so terrible? It had been more personal than I’d originally intended, but I’d included experiences of other women to balance it out. What was so bad about a love letter to dating a single dad? I’d wanted to reach other women out there who might be in a relationship—or thinking about a relationship—with a single father and show them the benefits. Encourage them to take a chance.

Why had that made Dex so mad?

I opened my column and my heart dropped through my toes, settling somewhere in the ground below me. A hot fling with a single dad?

This wasn’t what I wrote. They hadn’t just edited my article, they’d printed something entirely new. I hadn’t written a word of this.

No wonder Dex was so angry. This article was awful. It was manipulative and fake, encouraging women to suck up to a single dad’s kids to get him into bed. To tell him what he wants to hear—to lie to him and screw the consequences.

I never would have written this. Not even before knowing Dex. But especially not now.

I opened my door in time to see him leaving, his car racing down our street. Damn it. He was probably picking up Riley from school. Or from his parents’ house. Or maybe just taking off to get away from me until he could cool off.

My blood burned with frustration. For a moment, I thought about following him. I didn’t have his parents’ address but I could try Riley’s school. Catch up to him as quickly as possible and explain.

But I also needed to deal with my job. Fucking April. Not only had she lied to me, she’d published this trash under my name. For all I knew, she’d written it herself. Scrapped the piece I’d turned in and started over, all in the name of advertising revenue.

I was done. I had to quit, there was no other choice. I had no idea what I was going to do without a job, but I’d deal with that later. There was no way I could stay.

Still fuming, I sent Dex a quick text, telling him I could explain and I’d talk to him when I got home this evening. Then I grabbed my things and headed for my office.

The traffic on the way into the city did nothing to improve my mood. Finally, I made it to my building. I parked and got out, filled with determination.

I went up the elevator and marched in, past the receptionist and straight to April’s office. From the corner of my eye, I saw Tala and another one of our editors wave, but I didn’t respond. I had one purpose and that was to tell April exactly what I thought about what she’d done and let her know I was quitting. Immediately.

Fine, two purposes. Don’t judge, I was flustered.

April looked up in surprise when I barged into her office. “Hi, Nora.”

“I quit.”

Her eyes widened. “Excuse me?”

“I’m not sure what else you expected after the article you published to my column.”

“Maybe you should sit down.” She gestured to the chair on the other side of her desk.

“I’ll stand, thank you.”

“All right. What’s the problem with your article?”

Her soothing tone only made me angrier. “We could start with the fact that I didn’t write it. That would be bad enough. But it’s awful. It makes a complete mockery of my relationship with the man I care about and his daughter, who I also care about.”

My hands trembled but I continued. “I want that article taken down immediately and a public apology issued, both to me and to my boyfriend and his daughter.”

She looked at me with confusion. “Nora, I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you’re talking about. I admit, the article you turned in surprised me. I thought you wanted to write something a bit deeper. But I figured you must have your reasons.”

“A bit deeper? The article I wrote was nothing but depth.”

“Perhaps we have different definitions of depth. A fling with the hot single dad next door isn’t exactly a multi-layered piece about relationships.”

“I didn’t write that article.”

“What are you talking about? Of course you did.”

“No, I didn’t. I wrote about the surprising fulfillment of dating a single dad. About navigating the complexities of a relationship with not just a man, but a man and his child or children. You published a manipulative fluff piece that encourages women to lie and use a man’s kids in order to get him into bed.”

“Nora, I’m telling you, the article I approved and published is the one you turned in.”

“And I’m telling you, it isn’t. I didn’t write it.”

She opened her mouth, as if to keep arguing that I must have written it, but paused. She picked up her desk phone and dialed. “Can you come to my office for a minute? Thanks.” She hung up. “We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

A moment later, Tala came in. “You wanted to see me? Oh, hi, Nora.”

“Tala, there’s some confusion over the latest article in Living Your Best Life.”

She clasped her hands. “Oh?”