Going back to the room will mean having to finish things with Josh, and I am burned-out. A husk. I have nothing left. I need to procrastinate.
Danny answers on the second ring.
“Hi,” he says, tone a little stiff. Nothing more annoying than an uncontactable client, I imagine.
Especially one you’re doing a favor for.
“Hi, sorry I’ve been out of touch. I’ve been at a wedding and my phone is on silent.”
“It’s okay. I just finished.”
“Thank you so much. Did it all go okay?”
“Yep, for the most part. I’m at home now checking it on my iPad, flipping through the pages. The formatting looks good. Whose wedding is it?”
“The brother of a complete asshole.”
“You’re with Joshua.”
“How’d you guess?”
“I had a feeling.” He laughs. “Don’t worry. Your secrets are all safe with me.”
“I hope so.” I couldn’t care less at this point. It would serve me right to be humiliated in the halls of B&G.
“When are you back? I’d like to show you the final product.”
“Tomorrow at some point. I’ll call you when I’m back in town and I can meet you.”
“If you come over on Monday evening it would work for me. I’ve kept the spreadsheet that you wanted.
It breaks down the time it took, along with what I think costs would be by a designer in a usual commercial setting, but also a salaried staff member.”
“I’m impressed. Maybe I should bring you a thank-you pizza.”
“Yes, please.” Danny’s voice drops a cheeky half octave. “So, what did you wear to this wedding?”
“A blue dress?” I see Josh’s reflection over me in the window and jump in fright. He takes the phone out of my hand and looks at the caller ID.
“It’s Joshua. Don’t call her again. Yes, I’m serious.” He hangs it up and slides it into his pocket.
“Hey. Give it back.”
“No fucking chance. He’s who you had to sneak off and call?” The look in his eyes is getting sharper, blacker.
“It’s work related!”
He tugs on my hands to make me stand up. A door opens near us, too close to other rooms to indulge in one of our signature yelling matches. We both purse our lips and march into our room. I try not to slam the door.
“Well?” Josh crosses his arms.
“It was work related.”
“Sure. A work-related call. Dinner? What are you wearing?” He skates narrowed eyes over me, like
he’s contemplating ripping the skin right off me. I can relate. I want to punch him in the face. Energy and anger is making the air almost sulfuric. The thing about Joshua is, even when he’s furious, he’s still exquisite to look at. Maybe even more so than usual. He’s all glittery black eyes and an angry tensing jaw.
Messed-up hair and a hand on his hip, pulling his blue shirt tight. It makes being angry back with him just that little bit harder, because I have to try to not notice. It’s an unachievable endeavor that I have always struggled with, as long as I’ve known him. But still, I persevere.
“You’ve got no right to lecture me. I knew this was a disaster the second I got into your car.” I kick off both my shoes across the room. “I’m leaving soon. There’s a bus.” I grab at my bag and he stops me with a raised hand.
“In between Danny and Mindy, we’ve kind of had our fair share of jealous revelations today, don’t you think? I’m going to crack if you don’t just listen to me for once.” He wrenches out his cuff links and tosses them on the dresser and shoves up his sleeves, muttering to himself. “Little fucking asshole. What is she wearing? That guy has a fucking death wish.”
The expression on his face makes me wonder if I’ve got a death wish too. I try to position myself behind the armchair, just to give myself the illusion of space, but he points between his leather shoes.
“Don’t hide. Get over here.”
“This better be good.” I cross the room to stand in front of him and put my hands on my hips, just to puff myself up. He takes a few long moments to decide how to proceed.