Part 28 (1/2)
Rosalie couldn't help herself. The tears started flowing.
”Oh, G.o.d. Please don't cry. I hate when girls cry, even you.”
'Thanks, that's so touching.”
”Yeah, you know me, Mr. Sensitivity. So, how's that cute little secretary of yours? Does she ask about me?”
Rosalie buckled up and checked to see if he was serious. He sure looked serious.
”Whoa, are you talking about Gina? You know she'd fillet you if she heard you called her a secretary-she's my a.s.sistant. Why would Gina ask about you? You met her, what, once?”
”Yeah, but we spent some quality time under the mistletoe at the Christmas party you dragged me to. Then we ran into each other on New Year's Eve-”
”She never told me that.”
Richie waggled his eyebrows.
”You didn't sleep with my a.s.sistant, did you?”
Rich pulled into traffic and adjusted the mirrors. ”I don't kiss-and-tell. I told her I was flying in tonight. You're going to lend me your car, right?”
”You're not going to do anything weird or gross in it, are you?”
”What do you think? I'm a professor, for Christ's sake. I don't have to use backseats of cars anymore.”
”Yeah, but Gina's living with her sister and her brother-in-law the cop while they're saving for a house. It's not like you're going to her place. And I'd be willing to bet you still can't sneak a girl into your bedroom at Chez Ronaldi.” Chez Ronaldi.”
”I'm not going to discuss my s.e.x life with my little sister.”
”Fine, I'll keep out of your personal life, if you keep out of mine. Deal?”
”Sounds to me like you no longer have a personal life.” ”Yeah, thanks for pointing that out.” ”Hey, what's a big brother for?”
Nick sat on the cold, hard sand staring out at the waves. The tide was coming in, and soon he'd have to get his a.s.s up, or he'd turn into a human icicle. He couldn't muster the energy to care. He watched as the waves came closer and closer to his feet G.o.d, he was a sorry case. He knew he was lame when he started playing chicken with the surf in winter.
He stood and checked his cell phone for the millionth time. She still hadn't called. With every hour that went by, his hope waned and the pain in his heart increased. It was as if someone were cutting it out. He had heard people say they were heartsick, and he thought it was a euphemism, but this pain was definitely real. No amount of drinking, no amount of running, and no amount of denying made it go away.
He'd reconsidered groveling, but if Rosalie had wanted him back, she would have said so. Contacting her was against the rules. Why did he have to fall flat on his face in love with the one woman in the world who didn't want him?
Nick knew he had to make a clean break. He just hoped that he never ran into her. If he did, he'd probably end up on his knees, begging her to take him back-rules or no rules. It was hard enough dreaming about her every night. That same f.u.c.king dream over and over and over. He awoke alone in a cold sweat, breathing like a freight train.
No wonder he had avoided love all these years. It sucked. It hurt. And once it had you in its clutches, it wouldn't let you go.
Rosalie tore the last four days off her Far Side Far Side desk calendar, taking note of the tax-day cartoon. desk calendar, taking note of the tax-day cartoon.
”Rosalie, do you want to go to Katz's for lunch? It's supposed to reach seventy degrees today, and they're working at that new construction site. Maybe the guys will take off their s.h.i.+rts. You need eye candy.”
”It's against OSHA regulations for construction workers to work without a s.h.i.+rt, pants, and hard hat, Gina. No matter how hot it is.”
”Really? Are you sure? When I walk by, the guys are always taking off their s.h.i.+rts.”
”Yeah, well, it has more to do with you than with the temperature outside.”
”Hmm.” She shrugged and sat on the corner of Rosalie's desk. ”Come on, we haven't gone to lunch since before you and he-who-shall-not-be-mentioned split up. It's been over a month.
”What's going on? You haven't been eating, you're losing weight, and I know you're not pregnant. You're not, right? You'd tell me if you were, wouldn't you?”
”I can't believe you'd ask that. We always have our periods at the same time.”
”Well, yeah, but the last time I had mine, you never asked to borrow a tampon. What's up with that? You always forget or run out.”
”Nick put all the stuff lying all over the apartment away. Who knew I had, like, four boxes of tampons scattered around? I had to bring one into the office. There was no room left in the bathroom cabinet.”
”Makes sense, especially since you seemed to have PMS from h.e.l.l, though it was hard to tell if it was the breakup, or PMS, or a combination of both that made you act a little insane.”
Rosalie shook her head and wondered if every a.s.sistant talked to her boss like this.
”That still doesn't explain why you're not eating. You've lost so much weight, even your skinny clothes are hanging on you.”
”I've lost weight. So what?”
”So, you look like h.e.l.l. You look worse than you did when you had pneumonia, and believe me, you looked like s.h.i.+t then.”
”I did? Why didn't you say something?”
”Me? I didn't think it was my place-”
”As if that ever stopped you. Gina, since we're having this little heart-to-heart, tell me something. How'd it go with my brother?” Her jaw dropped. Yeah, Rosalie had gotten her good. ”You know, Rich, the tall, good-looking Italian guy you went out with three times the week he was here over spring break.”
”Yeah, I know who you mean. So, we went out a few times. It was nice.”
”Nice? It sounds as if Rich thought it was more than 'nice.' He's been calling and asking about you.” Gina gave her that shrug that meant she didn't want to talk about it. ”So, you're seeing my big brother, huh?”
”We hung out together when he was in town. It's nothing serious. He lives in-where is it-Maine, Vermont, New Hamps.h.i.+re? Somewhere like that.”
”He lives in Vermont but teaches in New Hamps.h.i.+re.”
”Yeah, well, he went back home. We had a good time during his visit. Now it's over, and he's doing whatever he does out there in the sticks.”
Gina rolled her eyes, and Rosalie pretended not to notice. She paged through the notes on her desk.
Gina slid off the desk and sprinted out, pulling the door closed behind her. Rosalie waited a second to make sure she wouldn't reappear. When she thought the coast was clear, she retrieved the bottle of Mylanta she kept in her bottom desk drawer, took a healthy swig, and chased it down with cold coffee. Yuck.
By four o'clock, Rosalie was ready to leave. She needed to go shopping. Gina had a point. Even her skinny clothes were hanging on her. Doing the whole safety pin on the waistband thing was getting tedious, not to mention dangerous. As much weight as she'd lost everywhere else, though, none of it was in her chest. She'd always heard women complain that when they lost weight, their bust size decreased, but now that she was thinner than she'd been since college-okay, maybe high school-she still had big b.o.o.bs. It shouldn't have surprised her; it was all a part of the cosmic joke that was her life.
Rosalie buzzed Gina and waited for her to answer. Gina didn't. Strange. She checked the phone and saw that Gina wasn't on the line. She waited while she cleaned off her desk.