Chapter 41

EVERETT

"Are you not going home yet?" I knock on the door softly with the back of my knuckles as I stand with a foot inside the office room's threshold. His eyes stop at the file in my hands. "This was another document I prepared alongside the annual budgeting reports. It'll come in handy to cover the press release that should go out with the announcement of the new collaboration. Maybe it'll help the copywriting team with their article." I run a hand through my hair. "It was just that we left in such a hurry to the meeting that I forgot to bring it to you."

"That's no problem," Mr Thorne muses, his eyes warming under the glow of the cool white hanging lamps. "I'll go through it when I have the time."

In a way, through his words, he decides to alienate me. I put my hands behind my back as I stare at him expectantly, looking for an opening, maybe something that reinstates our earlier moment of intimacy. But his chilly exterior thwarts any prospects of an emotional exchange.

I don't und