“Was it?” I ask.

“Well, it was for me,” he replies, leaning back in his leather chair that’s too fancy for the position he holds. “But maybe it wasn’t for you. Apparently you already have guys asking for your number. Yeah, I heard Juliana out there. Who’s Nathan?”

“You have got to be kidding me, Vance. You broke up with me, remember? You don’t get to act concerned about who’s asking for my number. You willingly gave up that right.”

“Well, I didn’t expect you to move on so fast,” Vance tries to rebut, but his rebuttal sucks, and now I just have to roll my eyes. “What? You don’t feel bad about lying to me?”

“Lying to you? Vance, what are you talking about?”

“You lied when you told me you cared about me. If that were true, you wouldn’t be giving your number out to random guys and waiting on them to call.”

“Can we please just select the photos you want to use for the column? I’m not interested in this shit, and this is unprofessional. Weren’t you the one who told me not to bring drama into the workplace after the breakup? Now look at you.”

“Oh, so still caring about you is drama now?” Vance bellows, drawing the attention of a couple of my colleagues outside his office door.

“Oh, my god. Keep your voice down. You’re doing way too—” I’m cut off by the sound of my phone ringing in my lap. When I look down and don’t recognize the number, my stomach drops through the chair beneath me and lands on the floor, because I already know who it is.

“Oh, is that him?” Vance asks, seeing my expression change. “Wow. Perfect timing, huh? Go ahead and answer it. Tell Nathan you’re in your boyfriend’s office. Your boyfriend who is the top columnist at the Dover News Journal. Let’s see if he can top that?”

I literally laugh out loud as I stand up and leave the office, pressing the phone to my ear as Vance continues talking to himself behind me.

“Hello?” I say, and the voice that answers is as soothing as a hand playing in my hair on a stressful day.

“Hey, beautiful,” Nas croons, sending chills up my arms and a smile to my lips. “Told you I would call. How are you?”

Vance says something in the background, distracting me before I let out a sigh and answer Nas. “I’m okay. I’m glad you called, but I’m at work right now.”

“Oh, I apologize. I didn’t mean to interrupt you at work,” Nas says. “I can call back later, or maybe we can plan to meet up once you’re off. You busy tonight?”