I was late. The third time in a month, and that wasn't good. If there were any threats or major leads, James would have my head. He was a great boss but there was one thing he couldn't stand and that was being late. And I had no real excuse except that I was having trouble sleeping. Last night was the one month marker of the day my ex-boyfriend, Bryan and I, had broken it off. I spent more than half the night debating whether to call him and ask him to change his mind or tell him I'd changed mine. I kept replaying the day that he had broken it off in my head, wondering if things could've been different: I sat on one end of my light blue couch; Bryan at the other end. His hazel eyes were unreadable, and his stiff blonde hair full of gel bothered me. He was 5'11 and not well built despite the hours I knew he spent at the gym. He was wearing board shorts, and a surfer tee with sneakers. We were watching a ball game and eating pizza. It was my first day off in a long time, it felt good to just sit and relax.

"Amanda, we need to talk."

Here we go. Things had been not right between us for a while. I thought some of it was my fault for working so many hours but then I remembered that six months ago I had told him I was falling for him and he said: "Yeah". I asked what he had felt, and he had said, "I'm here, aren't I?" Well, that wasn't a good sign and since then we had drifted further and further apart. In the past six months I had maybe seen him five times, three of them were dates that ended in fights. We hadn't been intimate for longer than that. I just wasn't sure how he felt; I wasn't going to give everything in a relationship I was unsure about. "Yeah, about what?" As if I didn't know. "Us. This isn't working."

No kidding. "And?"

He put the pizza down and lifted his feet off the coffee table. He then stood up and turned facing me. "Well, you have a choice to make. Me or your job."

"What?? Are you seriously asking me that?" I stood up and crossed my arms.

"Yep, I never see you, you're doing a job that is too dangerous for a chick, and I think you should settle down and start a family with me." He took a step towards me and reached for my hand, but I pulled back.




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