All This Time // H.S. // A.U.

Chapter Sixty-Seven

Present Day

RILEY

"So, are you taking anymore afternoons off, or was that a one and done?" Ella asks after a meeting.

Everyone else had left the conference room, leaving us to clean up. I breathed out a small laugh, "Maybe, but as of now, no."

"That guy hasn't asked you out on a second date?"

My face burned, but I kept my composure, "It wasn't a date."

Her eyebrow twitched as she challenged me, "It wasn't?"

I could hear the sarcasm dripping off her words. Ignoring them, I add, "We're just friends."

"Mhm..." she doesn't say anything for a moment, then, "But just theoretically if it was a date-"

"Ella," I sighed, "it wasn't. I don't have time to date, especially not now with all the projects we have going on."

"You don't have time to date, because you refuse to make time." She points out. "You're married to this place."

"Is that so bad?"

"It is when you're working yourself into an early grave."

I give her a look, "I am not doing that."

She picks up the last of the folders, "Aren't you supposed to be able to enjoy your life while you're young? This whole "work hard, play later" attitude is very boomer of you."

Frowning, I follow her out of the room, "I take offense to that."

"Good, you should." She shoots back.

"I'm not that bad."

It's her turn to give me a look this time, "So, are you never planning to date again?"

"What?" I ask, unlocking my office.

"Well, you keep saying you don't have the time," Ella follows me in, setting the folders down on my desk, "but we're just getting busier and busier. Bigger and bigger. When do you ever expect to have time to date again? Are you just going to be single until you decide to retire?"

I frown, "No."

"When do plan on putting yourself out there again?" I go to speak, but she interrupts, "Because we can't really count the men you've been with recently. They never stood a chance."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you pick men that you know have no chance with you." She says simply, then huffs out a laugh, "Like Keane. You knew you would never date him."

"I mean..." I start, shifting in my chair, "I didn't know that."

"That's because you're doing it subconsciously."

"What are you? A therapist."

"It's part of the job description." Ella says primly, "But you know I'm right."

Of course, she was. Since the disaster that was my last real relationship ended a few months into The Everstaad Company's beginning, I had purposely chosen men I knew I wouldn't actually want in the long run. Keane was the perfect example of that. And every time, I would use my work as an excuse.

"Okay, fine." I admit, "I choose duds."

"Except this last one." Her eyes narrow and she leans in, "Which means he must be the real deal."

I snort, she had no idea.

"It really wasn't a date." She gives me an "do I look stupid" look, so I press, "I promise you. He suggested we go because he knows I'm a big soccer fan."