Bittersweet Love

Chapter 14

The Next Day....

Allison's POV

"I guess we'll have to reschedule."

"Definitely! I'm so sorry Ryan. I really wanted to go but James threatened to fire me if I didn't work tonight," I sincerely apologized to Ryan.

His face showed sadness and disappointment. I looked away, hating myself well more James for causing him to feel this way. I was currently attempting to let Ryan down easy about canceling our date tonight and part of me felt as if I was doing the right thing which is incredibly weird.

"How about tomorrow night? Just you and me. But this time, let's not tell anyone in the office," Ryan asked me with a knowledgable expression.

I smiled and a second later, I thought of the conversation I had this morning with my brother and sighed, "I can't tomorrow night. I'm having a sibling movie night with my older brother and we haven't had one in a while."

"But what about Sunday?" I added with a hopeful tone of voice.

"Can't. My brother and his wife are coming over for dinner on Sunday. I haven't seen them in a long time and they are flying in from California. But you are more than welcome to come," Ryan said to me with a warm smile.

"I'll have to get back to you on that." I told him, unaware of two familiar women watching our interaction.

He nodded and picked up the file from my desk. "I'll see you later, Allie," with that, I watched him walk away, still feeling immensely guilt.

I groaned and fell back into my desk chair, putting my head in my hands. I can't believe I canceled on such a great guy all because of James. That handsome jerk had been ruining my mood since I got here this morning.

"Oh someone's having a bad day. What's wrong, Allison?" A woman's voice suddenly asked me, followed by a light sound of clapping hands. 

I lifted my head up to see Paloma struggling to carry her black purse and a smiling baby boy, who looked almost identical to Enzo. I quickly stood up and helped Paloma with her purse by setting it down on my desk.

"Thank you so much! I'm here to speak with Adrian about Olivia's party and Enzo's mom canceled on me so there's no one to take care of Noah. This is why I tell Enzo that we should leave Noah at my parents' sometimes." Paloma ranted in frustration.

I smiled at the humorous scene in front of me due to the fact that I got to see a different side to Paloma. Her motherly, impatient, and small amount of anger towards her husband.

She readjusted her hyper two year old on her hip before saying, "Sorry. Enough about me. Tell me what's wrong. I came over after you were talking to that cute man and let me tell you that you both would make such a good looking couple. But you looked sad after he left."

I blushed at her words and explained, "Ever since my ex boyfriend cheated on me last year, I hadn't built up the courage to go on a date and now that I possessed a chance, I had to turn it down!"

"Why?"

"James apparently needs me tonight to work on this presentation or something like that at his house! I was looking forward to a nice evening with Ryan. Then on the other hand, I got in a fight with Camilla because of her secret boyfriend that I have yet to meet!" I frantically yelled at the end. 

"Well I think I can help you with your Camilla situation. However, your other issue can only be resolved by James if he let you have the night off. Which I don't think will happen since he is as stubborn as a bull."