As soon as Evan had finished speaking to Chloe’s father about possible future skin grafts, he ran out in search of Natasha. He knew he’d have some explaining to do now her mother had called. Hopefully, Natasha would understand he was only trying to broker a peace deal between them. All he wanted to do was protect her from more pain down the line and hoped she could salvage something of a relationship with her mother. He would’ve done anything to have his parents back in his life, and never wanted her to feel the same void that he did.
As Natasha and Eddy disappeared out the main entrance into the car park, he jogged after them.
‘Natasha. Wait.’
When he saw the look of devastation on her face, Evan immediately regretted his actions. Regardless of the fact that he’d only done it because he’d wanted to help her move on and he thought the best way to do that was to forgive her mother, even if she couldn’t forget.
‘I should have told you—’
‘Yes, you should have, Evan. I don’t appreciate being ambushed at work, or knowing that you’ve been conspiring with my mother behind my back.’ The pain was shining in her big blue eyes and evident in her defensive body language. Evan had never regretted anything more than causing it.
‘I’m sorry. I just thought if you spoke to your mother, if she apologised, that it would help you move on.’ After last night, especially, he was hoping they could both start over. Together.
‘That was my choice. Not yours.’
‘I’m sorry I overstepped the mark. Look, can we go somewhere and talk about it at least?’
She shook her head, breaking his heart into a million little pieces. ‘No. There’s nothing to discuss. Besides which, I think we’ve become too comfortable outside of working hours. It’s probably about time we went back to being colleagues and nothing more.’
‘Is that what you want?’ He couldn’t believe that it was over between them before they’d even had a chance.
‘I don’t see that there’s any other option, Evan. You broke my trust. There’s no coming back from that.’ She turned and walked away, with Eddy trotting faithfully beside her.
Evan didn’t chase after her or attempt further apology. She’d made up her mind, wouldn’t hear him out or try to understand him. Just like everyone else in his life. Perhaps she was right. They should go back to simply being work colleagues. It was safer that way, and less painful.
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