Chapter 4
Next day
8:43 am
The question repeated itself as he drove to the interview. In the company of others, it had been easy to avoid her. But now, there was nowhere to hide. He snuck a peek at the woman next to him and his expression softened. Much as he'd dreaded facing her, the sight of her brightened his day. He'd missed her plain and simple. If he felt like this after twenty-four hours of her absence, how would he feel when she moved to New York?
"Bobby?" said Sue breaking the silence. "I've been thinking..."
Panicking at the thought of what she might say, he deliberately sidetracked the conversation, "About your interview yesterday?" he pretended interest. "How did it go?"
Perplexed by the abrupt interruption, nonetheless she answered, "It was fine. I wasn't really asked a lot of questions."
"You weren't?" Bobby was surprised. "Then why did they want you to fly up there?"
She shrugged. "He gave me the fifty cent tour of the place as he explained what the job would entail."
"He?"
"William Gates," she replied with a suppressed smile. She waited for the expected reaction.
Bobby did a double take. "William Gates? Like in Bill Gates? I thought you were interviewing for a position with counter terrorism."
She giggled. "No, not that Bill Gates although this one said he's the original since he's older. This one is the assistant to the head of the agency that I would work for."
Bobby started to smile in response to Sue's laughter but at the mention of the future move, it vanished. "He must get the best tables at restaurants when he makes reservations with that name," he said with forced cheerfulness.
"He did mention that little perk," smiled Sue.
Awkward silence descended once again upon the couple. "Bobby," Sue began again quietly, "we have to talk."
"About what?" he replied dismissively. "There's nothing to talk about." He tried to deflect her questions. "Remember? Nothing happened."
Sue stared at Bobby in hurt and confusion. "But something did," she said softly.
Grimly focusing on the road ahead, Bobby stole a quick peek at her. Instantly, he felt remorseful at the pain he'd cause her. He could feel his control slipping but knew he had to rein them in. "We can't talk about it now, Sue. We have to put our personal feelings aside and do our job," he said bleakly.
Sue nodded unhappily. An uneasy silence descended upon them for the rest of the trip.
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