“He’s been impossible since you started working for him.”
I looked across the room.
Marco was adjusting the clasp of Rosa’s necklace while she lectured him about eating properly.
“I didn’t know.”
His sister smiled.
“That’s because you’re both idiots.”
I laughed before I could stop myself.
Marco looked over at the sound.
He didn’t come toward me.
He just smiled.
For the remainder of the week, he kept every promise.
Separate rooms.
No manufactured affection.
No private pressure.
We walked the beach once with the family and spoke mostly about work.
We sat across from each other at meals instead of side by side.
When his relatives tried to interfere, he shut them down.
On the final morning, as the cars were being loaded, Marco handed me the black folder.
“I think this belongs to you.”
I opened it.
The itinerary was still there.
So was his handwritten note.
Keep it simple.
I tore that page in half.
Marco watched.
“Fair.”
Back in Manhattan, I moved out of the assistant role within three weeks.
The transfer came with no romantic condition attached and no hidden punishment.
My new position used the skills I had been doing quietly for years, except now I had authority that existed independently of Marco.
For thirty days, he did not call me after hours.
He did not send flowers.
He did not manufacture emergencies.
He did not appear outside my apartment like a man in one of the ridiculous romances I secretly read on airplanes.
At work, he treated me with careful professionalism.
It was almost unbearable.
On the thirty-first day, my phone buzzed at 6:12 in the evening.
Marco.
I stared at his name and remembered another call close to midnight that had changed everything.
This time, I answered without panic.
“Mr.
Ricci?”
There was a pause.
“Am I still Mr.
Ricci outside work?”
I leaned back in my chair.
“What do you want, Marco?”
“One dinner.”
My heart betrayed me immediately.
He continued before I could answer.
“No family.
No fake relationship.
No folder.
No obligation.
If you say no, nothing changes professionally.”
I let him wait.
He deserved at least ten seconds.
