Commitment

Part 37

At lunch, Regan was at the kitchen sink, her back to him when he walked into the room.

She turned slightly, saw who it was and frowned. She had hoped to avoid the three of them for as long as possible. Not just for the debacle. "Mr Cardozo." She turned back to face the sink, hoping he'd get what he needed and then leave.

"Caro and I are dating." He told her back and saw her shoulders tense. Clearly Caro was right, Regan was jealous. Not sure that two dates, one with his family, counted as dating.

"Great." She said with no inflection. This was an awful day. First that run in with Gray and Ms Hanley, then this situation.

Gray expected Regan to turn around but she didn't. He banked his frustration, "So I'd appreciate you treating Caro with courtesy." He'd decided that he'd offer Regan an apology for last night, but also make it very clear that she did not have free shots at Caro just because it suits her goals.

"Are you implying I don't?" She kept her back to him, as his words cut through her heart.

She knew she shouldn't get her hopes up, especially after yesterday's dinner and this morning's bizarre event with Caro's parking. Today, clearly from the way he'd reacted to Caro when Caro had arrived earlier, he'd unmistakably found Caro interesting. Of course Caro was a beautiful woman, a well-dressed woman, with admirable manners there was no doubt about that, but still, hearing him make explicit claims about his relationship with Caro, showed Regan that there was no hope for Regan and him. Hope? For what? A relationship with Gray? Her brain mocked her. What happened to her plan to remain reticent, her brain questioned her heart. Her mind had a quiet argument with her heart: there was no hope, remember last night. Remember this morning.

"You haven't this far." Gray declared. Hopefully she'd apologise, then he could apologise and they'd be all square! No chance of that, said his conscience. In any other situation, he would sit down with his opponent, would talk about the situation, and would look for compromise, leaving all happy. But with Regan, that was a non-starter. Every time he thought they moved in tandem, albeit a partnership in someway, only to find that their paths were divergent. Why would she help him with his self-esteem only for her to shoot his social sphere by being rude to his friends?

"I beg to differ." She muttered and kept popping the ice cubes out of the tray: The actions allowed her to vent without yelling.

"You were rude to her!" He stated bluntly, seeing that his grand plan was falling apart. How was he supposed to apologise now, for last night, when she was not making any effort to meet him half way for this morning event. But he offered a token apology, "You know, I am sorry we didn't tell you about the dinner. We should have told. We should have asked for permission to use your crockery and your home. We should have checked if you were available and if you were available we should have asked you to come to dinner." He continued, "You know my reasons, I was worried that you might not enjoy Caro's company. That probably influenced my behaviour. Unfortunately, I made a mistake. I was rude, get I that, by not inviting you to dinner, without even tell you about it, that is plain rude. I am sorry about that. I can't do anything about that now." He paused, expecting her to say something. But she didn't. He poked his tongue in his cheek and took a moment, then said bluntly, "I want you to know, Caro will be around. And despite the fact that you claim you have no issues with Caro because you do not know her, I would like you to show respect. friendly at least!"

His words hurt. Ok, so she clearly felt a lot more for him than he felt for her, but even so, she wasn't expecting it to hurt this much, hearing him talking about another woman.

"Fine." She scooped the ice cubes together and then reached for the second tray in the sink. She ran the second tray under the running tap, then turned the tap off.