“I won’t be able to pay you back for a while,” I whimpered as I wiped my tears and tried to gather myself.
“Come on, baby, I'm not tripping off that money. I don’t want it back. I never paid it to him with the intention of you repaying me. If that were the case, we would have negotiated terms before I did it. It’s all good. My bad with this one. I see you aren't the type of woman that wants to be taken care of. Excuse me as I’m still getting to know you,” Azmir spoke very earnestly. It was as sincere as I could believe; keeping in mind, I was still getting to know him, too. The tears continued to fall involuntarily as I remained facing the wall. I didn’t know how to follow that up.
After a few moments of silence I muttered, “I know you have a meeting to get to. Go on ahead. I’ll gather myself before heading back to my next appointment,” I used it as a means of releasing him.
He walked out of the room immediately. I didn’t know how to read that and therefore the tears continued to stream. Seconds later, he returned with a box of Kleenex and a bottle of water.
I felt him stand behind me for what seemed like hours but in reality were minutes. He seemed to have felt obligated to stay. I didn’t like that so I dismissed him by saying, “I know you have to go. I’ll be fine…just go ahead,” my words were served dry but I was just that angry.
“Look, Rayna—” he attempted.
“Just go—please,” I moaned trying to control my sobs. And with that, he left. I took a few minutes to gather my bearings and went back to my office.
When I entered, Sharon looked at me as if I had lost my mind.
“Ms. Brimm, your eleven a.m. has been waiting for nearly a half hour and your twelve thirty has arrived early. Is everything okay? Should I reschedule them?” Sharon asked sympathetically.
I couldn’t cancel my appointments because of my personal issues so I declined before apologizing for my lapse in professionalism. I always remembered I was a leader in the office and had to wear that hat no matter how bad my day was going.