Free A Night to Forget by Jessica Wood

about him since that night in Cancun. I could not give him that satisfaction.
    He smiled at me before his attention moved on to Josh, who began to introduce himself. Brandon’s warm smile was like a cold dagger twisting at my heart. Sadness overwhelmed me at the realization that if he had forgotten about me, then that night must have meant nothing to him. He hadn’t lost me my number. He never called because he never wanted to see me again. I blinked back the hot tears that were threatening their way down my cheeks.
    After the introductions, the group leaders left the conference room, and the rest of the afternoon’s orientation session went by in a blur.
    At the end of the day, many of the new associates were heading to the Ferry Building down by the wharf for happy hour.
    “Are you sure you can’t come?” Sarah asked.
    “Yeah, sorry. I have some other plans,” I lied. “But I’ll see you tomorrow.” I put on a fake smile.
    “Okay, sure. I can’t wait! We actually get to start working with Brandon tomorrow. He’s so hot,” Sarah said with a giggle.
    “Yeah, he is,” I said weakly. “See you tomorrow.”

Chap ter 8

    “Emma, what’s going on?” Jill asked over the phone as I picked up. “I saw that I got five missed calls from you, but you didn’t leave a message.”
    “Oh, Jill. It was awful,” I exclaimed.
    “What was?” she asked, “Wasn’t today your first day at work? What happened?”
    “I saw him. He—he’s going to be my boss,” I said, still in disbelief.
    “Emma, I don’t understand. Who’s he?”
    “ Him . Brandon. The guy I slept with in Cancun. The guy from my dreams. The guy that never called,” the words rushed out of me.
    “What?! You saw him again? In San Francisco?” Jill asked, still confused.
    “Yes,” I croaked, “He’s Brandon Fisher ,” I said as I emphasized his last name, “As in Fisher & Morrison Consulting. He’s the son of the CEO and founding partner, and he’s going to be my boss.”
    “ Woah,” Jill said. “Let’s try to get Steph and Gloria on the line too to hear this. This just got crazy, and I know they’ll want to hear this.”
    Within seconds, Steph and Gloria came on the line.
    “Hey girls, what’s up?” Steph asked.
    “Hi guys! I’ve missed you guys so much,” Gloria said excitedly.
    “Sorry for the late call, Gloria. I’m surprised that you picked up. Isn’t it like 4 a.m. in Paris right now?” Jill asked.
    “Oh, right. I’m still adjusting to the time change,” Gloria explained quickly. “What’s going on?”
    “Something crazy happened to Emma at work today, and I thought you guys would want to hear it from her,” Jill said, “Emma?”
    I told the girls in painful detail what happened at work and my voice cracked several times as I fought back the tears.
    “What a fucking asshole,” Steph said as soon as I finished talking.
    “Right? How can he not remember?” Jill demanded.
    “Are you okay, Emma?” Gloria asked.
    “I don’t know. I think I’m still in shock,” I said. “You know, I was really excited about this job, not just because it’s my dream job, but part of me was relying on this job to keep my mind busy and off of him. I thought this would be my fresh start and I could put him behind me forever.” I sighed before continuing, “But now … now he’s everywhere. Even when I try to forget about him, he seems to show up—and at my job, of all places. And now, he’s my group leader, so I have to see him every day and I can’t even avoid him. And what hurts the most is that he doesn’t even remember me?”
    “What a fucking bitch,” Steph exclaimed, “You should sue him for sexual harassment. He can’t get away with this!”
    Despite my mood, I laughed at Steph’s words. “I can’t do that, Steph. He didn’t sexually harass me.”
    “Well he took advantage of you and you were drunk,” she argued.
    “But I wanted to have sex with him,” I said, feeling the pain of those words,