Dating My Boss in My Dreams

Chapter 5 Goodbye to the Dream

When the weather turned, I caught a brutal cold. And as if that weren't enough, my period showed up too. It felt like the mattress had swallowed me whole. Getting up for a glass of water felt like more than I could manage.

The medicine put me under almost right away.

In the dream I was in my bedroom again. Arthur was sitting on the edge of the bed. He'd just handed me a glass of warm water when I wrapped my arms around his waist and pressed my hot face into him.

"You're so cool," I mumbled.

"That's because you're running a fever."

I ignored that and tipped my face up, looking for his mouth. Arthur leaned back and put his hand to my forehead.

"Wake up and eat something first."

"Kiss me, and then I'll wake up."

Being sick was as good an excuse as any to be unreasonable. I pestered him until he finally bent down and brushed his lips over mine. It wasn't enough. I caught his collar and followed him when he tried to retreat. Only when both our breathing had turned hot did he grip my shoulders.

"Chloe. Wake up."

I opened my eyes to a darkened room and an empty bed.

Sophie had sent me more than a dozen messages. The last one asked whether I wanted her to bring me some soup. I stared at the ceiling for a long time before forcing myself up.

Arthur wasn't at work the next day.

A colleague said he had caught a nasty cold too and gone to the hospital that morning. He finally appeared close to noon, looking pale, his lips slightly swollen.

When we crossed paths in the corridor, he stopped.

"Feeling better?"

I nodded, not daring to look at his mouth.

I wasn't delusional enough to believe I was the one who had kissed them swollen. The far more reasonable explanation was that he had someone in his life who could be that intimate with him.

Seriously? Why did it have to be like this?

On Valentine's night, I ran into a new post from Evelyn.

In the photo she was smiling, a golden British Shorthair tucked against her. Winston was stretched out across her lap, calm as anything. The caption read: A cat next to me—and you.

In my dreams Winston had a terrible temper. The first time I picked him up, he scratched me. If he was willing to lie that quietly in Evelyn's arms, she had to be someone Arthur's life already made room for.

I looked at that picture and something cold worked its way through my chest.

If Arthur had a girlfriend in real life, then what did that make me—the woman holding him and kissing him every night in a dream?

At the next department mixer, everyone pushed Arthur and me into singing a love song, one about dreams. I can usually hold a tune. That night I couldn't make myself look up. I came in late more than once.

Arthur's voice stayed steady the whole way through.

When the song ended, he handed his mic back to the host without looking at me.

That night I sat by the window in my dream apartment. Arthur came up behind me and put his arms around me.

"Why wouldn't you look at me tonight?" he asked.

I shook my head.

He gave a quiet laugh. "Coward."

I couldn't smile.

I was a coward. I'd loved him for a year and never once let myself get close. Then I'd spent six months living inside something beautiful, and one photo was all it took to make me feel like a thief.

When I woke up, I went to see my cousin Mary.

She heard me out, then went quiet for a beat. "A dream's not always just a dream, you know. Sometimes it's a bridge. You sure you want to burn it down?"

"I'm sure."

I couldn't keep laying claim to a man in a dream when he wasn't mine anywhere else.

Mary drew the blinds in her office and had me lean back in the chair.

I closed my eyes.

Her voice pulled farther and farther away.

When I opened my eyes, I was in the dream apartment. No rain outside this time. Arthur had on a turquoise sweater, sleeves shoved up to his elbows, and he was brushing Winston.

Maybe this would be the last time I ever saw him.