Getting Dumped Read Online Free Page A

feeling my face flame. “Really, I think you’re overreacting. Collin thought I was a snitch. I don’t think I made the best impression.”
    Ernie looked me up and down. “You’re going to liven things up here for sure.”
    “You’re crazy,” I said. “Besides, I’m sort of seeing someone already.”
    “Sort of?” Ernie raised an eyebrow. “That doesn’t sound serious.”
    “It’s complicated,” I said as I began to rinse out my Tupperware in the sink. “We’re working through some disagreements about boundaries and my career and his overprotective tendencies and—” I stopped, realizing I was volunteering way too much information. “Besides, even if you’re right, it’s a moot point. The county has a very strict policy about co-workers dating.”
    Behind me, Ernie snorted. “No they don’t.”
    I turned to look at her.
    “They definitely don’t have any such rule,” she insisted.
    Burt chuckled. “They got rid of that – what, five, six years ago?”
    “Five,” Ernie said, placing her hand on his shoulder and smiling down at him. “A year after my divorce was final.”
    Burt smiled back and reached up to squeeze her hand.
    “Oh,” I said, feeling very stupid all of a sudden.
    And feeling a little uncomfortable at the thought of Burt and Ernie hooking up.
    “So, there’s no rule?” I asked, turning off the faucet as I tried in vain to remember if I’d ever seen anything in the employee manual or if I’d just taken Daniel’s word for it. “No strict county policy?”
    “Nope,” Ernie said. “You’re free to have wild, crazy sex with as many co-workers as you like.”
    “Great,” I said, feeling a sudden urge to do just that. Preferably while Daniel watched with a stake through his heart.
    “Listen, JJ, the whole crew goes out for happy hour every Monday night,” Ernie said. “We’d sure love to have you join us tonight at Goomba’s after work.”
    “That sounds good,” I said tentatively. “I’ll have to go home first to shower and change, but—”
    “Oh, you don’t have to do that,” Burt said. “You can come just like you are.”
    I looked down at my grubby coveralls and orange safety vest streaked with something smelly and gray. “Um, thanks,” I told him. “I’ll think about it. Now if you'll excuse me, there’s an accounting director I need to disembowel.”
     
    I STOOD IN front of my closet after work trying to decide whether to wear grubby landfill clothes or something sexy to confront Daniel. Did I want to irritate him or make him want to beat his head against the wall for ever refusing to acknowledge me as his girlfriend?
    I was still mulling my options in a fuzzy purple bathrobe and my pink hard hat when the doorbell rang.
    “Daniel,” I said as I flung open the door. I struggled to keep my voice even, ignoring the flood of warmth I always felt at the sight of him in a well-starched shirt and tie. “I want to talk to you.”
    “I know, I got your message,” he said, planting a soft kiss on my lips. “I came over right away.”
    My trusty feline companion, Blue Cat, leapt onto the arm of the sofa and began butting his head against Daniel’s hand. Daniel stroked his blue-gray fur, earning himself a drooly purr and a smear of cat fur across his pant leg.
    Clearly, Blue Cat had not gotten the message that I was very angry with Daniel.
    I folded my arms over my chest and tried to look stern. No easy feat given the purple bathrobe and pink hard hat.
    “What is this I hear about you threatening the engineering guy at the landfill and telling him I have asthma?” I demanded. “Or how about the whole story you made up about how county co-workers can’t date?”
    His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. I wanted him to tell me none of it was true. He sighed and stroked Blue Cat’s spine.
    “JJ, I wanted you to be healthy. I may have exaggerated a little when I left that message expressing concerns about the work environment, but I was worried