AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What about you, Kit?” Stacy asked after everyone had congratulated her. “You’ve been jet-setting lately, haven’t you? One of the lucky few to go to Juno’s wedding.”
“She did say she missed the rest of you, but there was only so much space on the island.”
“On the island.” Emily sighed as if she wished she was there. They spent the next few minutes bombarding me with questions about the wedding, how Juno was, and whether she was as happy as she seemed. I answered them as best as I could to satisfy their curiosity, but I made no mention of Lukas at all.
“Did you have fun?” Emily asked a moment later, so emphatic and demanding that I was taken aback. “You’ve toldus about everyone else and what they thought. How happy Juno was. But what about you?”
“It was good,” I said, not really sure what else to say. It was vague enough that it did the opposite of what I’d hoped and drew even more attention to me.
“Only good? You were on an island in the Bahamas or something, and it was only good?” Emily looked at me as if I had grown another head.
“Did someone upset you?” Helen asked.
“Was there a cute guy who didn’t want to talk or something?” Stacy leaned in closer, and it made me blush.
How did my friends know exactly what to ask?
“There was a guy, wasn’t there?” Emily looked like she’d uncovered the world’s biggest secret as I fought not to look too uncomfortable.
“He was nice enough at first, but he’s gone back to Chicago, and I’m not there. I’m here.”
Matt tilted his head to the side and turned to look at me better, the only one who hadn’t commented on it so far. “You can work just as well in Chicago, can’t you?”
“I have a lot of work here. I just got offered the interior design for most of a house. By rich people. That could set me up for the rest of the year. Not to mention the recommendations to friends and what that would get me.”
“You’re talented enough to get work in Chicago, too, and we all know it.” Emily waved her hand as if it was all an excuse and a non-issue. “I bet there would be plenty of people near a big city like that who would hire you. You could go after him. It worked for Juno.”
Although I didn’t want to talk about it, I knew there was a good chance I would have to do that now. Not only had I been offered work, but it had been from people this guy and Juno bothknew. My friends seemed to be trying to persuade me to take it before they even knew the job existed.
“So, tell us about the guy. Did he snub you or imply he wanted something, too?” Helen pulled me from my racing thoughts, but there was only one answer I could honestly give.
“Both.”
This only caused more confusion, and I found myself having to explain how Lukas had seemed very interested at some times but, in the end, had implied that his work was important to him.
“Oh…silly. He was trying to tell you he wanted you to go to him because he couldn’t leave his company to come to you. And he’s kind of right. Youcanwork anywhere. Just like Juno could. If he’s as rich as he sounds and an architect, he probably has a contact you could work for, to begin with. Someone to get you started over there.”
“I may already have a job offer from someone else at the party. Not necessarily right in Chicago, but…close enough.”
Their mouths fell open, and they all looked between each other. This conversation wasn’t going in the direction I’d expected. I shrugged, not sure what else to say.
“What are you worried about?” Matt asked, cutting through all the noise and thoughts for me and asking me a question I could handle.
“That it will all be too much. I know what to do for interior design in the UK, but the US is a different market, and they have different needs and wants. I might accidentally screw it up.” I exhaled, pushing some of the worries out toward them and feeling my body relax as I spoke some of the fears and emotions I had been bottling up.
It made me feel a lot better, and to my relief, none of them mocked me or made any more unhelpful reactive gestures. They were seriously considering what I was worried about.
“Could this guy help you with that? If he’s an architect, surely he has some idea of what people need and want over there and isn’t entirely oblivious to your part of the design process?”
Although I wasn’t completely sure if he did or didn’t, I knew he had complimented my work as if he had. Could going and taking the job from Sarai and Richard be a way that I could reach out to Lukas and at least message him about one thing? Not that I had his contact details. Perhaps I could get Juno to give them to me. Or get them from Jack.
Suddenly, I had a sort of plan coming together. My friends went through everything with me while we consumed another few bottles of wine and celebrated the successes I already had.
Slowly, they put every fear I had to rest, especially when they learned that Sarai had asked me based on seeing my other work and then hearing what I would already have thought to do.
“If she came to you and got enthusiastic like that about just hearing your ideas, they want your style over there. They want what you can create.” Emily smiled as if it was obvious.
“But it’s not that simple. I could do it differently from how they’re picturing. People can hear the same word and imagine two different things.” I still shook my head, not able to completely let go of this fear as I had the others.
