“Okay?” Whitney moved away from her computer. “You two are making me nervous. What is this about?”
Carina walked around the desk and hugged Whitney’s shoulders. “You know you are wonderful, right?”
Olivia placed a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup on her desk, and not the miniatures that she kept in her desk drawer for thosesuper-stressed days that Whitney had now and again, but the king-size, shareable pack.
“What is this? Some kind of intervention?” Whitney laughed, but they stayed silent. “What?”
Olivia’s eyes got wide. “Sort of.”
Carina placed her hands on Whitney’s desk. “We’ve got some news.”
“Is it bad?”
“It’s about Roger.”
“Is he okay?” Whitney placed her hand on her heart. It wouldn’t be the first time she heard of someone in perfect athletic shape dying of a heart attack. Or a car accident. She was always telling him he drove too fast.
“No. He’s fine.”
“Oh? Well, good.” Her heart raced. “Don’t scare me like that. What’s the problem?”
Carina took in a breath. “We wanted you to hear from us first, so you had time to…”
Olivia stood and announced. “He’s engaged.”
Carina glared at her.
“What?” Olivia looked apologetic. “For an attorney who has a reputation for never wasting time, you are painfully dragging this out. The dramatic effect had me worried, and I already know what the news is.”
“Oh?” Whitney sat there stymied. She knew from the day he’d shared the news that he thought he’d found his person that an engagement would be coming at some point. But to hear this so soon made it feel a bit like a sucker punch.
“Are you okay?” Carina asked.
She swallowed a gulp of air and pulled herself together. “Yes. Fine. You two need to quit frowning. You’re going to get forehead wrinkles,” Whitney warned. “I told you he found his person. Didn’t you expect an engagement too?”
“I don’t know.” Carina closed her eyes for a moment. “I guess finding someone serious and getting engaged seems like a big leap to me. I thought it might bother you, but clearly it does not.”
“What bothers me,” Whitney admitted, “is having to go to these events alone, but I really am happy for Roger. I’m fine. I promise. I will admit it has me taking a look at my priorities. But that’s the extent of it.”
“We may have overreacted.” Carina got up. “I think we can go now,” she said. “You’re going to have to pardon our unnecessary interruption.”
Carina prodded Olivia to the door. “Sorry,” Olivia said as she walked out. “We’re going back to work now.”
“Wait a second, since you already interrupted me—I’ve been meaning to ask you, Olivia, how did the date between you and Josh go?”
Olivia leaned back into the office from the doorway. “Oh. It was nice.” Her face relaxed into a big smile. “Really nice. We’re going out again next weekend.”
“See. Everything works out the way it’s supposed to.” Whitney picked up her ink pen and twirled it between her fingers. “Kayaking?”
“Hiking to a waterfall.”
“Just your style. That’s great.” Whitney pushed her hair behind her ear, pulled her keyboard closer, and went back to work. But now there was a thought niggling at her. Maybe it would be a good idea to at least plan a little more time off over the next year for something more than work or yoga.
That evening,Whitney sat at her desk with her feet in her chair. A pencil held her hair in a messy bun as she worked. The automatic lights came on as someone walked through the lobby.
So much for being alone.Someone else must be playing catch-up too.
She pushed the interruption aside and refocused on the documents in front of her.
