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Was this real? I could hardly believe it. “I do like to eat.”
“I should have listed that.”
I giggled.
He placed his hand over mine, resting on my leg. “What do you say, Scarlett?”
“Why me?” It was the only thing that came to mind.
He leaned in closer and whispered in my ear, “Come find out.”
A shiver went through me like it was the middle of January, though I felt like I was burning in July. I knew his invitation was more than just him getting to know me. It was him daring me to get to know myself. Something I had been too afraid to do. Yet I longed to know me. To be comfortable in my own skin. Maybe I could start by doing something I wanted to. And there was nothing in this moment that I wanted more than getting to know Kane better.
“Where do we begin?”
Predictions
I was sitting in my usual spot on my office floor when my phone began to buzz. Glancing down to check the caller ID, I was more than surprised to see it was Auggie. He rarely called, and never while he was honeymooning. My first thought was that something awful had happened. I answered in a mild panic.
“Hi, Auggie.” I waited to hear the worst.
“Scarlett?”
Who else called him Auggie? And no one else ever answered my phone.
“Everything all right?” I asked.
He didn’t answer right away, making me more nervous. “Dad?” came falling out of my mouth. I’d only ever called him that maybe twice in my entire life. For some reason, it now seemed appropriate. Maybe it was the fact that he had thought of me while he was in paradise with his new wife.
“How’s work going?” he brusquely brushed off my question.
“Good.” I mean, it was boring, but I felt like I was contributing. I had found some minor discrepancies in the language we used to describe our protocols that were out of line with some of the national safety regulations.
“Did you read and understand the quarterly report?”
“Most of it, yes.” With the help of Kane, that was. I didn’t mention it.
“You can talk to Keith if you need clarification.”
Keith Derringer was the CFO. I wished Auggie would offer to help me himself. “Okay.”
“It’s important you understand these things.”
“I know.”
“How’s your medical school application going?”
I wasn’t sure where the twenty questions were coming from. He’d never checked up on me like this before. I was surprised he had even remembered when the application was due. “I’m working on it. I almost have the first draft of the essay done.”
It was another thing to thank Kane for. He’d been helping me with the essay, even by phone last night since he was on a quick business trip in Boston. It was just my luck. Finally, a man other than Hugh wanted to spend time with me and he had to leave town. He would be back late tonight, though.
“Send it to Pamela when it’s done so she can look it over and give you any pointers.” He once again offered up a person on his executive team. Another person who wasn’t him.
“I will,” I sighed.
“Good.” He made it sound like he was done with the inquisition.
“How’s Bora-Bora?” I had a need to elongate the conversation. I had a need for him.
“Fine,” he was quick to answer. “I need to discuss another matter with you.”
Weird. “All right.”
Insert another long pause.
He cleared his throat. “I’ve received a phone call about you and Kane.”
I fumbled the phone and dropped it.
“Scarlett.” I could hear Auggie calling out my name.
I scrambled to pick up the phone. “I’m here,” I said, out of breath. I knew Ophelia would call him. Why couldn’t she have at least waited until he was back from his honeymoon? I felt sick to my stomach waiting to hear what she’d told Auggie. “I don’t know what Ophelia said, but—”
“Ophelia didn’t call me.”
“Who did?”
“That’s neither here nor there.”
Someone else had called? I was going to puke. I rested my head back against the wall and closed my eyes. Literally nothing had happened between Kane and me. So, yes, we were going on a date tomorrow. A real date. To be sure of that, I’d asked Kane last night on the phone if that’s what he had meant when he’d asked me to spend the day with him on Saturday. He’d laughed and called me adorable. I couldn’t think about that now, though. I was waiting for Auggie to . . . well, I wasn’t really sure. We’d never had these kinds of discussions before.
“Scarlett.” He heaved a heavy sigh. “You’re so . . .”—he paused for a long moment—“young.”
“Auggie, I’m twenty-two.”
“That’s young.”
“Momma was that old when you married her,” I reminded him.
“We were too young.” His tone said not to bring her into this. Not to bring her up ever.
