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"I'm sure you'll be awesome," Claire replied "Before you know it, you'll be running the company."
I smiled wryly. "Sure. And then I'll change the name of the company to Mills Communications. We'll air tons of commercials and you'll be our spokesmodel."
"Hey, I like that idea," Claire replied, waggling her eyebrows. "And then maybe you can bankroll a movie for me so I can be the star."
"We can dream," I said ruefully. I paused before continuing. "I'm stopping by Peak Fitness on Wednesday after work. Jackson seems gung-ho about taking me on as a new client."
Claire smirked. "Trust me, Jackson doesn't have any shortage of clients to train. I can tell that he's interested in you."
I couldn't hide my excitement at Claire's words. "Really? I m
ean, I can't lie. It's hard to look at Jackson and not have only one thing on my mind. And that one thing involves getting naked and sweaty."
Claire burst out laughing. "I'm beyond that point with him since I just see him as a friend, but I know what you mean." She then sobered, looking serious. "I meant it yesterday when I said Jackson was a great catch. Just...be careful. I love Jackson, but he can be a bit of a player. He doesn't mean to be, but it's hard when you have so many women chasing after you. Have fun but don't read too much into what he does. Women have a tendency to be swept off their feet by him, but then end up disappointed when he doesn't want anything more than a good time. I just don't want you to get hurt."
I felt a little deflated by Claire's warning. It's not that I had expected Jackson to become the love of my life. It just stung a little to know that I was just one in a string of women. I decided to not let it bother me. If Claire was right, Jackson was offering exactly what I was looking for. A good time with nothing heavy involved. I neither wanted nor had the time for anything serious right now.
"Thanks for the warning," I said. "Luckily, that's exactly what I want at this point in my life. Fun."
Claire nodded in understanding. "I can imagine that the last thing you want to do is fall into another relationship. How are you holding up? I know you're the one that broke things off, but it still must be hard."
I sighed, thinking it over. "It is hard. I don't regret calling off the wedding, and I don't regret moving here. But I can't lie and say that I don't feel sad every now and then. Sean and I were a part of each other's lives for so long. Sometimes I'll think of something, see something new, and remind myself to tell Sean about it later. Then I remember that there's no Sean to tell."
Claire looked at me sympathetically. "That makes sense. Even if you don't want to spend the rest of your life with him, that doesn't mean you don't miss certain parts of him. Do you still keep in touch?"
I shook my head. "No, it's too hard. Maybe somewhere down the road we can be friends. I'm not sure. I left it up to Sean, since I was the one that hurt him so much. After he realized that I wasn't going to change my mind, he told me that it was too painful to keep in contact."
"The distance is probably a good thing. Merrittsville is such a small town that it's hard not to bump into each other."
"Yeah, no kidding," I said drily. "If I wasn't bumping into Sean, I was bumping into his mother, who gave me death stares. I don't blame her after how I hurt Sean. It was just really hard for me since she was practically my second mother growing up. She was always so much calmer and levelheaded than my own mother, who can be a little flighty. It was nice to have Sean's mother to talk to, but obviously that bond was severed when our relationship ended."
I took a deep breath, trying to clear the knot in my chest. It still hurt to think of losing Mary, Sean's mother. Even though I loved my mother, Mary Somers understood me in a way that my own mother never could. Mary and I were similar in a lot of ways. The biggest difference was that she had stayed on the path that had been mapped out for her, while I had veered away from mine. In the end, she had been rewarded by her husband divorcing her for a much younger woman and walking away from his family. Sean and his mother rarely heard from him.
"What about you?" I asked, wanting to change the subject. "Are you dating anyone?"
"I can't remember the last serious relationship I had. It was probably in college. I really just want to concentrate on my acting career. I'll worry about my love life once I'm rich and famous."
The arrival of our Thai food interrupted us. We decided to eat it out on the balcony on a table that barely fit the small space. We poured two glasses of wine and enjoyed the cool evening air as we ate, the sounds of the city providing a soothing background.
I raised my glass of wine. "To like-minded females concentrating on their careers and conquering the world."
Claire laughed and clinked her glass with mine. "Watch out world, here we come."
Chapter Three
The next couple of days went by in a blur as I learned the ropes at my new job. Instead of becoming a nuisance, Celeste became an invaluable resource as she helped to guide me through many of my tasks as an assistant. I never saw her boss, the elusive Drew Stephens, and Celeste told me he traveled a lot and was rarely in the office.
Janet stopped by my cubicle on her way out Wednesday afternoon.
"I'm leaving for the day, Emma," she said, her suit jacket slung over her arm and briefcase in hand. "I have my meeting downtown and I decided not to come back after my business dinner. You can leave after you finish up those RFPs."
"Okay, have a great rest of the day. See you tomorrow."
I tried to suppress my excitement as Janet left the office. I had worked until eight-thirty the night before because Janet was finishing a performance report for a client and I had been helping her pull it together. While I was enjoying my work, I had been nervous that tonight would be another late night because Janet had mentioned earlier that she might be coming back to the office after her dinner. I had been afraid that she would ask me to wait for her return and tonight was the one night I didn't want to work late because I was stopping by Peak Fitness tonight.
"A hot date?" Celeste asked as she wheeled her chair closer to my cubicle. Even though she was much older, Celeste often talked like she was still in her early twenties.
I grimaced. "Is it that obvious?"
