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She waved to Mimi one last time and began the short, five-minute drive back to Luke’s house. She had three whole days off and she and Luke were going to Atlanta, a town she’d only driven through but had never really seen. And even though they were going to his ex’s wedding, it couldn’t be horrible because now she had this gorgeous dress to wear and a part of her felt like Cinderella going to the ball.
Chapter Twenty-One
The six-hour drive to Atlanta went quickly, mainly because Sarah slept most of the way. She was still exhausted from working all week, but the minute they hit the 285 perimeter, she’d sat straight up and began to take note of the landscape and the buildings, and the non-stop traffic, too. Luke had explained that the locals referred to everything inside the highway that circled Atlanta as ITP (inside the perimeter) and everything that lay beyond the highway as OTP (mainly the suburbs).
Luke lived in a spacious, two-bedroom condo on Peachtree Street near downtown. Decorated in a minimalist, modern style that made it look more like a showroom, it was so completely different from the warmth of the little beach house in Whispering Bay that it was hard to believe that the same man owned both homes.
“This is…nice,” Sarah said, glancing around the living room.
Luke finished bringing in their luggage. “You hate it.”
“Not at all. The view is gorgeous. It just doesn’t look lived in.”
“You’re right about that. My job takes me to a lot of different places. I’m lucky if I spend a week out of every month here.”
“Does Ethan travel as much as you do?” she asked, referring to Luke’s business partner. When she hadn’t been sleeping on the drive up, he’d filled her in on his job and his friends. Sarah liked the way he talked about Ethan and his wife
, Julie, and she looked forward to meeting them both tonight at their home for dinner.
“He used to, then he got married and now he’s gone soft.”
“Okay, I’m off to inspect the most important room in the house.”
He wagged his eyebrows up and down. “The bedroom?”
“No, silly. The kitchen.”
The kitchen, like the rest of the condo, was ultra-sleek with rows of white cabinets and marble countertops and lots of impressive-looking silver appliances that Sarah would bet had never been turned on. She began opening cabinets. There was just about every kind of gadget she could dream of, plus rows of glasses and top of the line china and flatware. But as for food? All she could find was a neat little row of bottles containing the basic spices, a bag of coffee, some sugar, and, of course, a bottle of Glenlivet. The refrigerator wasn’t much better. It was empty except for a case of expensive designer water.
“So how did you learn to make that awesome fried grouper and those incredible hush puppies of yours? Because I don’t think you’ve been in this kitchen more than twice.”
“Gramps taught me how to make the grouper and hush puppies. It was his signature dish, and now it’s mine.”
“You mean, it’s your only dish?”
He grinned. “Yeah. But it’s all I need, right?”
“True,” she mused. “So, where’s the nearest grocery store? If we’re going to stay here a couple of days we’ll need some stuff for breakfast and snacks.”
“No problem. Just write out a list and I’ll give it to the concierge downstairs. They’ll have it delivered and put away for us by the time we get back tonight.”
She’d heard about people who lived this way. In million-dollar apartments with skyline views and doormen ready to wait on your every whim. It had always seemed so glamorous, but there was something to be said about the simple joy of driving to the grocery store and picking out your own bananas.
He glanced at his watch. “Okay, it’s almost one and we’re supposed to be at Ethan’s around seven. I have roughly six hours to show you Atlanta.”
She scribbled out a grocery list, then freshened up, ready to hit the streets of Atlanta. The first thing they did was eat hot dogs at The Varsity, a world-famous eatery near Georgia Tech, then they stopped at the offices of Powers and Doyle, Environmental Engineering, a two-story brick building decorated in warm earth tones with lots of comfy-looking sofas and chairs.
Luke introduced Sarah to the staff, including his personal assistant, the very efficient Lori, as he referred to her, making the older woman laugh and shake her head. Besides Luke and Ethan, there were four other engineers and three more support personnel. Everyone was friendly, but they seemed a little taken aback by her presence.
“Why were people looking at me funny in there?” she asked, once they were back in his truck.
“Were they? I didn’t notice.”
“Maybe they were shocked to find that you actually have a friend,” she joked, because that’s the way he’d introduced her. “This is my friend, Sarah,” he’d said, but he’d kept his hand planted firmly on the small of her back as he’d guided her through the offices and she’d noticed that his employees had noticed, too.
“Did they look at Victoria that way?”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
