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CHAPTER17
~ MILLIE ~
Ava’s name appears on my phone when I slide it out of my pocket the moment I step outside the building where I had my interview.
The knots in my stomach tighten, right on cue. But I’m relieved, as before, when I see her words.
“Let me know how the interview went,” she had written at some point this afternoon while my phone was on silent.
I smile. I haven’t told anyone else in my family about my interview. My parents are already worried about their son. They don’t need to worry about me. And my sister… she’s too successful in her career to even relate to the concept of my looming unemployment.
But Ava always seems so grateful to have something to think about other than Harris’s absence from her life right now.
I tap on her name to call her.
“Millie!” she answers. “I’ve been thinking about you all day.”
“You don’t need to worry about me and some silly interview.”
“You know I love the distraction from worrying about Harris. How’d it go?”
“Pretty well, I think. They seemed to like me.”
“Of course they did. They’d be fools not to hire you, with all your experience at a much larger firm.”
“That’s what Dax keeps saying. But I don’t know. Still, they definitely seemed interested. They even walked me around the office to meet everyone.”
“Do you think they might offer you the job?”
“I don’t know. They had an account exec go on maternity leave and she decided she doesn’t want to come back. So they’re kind of flailing around. How are things over there?”
“Fine… not fine. You know the deal. I feel like I’m on pins and needles all the time.”
I know that feeling, I think, but don’t dare say. “Just remember what Dax said about Harris being in intelligence. He’s probably not even in much danger.”
“Oh, hon. When you love a man like I love your brother, that just doesn’t do much to make me feel better. Of course, seeing as you’ve already mentioned Daxtwicein a two-minute conversation, maybe you’re headed down that same road yourself.”
I force a laugh, even though my heart’s not in it. “God forbid. We’re just—not that way. We barely even talk or text during the week. It’s—a summer romance, just like you said, remember? We’ve only got a few more weekends together anyway.” In my head, I find myself calculating how many more nights that I get to share my bed with Dax. I frown when I realize that it’s a number so small I can count them on my fingertips.
“And speaking of the weekend,” Ava begins, “now that day camp is behind him, Nicholas and I were thinking of squeezing in a road trip next week before the end of summer.”
I brighten. “To Tybee?”
“Well, actually to Florida. He wants to do it all down there—Disney, Universal, all that. And there’s nothing like standing in a two-hour line for a two-minute ride in the hundred-degree heat to distract you from your husband being deployed, right?” she asks sarcastically. “But we thought we’d stop by Tybee for a day since you’re kind of on the way.”
“That would be great! Uh, you know, with Dax in my room, that room upstairs is free and—”
“Oh my goodness, no. I already found a B&B just a few blocks away from you.”
“Are you sure? If you’d be more comfortable, I’m sure Dax wouldn’t mind staying in Savannah that night.”
“No way. He’s half the reason we’re stopping by. Gotta meet this man who’s stealing my new sister’s heart.”
“He’s not stealing my heart,” I deny, lying like a rug.
“You just keep telling yourself that and you might one day believe it,” Ava counters.
I laugh. “Let me find a job and get my brother home before I add anything new to worry about.”
