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Or at least that’s what I was telling myself.
It only took a few seconds of being inside my apartment to realize I wasn’t alone. And there was only one other human who would ever just barge in like this. The sky-high heels thrown haphazardly by the couch were pretty clear evidence, too.
I let my head fall back, staring at the popcorn ceilings above. “Cici, where are you?”
“Raiding your candy drawer!” A shout from my bedroom.
Grumbling, I wandered down the short hall and leaned against the doorframe.
“Rough day?”
Cici, complete in an immaculate, dove-gray pencil skirt and jacket set, was curled up beside my dresser, the bottom drawer on the right open and displaying my personal stash of candy.
“You have no idea.” she said softly, not meeting my eyes.
I plopped down beside her, stretching out my legs while I snagged myself a piece of taffy and opened it loudly. She mirrored me, taking a banana flavor next.
“You want to talk about it?”
“Maybe after this one.” She popped the bright candy into her mouth with a sigh.
“You went right for the good stuff.”
“I tried your kitchen, but there’s nothing in there but peanut butter and an absurd amount of frozen peas.”
I shrugged. Grocery shopping hadn’t really been a priority lately. “Hey, don’t come at me. I’ve seen your kitchen too.”
Cici merely grunted, unwrapping a chocolate next.
“I’m going to have Liam ‘out’ us on socials this week.”
Cici nodded, mouth full, so I continued. “It should be pretty easy. We have a bunch of pictures, and I’ll post them on my pages too then tag him when it’s public knowledge. Plus, we ran into his sister today, so there’s something to authenticate us if people ask.”
“Hmm. What’s she like?”
“His sister? Typical Macklen. Tall, gorgeous, smart.” I selected a package of tart candies next. “More than a little eager for her brother to have found someone. She’s going to be real pissed when she figures out it was a fake.”
Cici was watching me closely now. “Uh-huh. I’m sure.” She glanced down at me. “Is that his shirt? Child, why do I keep finding you in his clothes?”
I groaned, covering my face. “Don’t start. Today was such a disaster.” I proceeded to tell her the story about the park and the zipper and capped the whole thing off by leaning forward and displaying the still spreading hole on my cheek. By the end, the candy had been forgotten and Cici was literally rolling around my floor as she laughed hysterically.
“How do these things always happen to you?”
I shrugged. “No idea. Just unlucky I guess.”
“Unlucky? No way. If anything, you have inadvertently opened up more of Liam Macklen than anyone else has seen in years. Besides his sister and that assistant of his, I don’t think he gives many people the time of day, let alone his shirt.”
The thought made me warm from my ears to my toes as I settled back against the dresser. “Rose is practically family, so that makes sense.”
Cici stopped chewing. “What?”
“His assistant. Her name is Rose Tate.”
“See, look at you go. I love how seriously you are taking this. That is stuff that a girlfriend knows,” Cici proudly exclaimed, patting my thigh as it lay alongside hers.
“Regardless of how things started, he’s making it easy,” I found myself saying.
Cici cleared her throat, looking at me with a gentle expression. “And on a scale of one to ten, how far in love with this guy are you?”
