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“Theo,” I offer.
“Sleeping with Theo isn’t unethical. Let’s just get that cleared up.”
I nod, letting out a puff of air knowing that I’m not doing anything wrong.
“Can we touch briefly on the part where he’s a millionaire and then follow it up with every single fucking detail? Tell me everything. Everything. Cassie.”
I chuckle with relief and start at the beginning and tell her all about Theo. I leave out some details, only because she doesn’t need to know how Theo makes my body shiver when he whispers dirty words in my ear while he’s inside me. I’ll keep that for myself. But I share mostly everything else.
I’ve lost track of time by the time my computer dings with a reminder of a call that I have scheduled with a hotel in Jacksonville for a destination wedding I’m coordinating.
“’kaylisten up. We’ve got less than ten minutes left of this very enlightening meeting.” She lifts her hand and holds up one finger. “You need to tell Alan you’re done. That isn’t going anywhere and you’re wasting time in a boring, sexless, non-exclusive relationship.”
She adds a second finger. “Two, you need to do more bow chicka wow wow with the CEO and let me live vicariously through you because I’m pretty sure I’m sporting cobwebs down below.”
I fight back a giggle.
“And three, you need to talk to Theo about where he sees this thing between you going. If it’s just between the sheets or on the counter, then you need to enjoy one more romp and then move on. Let Ruth have a go at matching you. It would get her off all our backs for a while. But also, you need to do this soon because you don’t want to go falling in love with a man who doesn’t see the same future as you.” She drops her hand and damn. This is why Layla James is my best friend.
“You always know exactly what I need to hear, whether I want to hear it or not. Thank you for being so awesome.” I reach over and hug her. She embraces me and I take a second to soak up the hug. Sometimes you just need a hug.
“I’ve got you, boo.” She laughs as she leans away.
“I’ve got a call coming up,” I tell her, sad that we never got to talk about her.
“Yeah, I have a client coming in to talk about her date last night. Do I need to schedule another meeting next week? We can make this a thing.”
“I’m down. But I’d rather just squeeze in a girls’ night sooner than later. New season ofDead to Medrops this week. We need to binge, stat.”
“Done. Let me know when and where,” she says as she stands and scoops up her empty cup.
“Toodles.” She waves. I sit there on my couch for a minute more before getting up and back to work.
I get lost in the emails and calls. My call with the Jacksonville hotel coordinator goes well. I’ve worked with them once before and the venue is going down in my little black book of favorite destination locations. My database for such locations is growing slowly and it makes me happy.
At one point, I share a text exchange with my mom. She really wants to come over for dinner and see my place.
I will give my mom credit. Now that we are living in the same town, I’ve heard from her more than I ever did when she and Dad were in Denver with Cash. It’s a little backward, but I suppose it’s better than nothing.
Thinking over Layla’s advice for healthy boundaries with my parents is appealing. I love my parents, but I haven’t really had them in my day-to-day life for nearly fifteen years. This will be a change for all of us, and I can see my mom trying to jump into the deep end and it being a bit overwhelming. Not to mention, if Cash leaves for another team down the road, my parents will follow without a second thought.
I turn up the music playing from my computer to try to drown out my thoughts. I’ve always done a good job of compartmentalizing my personal life when I’m in work mode. It’s one of my superpowers. But I can’t seem to stop thinking about my parents, breaking things off with Alan, and my relationship with Theo, or whatever you call what we’ve got going on. I need to focus on my job, not my personal life. I can’t afford to get stuck in my head right now as I have a wedding happening every weekend for the next two months. The summer into fall are popular wedding months. I’ll save all my non-work thinking for tonight at home. My kitchen needs a good cleaning anyways.
Plus, I have a date with Alan tomorrow and I’ll need to figure out the best way to break things off. Honestly, it should be easy since we were never serious. The anxiety I have thinking about telling Alan we will not be dating anymore confirms my need to keep cleaning.
Fingers crossed this is a quick and painless last date.
* * *
I think I was wrong.
Alan is off tonight. He’s a friendly guy, but he’s… enthusiastic tonight. I can’t tell if he’s uncomfortable or if maybe he just had too much caffeine today.
With him in this out of character, chipper mood, breaking things off with Alan may be a bit more difficult. I realized less than five minutes into dinner that something was off. He has been eagerly asking me all about my week, seeking out details that he normally never cares about. It’s throwing me for a loop, to say the least. Sure, we normally chat about our lives, but he’s never shown any real interest in my work as a wedding planner.
We’ve just gotten our food when I decide that it’s now or never. I need to officially end things.
But he jumps in before I can even produce a word.
