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“I will.”
“I’ll call you later.”
“Sounds good. Bye, Spence.” I move to step out of his arms, but he hauls me back in and kisses me softly. Just a nice gentle peck on the lips, but it still has me wanting more. More that I don’t have time for.
He eventually lets me go and steps away. As I’m pulling out of the lot, he stands there watching me. Reaching down, I pinch my leg. The pain smarts, which means I’m not dreaming.
How is this my life?
* * *
I’m smiling as I walk into the house. The interview was great. I loved the CEO, Susan. The job is exactly what I always dreamed I’d end up doing. It didn’t feel like an interview. I was comfortable, almost as if I was catching up with an old friend. Susan and I would be working closely together, and that connection is important, and we had it. She smiled the entire time, and we even ended up talking about books when she asked me about my hobbies. Turns out she reads romance too, and we compared notes on some of our shared favorites.
“Hey, you. I was starting to worry,” Audrey says when she sees me.
“Hi.” I smile at her.
“You’re super smiley tonight. Good day?” she asks, giving me a smile of her own. She’s plating up what looks like grilled chicken salads. “You’re just in time for dinner.” She nods to the extra plate.
“I did have a good day.” I take a seat at the island next to her and add some dressing to my salad. “Thanks for dinner.” I take a bite and contemplate how to tell her everything that’s been going on in my life and decide to just let it all out, kind of like ripping off a Band-Aid. “I only worked half of the day. I had lunch with my boyfriend and an interview this afternoon for my dream job.”
She coughs and stops her fork to her plate. I reach over and pat her back. Her wide eyes find mine. She stares at me for several long seconds before reaching for her drink and taking a huge gulp. “Care to run that by me again?”
I grin. She’s certain she heard me wrong. It’s not often I have news that can shock people, let alone my sister. Doing as she asks, I repeat my words. “I only worked half of the day. I had lunch with my boyfriend and an interview this afternoon for my dream job.”
“Charlotte.” Her voice is scolding, and I grin wider. When she sees that I’m not taking any of it back, she turns her stool to face me, and I do the same, looking her in the eye so she can see my truth. “Let’s unpack this, big sister.” She shakes her head. It’s easy to see she’s confused and not sure if she should believe me or not.
“You only worked half the day? That’s not like you.”
“Yep. Dr. Phillips needed me to drop some documents off at the hospital and told me to take the rest of the day off.”
She nods. “All right, what about the next part? You had lunch with your boyfriend? How is that going? Are you in looove with him?” she fires.
I feel a tad bit guilty that I’ve kept what’s been happening from her, but it was a whirlwind, and she’s been dealing with her own life issues. “Yeah,” I tell her. “I had lunch with my boyfriend. Things are going well. It’s been kind of a whirlwind, but I wouldn’t change it. I was fighting it—this connection that we share. Am I in love with him?” I pause. “I should probably tell him that first.”
“Are you seriously going to hold out on me?”
“I need to tell Spencer first.” I pause, waiting for her reaction. He is her ex-fiancé’s best friend.
“Knew it!”
“Stop. You did not.”
“I called it,Charlie.” She emphasizes the nickname. “All that banter was foreplay.”
I shrug. I’m still not sure, but I do know the possibilities of what we could be is keeping a smile on my face. “Maybe.”
“And you had a job interview for your dream job? With Spencer?”
“No.”
“Start talking, big sister.”
So I do. I start from the beginning. I remind her how he asked me out in college and our rivalry. I tell her about the kiss at the resort and then finding out he’s going to be my new boss, what happened at the bar after she left, and everything else. I don’t leave out a single detail. I pick up my glass and take a drink once I’m done, giving her time to process everything I just told her. It doesn’t take long. I barely have time to take a drink when she replies.
“Hell yes, Charlotte! I love this for you. I love him for you. Spencer is a great guy. I tried all these years to tell you that.”
“You knew a different version of him.”
