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My drive takes me past Foster & Foster. It’s empty, since I’m the only one who ever goes in on the weekends.
Briefly, I wonder what my co-worker is doing. When we left last night, I spotted him sitting in his phone, grinning at something, probably planning an evening of debauchery at the clubs with his boys or texting some girl for a booty call.
I force all thoughts of him out of my mind though. I’m having too good of a day to let anyone throw a wrench in it.
When I get home, I’m feeling so good that I actually start to tackle some of the boxes in my condo.
I start with the ones in my bedroom. They’re full of clothes I haven’t worn since law school—mostly sweats and hoodies. But there are a few interview outfits and nicer clothes I wore when I was about to graduate and was interviewing at law firms. I doubt they’d fit me anymore.
But they’d fit Ellie.
And if she has any interviews for jobs coming up, it’d be a godsend. I grab my phone to send her a text.
Tenley: Hey, I just found a whole box of dress clothes I don’t wear anymore. You want them? I can bring them by tomorrow afternoon.
A moment later, she responds.
Ellie: That would be so great. Thanks! I’m home all day tomorrow.
She texts me her address a second later. It might not be what the average twenty-something is doing, but I’m happy to be able to spend my weekends like this. Changing the world, one good deed at a time—which is more than Brooks Gentry could ever say.
20
“Love the suit, Brooks,” Kenzie says, her voice a low, sexy whisper as she stands at the fridge in the break room, grabbing her snack. “It’s really flattering on you.”
I focus on pouring my coffee. Kenzie’s been after me since the day she showed up for her internship. I’ll admit, attention from a young, pretty college student is hard to ignore and it doesn’t feel… bad. But I’d never touch her. It’s best not to feed into any delusions she may have about me.
“Thank you,” I keep it short, sweet, and neutral.
“The blue really brings out your eyes.” Her blouse is undone an extra button today. I know this drill. In the past few months, she’s gone from buying my lunches to flirting with me—subtly at first, growing more aggressive each time.
Sorry to break it to her, but this isn’t going to happen.
I point to her blouse. “Think you missed a button,” and start to spin on my heel to walk out, when I realize Tenley is behind me. She has her back to me and is staring at the vending machine as if to decide what she wants.
The glass of the machine is reflective, so she can probably see me in it. Tenley has never struck me as indecisive, so that begs the question: is she listening in to my conversation with Kenzie? Is she stewing over the attention I’m getting for simply existing?
In that case, I decide to milk it just to mess with her.
I can’t resist.
It’s so easy to wind Tenley up, to get under her skin, and some days any kind of a reaction from her is better than being on the receiving end of her ice cold shoulders.
Turning back to Kenzie, I say, “By the way, is that a new bracelet?”
I take her hand, and she giggles. “Yeah… I got it when I went to…”
Kenzie rattles on, telling me some long, involved story about her trip to the mall, but I’m not listening. Near the door, Tenley has finally made her selection. She feeds her dollar into the machine, presses a button, and a bag of veggie chips falls. I watch as she leans over to retrieve it, and with the slit in the back of her pencil skirt, I can almost see up to her mid-thigh.
Scandalous.
My mouth goes wet and it’s all I can see, even while holding Kenzie’s wrist in my hand.
Kenzie sidles closer to me, narrowing the space between us and tucking her hair behind her ear. She’s so close I can smell the cinnamon gum on her breath. I was only trying to screw with Tenley since she was eavesdropping, but I can’t lead Kenzie on. It’s not right.
“Hmm. It’s nice,” I say, still watching Tenley as she opens the chips. “Email me the name of the store when you get a sec. I think my mom would like something like that for her birthday.”
Tenley gives me a single, almost disgusted glance, pops a chip into her mouth, and power-walks out of the room.
Meanwhile, Kenzie’s still rambling on, saying she could help me shop for my mom sometime. We both know that’s not the type of help Kenzie is interested in giving me.
“Thanks,” I say, dropping her hand and heading out the door in time to catch Tenley walking into her office.
