AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I don’t want to put you to any trouble. I’m okay going by myself.I held my breath, waiting for her response.
No trouble, honey. I just want you to feel comfortable at the wedding!
I bit my lip, wondering how to be firmer in rejecting her help without upsetting her.
Ellie read the messages over my shoulder and shook her head. “Hey, if you don’t want to tell her, maybe you should ask Adam to go with you in exchange for going on the cruise.”
“No way,” I scoffed. “I don’t want it getting around the hospital that Dr. Donaldson was my date to Beth’s wedding.”
“How would they know? Nobody you work with knows your sister. Just don’t post any pictures of him on PushPin”
I bit my lip. “Isn’t it pushy to demand he do something in exchange?”
Ellie folded her arms. “It’s literally the same thing he wants you to do.”
“How would I even bring it up?” Seemed so awkward to come out and ask him for a quid pro quo.
“We’ll find a way.” She grabbed my arm. “Come on; we don’t want to be late!”
Ellie gasped when she saw Adam’s high-rise apartment building, a mix of imposing gray stone siding and enormous iron-framed windows. “I approve.”
“He does have good taste in apartments,’ I agreed.
“We havesomuch to do to get you ready for this cruise,” Ellie commented as we rode up to Adam’s floor. The shiny silver elevator seemed like a futuristic spaceship compared to the decrepit one at Beaufort. “I wonder if any of my sundresses will fit you? They were all new when I went to Bora Bora last fall.”
I seriously doubted that anything that belonged to size-00 Ellie would fit over my head, much less fit my size-14 body. “I have a few things I could take, and I just got a cute bathing suit last summer. But I probably need to pick up a few more things. If I go, I mean.”
“You only have one bathing suit?” Ellie sounded as horrified as if I’d suggested wearing the same set of scrubs every day of the cruise. “You need at least two bikinis for each day.”
I drew back. “We’re celebrating a ninety-year-old woman’s birthday.” Even Ellie had to see the inappropriateness of taking bikinis on such a trip.
She rapped on his door. “And?”
“And I’m not wearing a bikini in front of anyone’s grandma!” I hissed.
Adam chose that moment to open the door, but his tranquil expression didn’t reveal if he’d heard our discussion. “Hello.”
I gave a bright smile and hoped he wouldn’t bring up any type of swimwear. “Hi, this is my roommate and friend, Ellie.”
He gave Ellie a nod. “I think I saw you at the hospital gala with Davis.”
“Isn’t Davis the best?” Ellie gushed. She walked past Adam, straight into his apartment. “Wow!”
I shot Adam an embarrassed look and mouthed “Sorry,” but he only shrugged and ushered me inside. I stepped into a large room that served as kitchen, dining, and living rooms, where substantial exposed wooden beams ran the length of the ceiling. A candle burned on one end of his marble countertops, something with smoky citrus notes that smelled expensive.
“Wow” was right.
“This is good,” Ellie informed us. “Oh, that view!” She walked straight back to the set of French doors and let herself onto Adam’s balcony.
I laughed uncomfortably. Ellie could be a lot for someone who didn’t know her. “She’s just... excited.”
“Well, itisa great view.” He gestured toward the balcony. “Feel free to look.”
I spotted thedracaenain the center of the black granite, right where it would be in line for morning sunlight from the window over the sink. I motioned to the plant. “Nice place for it.”
“I gave it filtered water yesterday, and I’ve been turning it every day so it gets even light.” Adam spoke seriously, as if worried he’d be graded on the assignment.
I nodded approvingly, even though turning a snake plant that often was completely unnecessary. “Well done.”
