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"I did." In truth, the store was so packed, I barely had time to think. Which was for the best considering the voice mail I had waiting for me on my phone when I stopped for lunch. Liam seems to think I'm the asshole. "Your window display is earning its keep. And the new packaging came in this afternoon. We used it for a couple of customers and they loved it."
"Really?" she asks. "How could you tell?"
Main street is quiet, most of the stores shuttered for the evening. "Because they told me how great it is. Not sure it's going to be enough to make them tell all their friends about it or order online, but they like it."
Cherry sits back in her seat, arms crossed over her chest. "I could really do this," she mutters, almost to herself.
"Do what?" I ask as I park in front of her building.
She doesn't look at me, just watches the falling snow. "It seems too easy. I thought I needed a gimmick, something original no one's ever done before. But maybe…" She twists to look at me. "I'm thinking I could actually make a career out of branding." Her eyes are lit with excitement.
This woman can do anything she sets her mind to. She could build a ladder to the moon if she really wanted to. "You can absolutely make a career of it. You could make a career of it just working for me."
She snorts. "You've achieved brand perfection. There's nothing else I can do for you."
"Okay, then." I open my door. "I guess I'll design my own graphics for my after Christmas sale and do my own January window display."
I hop out and shut my door on her squeak of concern, chuckling to myself as I walk toward her building.
Behind me, I hear her door close. "I'm sure you'd design great graphics and a window display, just maybe let me look them over before you go live."
She follows me up the stairs and I turn to face her in front of her condo door. "I could do that. But I'd rather you do it for me, because you're a million times better at it than me."
"I wouldn't say a million times…" She smiles.
I laugh. "I would." I step aside as she unlocks her door and lets us both in. "Also, Minnie Bittern, the owner of The Elven Retreat Spa, wants you to stop by sometime to talk to her about branding and marketing."
She studies me like she's looking for the lie. "Really?" She paces in front of the closed door a few times before stopping in front of me and gripping my wrists hard. "I'm really doing this."
Her excitement is infectious. "You really are."
She studies my face, concern crinkling her brow. "I've never been good at something before."
Shaking my wrists free of her grip, I wrap my arms around her and hug her tight. "Well, you're damn good at this."
She hugs me back and we just stand like that for several glorious moments before she lets go. "Thanks for bringing me home."
"You're welcome." I drop to sit on her bed. "What do you want to do for dinner?"
She gapes at me. "You're staying?"
There's nowhere I'd rather be. "Have to keep up appearances. If Alice ever finds out we're faking this relationship, she'll never forgive me. I've already got enough people pissed off at me. I can't handle Alice too."
"Who else is pissed off at you? Liam and Murphy?"
Liam's voice mail has been playing on repeat in my brain all day.I love you, man. You're my brother, but if you can't be happy for me and for Murphy, I don't want you in my life.
"Yep. They're still pissed."
Her brows rise, her pretty eyes widening. "No chance you can pretend to be okay with them as a couple to protect the friendship? I'm not saying you need to lie to them, but you don't have to agree with everything your friends do to support them. Blue insists on wearing sports bras under her clothes in public, but I told her it's a frumpy look and she chose not to listen. I've had to let it go and accept her for who she is until she realizes I'm right and changes her ways. You can't force anyone to change."
"They'd never buy it. I'm a terrible liar."
"You can't protect everyone." The sympathy in her expression makes me want to pull her onto my lap. "Sometimes the only way to be a friend is just to be there for them as the train hurtles toward the inevitable cliff."
I run a hand through my hair. "That doesn't even make any sense."
She isn't bothered by my growly tone or my frustration. "I know it doesn't. Because it goes against everything you believe in. You're really just a big old overprotective teddy bear, aren't you?"
