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I leaned up against Izzy, wanting her closer. She was my best friend, had been for years. Even when I’d left town to play for the Flames, we’d never lost touch, never lost that connection. She’d never stopped texting before every game, never stopped watching and cheering me on. I’d done the same thing in my own way, egging her on to go for her first job. Sending her flowers when she got a promotion. Calling her up when I heard a good joke, because if I called her, I could hear her laugh.
It hit me right then I was holding back. I had been a while, maybe right from the start. I’d never told Izzy what she meant to me, how much brighter my life was because she was in it.
“I’m in love,” sighed Leon.
My heart did a backflip. It was like he’d stolen the truth right out of my head, the truth I’d been hiding even from myself. I had something with Izzy, more than just friendship. More than just benefits, more than just fun. Something, I thought, maybe it could be love. If we took the brakes off, if we let it grow?—
“Dessert,” said Leon. “We need dessert.”
He bounced up off the couch and made for the kitchen. Izzy took the last crab puff and popped it in her mouth. I watched her eat it, my stomach in knots. Now was my chance to— to ask her to stay? I tried it out in my head, testing how I’d say it.
Hey, Izzy? I was thinking, we’ve been friends a while. And now we’re more than friends, and I think you should stay. I think we should try this, and— and… I think we could be something. I think we could?—
“What?”
I jumped. I’d been staring. Now I was caught.
“Nothing,” I said. “Just, I was thinking…”
“Hold on. Let me take this.” Izzy reached for her phone, and I saw it was buzzing. She picked it up, scowling, and got to her feet.
“Yeah, Jim, I know. Yeah. Yeah, I saw it.” She started to pace, her knuckles whitening where she gripped her phone. I watched her, heart pounding, and willed Jim to fuck off. Couldn’t he see this was my shot, not his time to kvetch? She was off the clock, so where did he get the nerve?
“I know,” said Izzy. “If you look at my notes?—”
Jim cut her off sharply, loud enough that I could hear. Izzy made a face at me, her tongue dangling out. She made a blah, blah, blah gesture with her free hand. I laughed, but I realized I was strangling a cushion, squeezing it so hard the stuffing bulged out. I set it aside and took a deep breath.
“All right,” said Izzy. “I’ll be right there. But they’re right in my desk, if you’d… Fine. Fine, I’m coming.” She hung up her phone and let it drop to the couch. She dropped down after it, exhaling on a curse.
“Sorry,” she said. “I’ve got to run out.”
I frowned. “Do you really? This feels like his problem.”
She sighed. “Yeah, I know. But, teamwork, right?” Her whole body sagged, and she shook her head. “The sooner I ditch this job, the better I’ll be. But I’ll need a good reference, so off I go.”
I reached for her. “Wait.”
“Is there sauce on my shirt?” She looked down at herself and brushed at her front. “The partners won’t be there, but?—”
“It isn’t that.” I sucked another deep breath and summoned my courage, but the look on her face said now wasn’t the time. She was stressed. Distracted. In no mood to hear it. But later, tomorrow, when Leon was out… “Good luck,” I said, and pulled her in for a hug. I wanted far more than that, a kiss, a dozen, but Izzy was already pulling away.
“Thank you,” she said. “Save me some dessert.”
And then she was gone, and my whole chest felt hollow, even knowing she’d be back in an hour or two max.
I couldn’t, could not, let her go to New York.
CHAPTER 16
IZZY
“We’ve been looking for someone exactly like you.” Donna Fergus leaned over her desk. “Don’t tell anyone I said this, but creativity is dying. We’ve had that ad up two months now, and I tell you, it’s dismal. We’ve had a stack of portfolios as high as my head, and yours was the only one that made me look twice. The rest were so safe, so, so, so… beige. It was like my mother-in-law’s living room threw up on my desk.”
I chuckled at that. This was going amazing. “So, what you’re saying is, you want someone creative.”
“Exactly,” said Donna. “But not just creative. Someone with chops, who brings the whole package. I was impressed with your plans for those new Rio condos. Is that really what they’re going with?”
I swallowed a sigh. “Not exactly. Some elements made it, the atrium, the gardens, but the overall design will be much more, uh…”
