Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 66453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
“Yeah, just like this.” I mugged harder, realizing it felt strange to have the corners of my lips pushed this wide. Hell, when was the last time I’d really smiled and laughed? It felt like ages. “Hi, Jake,” I spoke in falsetto. “My name is…”
I waited for him to fill in the blanks, but he only laughed again. “You don’t know her.”
“What’s going on?” Marjorie asked, sliding back into the booth.
I dropped the act. “Jake has a secret girlfriend.”
I knew it was the wrong thing to say as it was coming out of my mouth. Here my sister was, worried that the family that had done its best to fill in the gap left by Mark was coming apart, and here I was, confirming it.
“I don’t, Mom,” Jake hurried to assure her. “Uncle Nic is just joking around.”
Two things struck me as I watched the scene unfold. One was that a twenty-five-year-old man shouldn’t have to reassure his mother that he didn’t have a girlfriend.
The other was that Jake had said 'you don’t know her,’ which meant it couldn’t be Selena.
Suddenly, I was feeling a lot more festive.
16
SELENA
I woke up on Saturday morning with the rare and delicious sensation of having gotten enough sleep. Even better, Mrs. Kloss was out of town for a charity gala in Colorado, and for the first time in weeks, I had absolutely nothing I had to do. I stretched, feeling the energy snapping from the tips of my fingers to the point of my toes. It was tempting to stay in bed and think about nothing but Dominic, but that was a bad idea. I hadn’t seen him since we left the office Tuesday evening–first me and then him to make sure no one saw us coming off the elevator together.
My energy dimmed slightly as I thought about how he’d worked from home on Thursday and Friday, which was apparently unusual enough that Albert said something about it when I was in his office.
“Maybe he’s sick,” I suggested.
“Dominic White doesn’t get sick during crunch time,” Albert said definitely.
It had to have been about avoiding me. I rolled onto my side and pulled my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms around my legs. Thoughts of Dominic were a bad idea because they were all highs and lows, with nothing in between. It was like being on a rollercoaster I didn’t want to get off, even as it was making my head spin and my heart ache. If I thought about him too much, I could almost hear him. His cold, authoritarian tone that dipped intimately low when he stopped thinking about me as an associate.
I frowned at my wall, realizing that I wasn’t imagining a male voice. I was actually hearing one coming from my kitchen. And as I listened harder, I could hear Christi’s quieter voice responding, then both of them laughing. My mind tried to paint the picture of my little sister and my imposing boss sitting together at our kitchen bar, sharing a good joke, but it was too incongruous. And besides, the voice wasn’t quite right. It was familiar, but it wasn’t Dominic.
I got out of bed, pulled a sweatshirt over my thin camisole sleepshirt, and went out to find Jake sitting on the kitchen stool.
“Hi,” he said cheerfully. “I brought bagels.”
“That’s so nice.” Automatically, I went to the bag. He’d gotten my favorite–blueberry–but to my surprise, he’d also gotten Christi’s favorite – pumpernickel. He’d also brought three coffees, and one was half caff. He hadn’t stopped by to see me and gotten my sister accidentally. This had been planned.
I looked from the pumpernickel bagel to the decaf coffee, and a strange but wonderful inkling worked its way through my confusion. Was Jake here not as my old friend from college, but rather as Christi’s….
I couldn’t decide what word fit. He couldn’t be her boyfriend, not yet anyway. But from the way they were sitting so cozily close together, bodies angled toward one another, knees practically touching, it wasn’t far off.
Christi caught the dawning comprehension on my face and tilted her head, a questioning look in her eye. I smiled at her, telegraphing that all was well. I could hardly claim it was strange that my ex-boyfriend was interested in my beautiful, fun little sister considering who I was interested in. The baby certainly complicated things, but it wasn’t like Jake didn’t know she was pregnant.
They were adults, and they’d figure it out.
I cut my bagel down the center while Christi told him all about the Christmas ball and how amazing it was going to be and how wonderful Mrs. Kloss was. I listened, hoping to hear Dominic’s name come up. I’d made sure to address his envelope myself, sealing it with hope and wistfulness. It made my heart flutter romantically to imagine him there in his generic, rich-man-about-town tux, the contrast it would make with his darkly devastating good looks. The austere black tails, the crisp white shirt against that tan skin and those silvery eyes.