Chapter Five
Amelia
Her mom had said that she was waiting for an answer, but Amelia knew she wouldn’t wait forever. As soon as Daniel told her he had the time off the following morning, she texted the family’s group chat.
The reaction was instantaneous.
Amelia: Daniel said he would like to join us.
John: Who the fuck is Daniel?
Amelia: My boyfriend.
John: EXCUSE ME? Since when are you dating?
Mom: Yay! I’m so glad he could join us!
There was no going back now, Amelia realized. Her nerves were frayed from lying to her family, and she knew they were going to be talking about this all day. John knew of her aversion to dating since he had one of his own, but she didn’t know if he’d see right through the lie or not.
Despite the stress, she still needed to get to work, so she put down her phone and ignored any new messages until she got on the MARTA.
John: Hold on, Mom. You knew?
Mom: Of course! She just told me yesterday.
John: What is even happening right now?
Amelia: We’re going on vacation and Mom invited my boyfriend. That’s what happened.
John: Wait, so there’s five of us total? How are we going to get there? I refuse to all squish in the back of Mom’s car.
He was right. Their mom’s car could fit five people, but not comfortably. Amelia really didn’t want to be squished between Daniel and her brother for five hours.
Amelia: I’ll take my car.
John: HA. Yeah right. You hate driving.
Amelia: I’m not asking Daniel to drive. He moved his entire schedule around to come. I’ll be fine.
Mom: Are you sure, honey?
Dad: We could rent a car.
Amelia smiled at her dad’s text. Her dad was smart and resourceful, but even with a bigger car, she didn’t want to throw Daniel to the wolves this early, especially with no escape route available.
Maybe she didn’t want to be thrown to the wolves, either.
Amelia: No, it would be a nightmare to get a rental so quickly. I’ll drive. It’ll be fine, guys.
Mom: Okay, but only if you’re sure.
Dad: Amelia is very capable of taking care of herself. Just call us if you need anything, okay?
Amelia: Always.
She smiled and put away her phone. It took until she was in her office to realize what she had offered to do.
Amelia hated driving; John wasn’t wrong about that. It made her anxiety rise just thinking about it. She only had a car, so she could drive herself and John to her family’s house for holidays. She didn’t even use it to get to work.
But it wasn’t like she had a better option. She really didn’t want to spend any amount of time in the back seat of a cramped car with three people.
It would be better to be in the driver’s seat with one person, even if she barely knew him.
At least it wasn’t the man her mom was trying to set her up with.
Amelia then realized she was staring at a wall and being entirely unproductive. So, she attempted to focus on her work, which essentially meant approving or denying HR issues and escalations. She was done by five, and then she turned on her out-of-office message and shut down her computer.
Sighing, she rubbed her eyes for a moment and then stood to leave. She wondered if she should text Daniel to make plans for the next day, but she ran right into him as she left her office.
Quite literally.
She was met with a solid chest and the smell of pine and cedar. He was warm in the cool air of the office, and she was tempted to stay and savor the heat he provided.
But she stepped back, rubbing her cheek from where it had been pressed against his shirt.
“Sorry,” Daniel said. “I was just about to knock.”
Amelia took in his appearance. He had his work laptop in hand and a backpack slung over his shoulder.
“Are you leaving already?” she asked.
“Yes. I finished early.”
“Wow, that’s great. You normally stay later.”
“I was hoping to catch you before you left. We still need to figure out the plan for tomorrow, right?”
“Right.” She nodded. “We have to plan things. Usually my brother and dad do all the thinking.”
“How about you tell me what you have and I’ll do some of it as well.”
“Sure,” she said, motioning for him to follow her to the elevator.
“I looked it up last night. It’s about five hours from here.”
“Yep. We usually leave around ten in the morning to get there at three. In past years, I’d get up earlier and drive to their house, but we aren’t doing that this year.”
“Why not?”
They walked into the elevator, and Amelia opened her mouth to respond, but someone else ran in before she could speak.
Andrea looked between the two of them. “You’re both leaving early.”
“We have big plans,” Amelia said. She glanced at Daniel, hoping she hadn’t just said the wrong thing, but he gave her a tiny nod.
“Wait, both of you?”
“We’re going to the beach,” was Daniel’s simple yet telling answer.
“At the same time?”
“Yes.”
“To the same beach?”
“Yep,” Daniel said. Andrea turned to look at both of them, and her eyes went back and forth between them for a long second, as if trying to picture them together. Amelia didn’t blame her—she was trying to picture the same thing.
The elevator door opened, and they were all spared any more awkwardness.
“Um, have fun, then!” Andrea said, and she raced to her car. Amelia wondered how long it was going to take for the entire office to know.
“That’s going to be a talking point for the whole week.”
“Unfortunately,” she muttered under her breath. Judging by what she’d heard Andrea and Dana say only the day before, she knew it wasn’t all going to be good talk.
“What were you saying before Andrea joined us in the elevator?”
“Oh, right. We’re not going to my parents’ house because we’re driving by ourselves. I figured the two of us being alone in a car together is better than all five of us being in a tiny car.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“If one of us isn’t dead in a ditch by the time we hit the South Carolina line, we should be fine for a week.”
Daniel chuckled. “Hopefully. I’ll text you my address.”
She nodded and expected him to leave. But then he glanced over at Andrea’s car, which was still in the parking lot.
“Do you still want to pretend to date here at work?” she asked.
“I do.”
“Andrea is still in her car, and I’m pretty sure she’s watching. We could, I don’t know, hug? Maybe?”
Daniel gave her a sideways glance, and she had a split second to wonder if it had been a good idea to suggest this at all. But then he wrapped his long arm around her shoulder, pulling her into a tight hug. Amelia felt her entire face almost explode in heat as she let it happen.
He smelled too good. His body was too warm, and she could easily get addicted to this if she let herself.
“There,” he said, pulling away. “That will make tomorrow easier.”
“Right,” she said, feeling her heart race. “Easier.”