Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
After they’d been seated and ordered drinks Eden could feel Randi’s eyes on hers. She looked up and pressed her lips together. “What?”
“You didn’t like my ideas at the bookstore, did you?”
“What? No! I loved them,” Eden exclaimed. “It’s so much better than the way we’ve done signings before.” She shook her head and smiled. “You’re so good at this.”
Randi looked down with a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.
“Yes you are,” Cari said. She reached over and put her hand on Randi’s forearm. “I’m so glad you’re on my team.”
Eden couldn’t take her eyes off Cari’s hand. Something bubbled up inside her that she couldn’t quite name. She’d always been protective of Randi because she was so friendly. A few times that had led to women taking advantage of Randi’s kindness, but this felt different.
Their server brought their drinks and Eden took a long drink of her beer. She cleared her throat in hopes of calming her now pounding heart. “What did you think of the bookstore, Cari?”
“I loved the vibe,” Cari replied.
“That’s all Ginger,” Eden said. “She is passionate about books, authors, and readers. It doesn’t matter to her if you’ve sold ten books or ten thousand, she considers it an honor to bring you to her customers.”
“She was very accommodating,” Randi said. “She didn’t even bat an eye when I suggested moving everything up nearer to the front.”
“So, you have a thing for redheads?” Cari asked, taking a sip of her drink.
Eden could see curiosity in Cari’s eyes as she stared at Randi over the rim of her glass.
“Not really,” Randi said. “We”—she looked at Eden with raised brows—“appreciate nice hair, don’t we?”
Eden grinned. Why did this feel like an inside joke between them and give her such pleasure? “That we do, even though I still think it makes us sound shallow.”
Randi shook her head and smirked.
“It doesn’t make you shallow,” Cari said. “We are all attracted to certain things. One of yours is hair. When we first meet someone it’s what we see, but we see more once we engage.”
“Thanks for saying that,” Randi said. “Eden tends to stress out over things she can’t really control.”
“Oh yeah?” Eden replied. “Then I guess you can’t control your weakness for a woman with red hair.”
Randi smirked. “And you seem to prefer blondes.”
“Not true!” Eden protested. “The last couple of women I dated happened to be blond.”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” Randi turned to Cari. “Do you have a type?”
“Mmm, I don’t know.” Cari glanced over at Eden. “I may have a thing for blondes, too.”
Eden forced a smile. She was getting the strangest vibe from Cari. It was as if she was vying for Randi’s attention. “I don’t know anyone who has prettier blond hair than my bestie.” She looked over at Randi and gave her a genuine smile.
“Thank you.” Randi took a sip of her drink.
“I understand that you’ve decided to stay here in Dallas and work on your next book,” Eden said.
“Yeah, it’s been nice living with my sister and her family,” Cari said. “I can work on my book all day while the kids are at school.”
“You know, Ginger is single,” Eden said. “Maybe she’d be a nice distraction while you’re here.” She glanced over at Randi and saw a look of surprise on her face.
“Mmm, I think my new friends at HLR will be enough of a distraction for now,” Cari said. “I’m going to like popping in and seeing what Randi’s working on with my books.”
Eden saw Randi smile at Cari and could tell the woman was interested in her best friend. This could be a disaster waiting to happen.
“Oh, I mentioned the game night to my sister,” Cari said. “She thought it sounded like fun and wondered if she could join us.”
“That would be great!” Randi exclaimed. “We need more players. Let’s see, that would give us six. We could do three teams of two or two teams of three. What do you think, Eden?”
“Yeah, that would be just right. We’d love to have her join us.”
“Maybe Eden and I shouldn’t be on the same team,” Randi suggested. “We always win and no one wants to play with us after that.”
“Listen to your trash talk!” Cari exclaimed with a laugh.
“She’s right,” Eden said. “We’re pretty good.”
“We’ll see about that.”
“Don’t worry, Cari. You can be on my team.” Randi smiled.
“If you want to win,” Eden said, “you might want to be on my team.” She laughed when Randi gave her a menacing look then laughed with her.
They finished their drinks then walked back to their cars. Cari lingered next to Randi’s car and Eden got the impression she was waiting for her to leave.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” Eden said.
“Thanks for setting this up,” Randi said.
“Yeah, thank you.” Cari nodded. “I feel better about it now that I know the layout.”
Eden got in her car and watched Randi and Cari talking before Cari walked away. As Eden left the parking lot she looked in her rearview mirror once more and saw Randi’s car coming up behind her.
Eden thought back to their interactions at the bookstore.
She’d noticed Randi giving Cari encouraging looks in an effort, she assumed, to diffuse her anxiety about the upcoming event.
But then while they were having drinks it became obvious to Eden that Cari was interested in Randi for more than just friendship.
She was concerned for Randi and how this could affect their working relationship with Cari.
Eden sighed and pulled up her contacts on the screen in her car. She punched in Randi’s number and listened to the phone ringing through her speakers.
“Well hey, it’s been so long.” Randi's amused voice echoed through the car.
“Cari wants you,” Eden blurted.
“What? Wants me?”
“Yes, be careful.” She looked in her rearview mirror but Randi was several cars back so she couldn’t see her expression.
“Hmm, wasn’t it just Sunday when you thought I might have brought someone home with me? You were okay with that. Why wouldn’t this be okay?”
Eden exhaled loudly. “You know why. She’s your client.”
“Why are you so upset about this?” Randi asked. “It’s not like it’s going to happen.”
Eden exhaled a somewhat relieved breath. Randi was just messing with her, or was she? She obviously hadn’t picked up on the things Eden saw while at the bookstore and the bar.
“The way Cari was looking at you and touching you, I’m not so sure. Besides, we just started working together. It’s been great. Don’t blow it now.”
“Me? What makes you think I’m going to blow it?” Randi asked defensively.
“Well, I’m not sleeping with her.”
“Neither am I!” Randi exclaimed. After a pause she said, “Maybe we’d better stop talking about this.”
Eden chided herself for making that comment. She had tried to get Randi to come work with her for years and now that she was finally across the hall Eden didn’t want anything to mess this up.
“I’m sorry,” Eden said. “You’re not going to blow it. I’m just looking out for you, babe.”
“I know you are.” Randi exhaled. “You called me babe, so you must be worried. Don’t be.”
Eden only called Randi “babe” when she wanted her attention. “Let me ask you something and I want you to answer honestly,” she said. “Do you like working at HLR? With me?”
“Of course I do!”
“You know how much it means to me, but if you don’t like it…” Eden paused. “It’s okay. I want you to be happy.”
“Eden, I do like working at HLR,” Randi said. “I’m learning so much and you know how I love picking up new ideas and strategies. It’s a bonus that you’re right across the hall. Don’t worry about Cari.”
“You say that, but you didn’t see the way she was looking at you,” Eden said.
“I can handle Cari and everything will be okay,” Randi said. “Don’t you trust me?”
“You know I do!”
“Then let me do my thing, you do your thing, and we’ll all live happily ever after.”
Eden chuckled. “You sound like a romance novel.”
“It’s what I’m selling.”
After a moment Randi said, “Hey, I’ve been thinking about the game night thing. Let me host it at my apartment.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, that way you won’t have to stress about the food and all that,” Randi said. “I’ll take care of it. You can concentrate on Gabi and the games.”
Eden smiled as she turned onto her street. “That would be really nice of you.”
“I’m a nice person and you’re my best friend,” Randi said. “I just want you to be happy, too.”
“I know you do,” Eden said. “That’s how we got into this whole dating mess.”
Randi groaned. “It’s not a mess. You’ve met three very nice women. It’s early.”
“I have. You’re right.”
“I usually am.”
Eden laughed. “Okay, I’m home. I’ll make sure and tell Letty hello from you.”
“You do that.” Randi’s laughter echoed around the car. “See you tomorrow.”
“Bye,” Eden said and ended the call.
She walked into her house and went straight to her bedroom to change clothes.
It was warm and she was eager to slip into her favorite pair of shorts.
Maybe she’d go outside, sit in her backyard, and catch the sunset.
The days were getting longer and she loved coming home from work with the sun still shining.
“Letty?” she called as she hung up her work clothes. “Where’s my girl?”
Once dressed she walked back out of her bedroom to find her cat lazing in a patch of sun on the living room floor.
“There you are.” Eden smiled down at the cat who slightly opened her one eye then closed it again.
“Okay, you’re not interested,” she muttered, walking to the fridge and grabbing a beer. She stepped out the back door and onto the patio.
Eden sat in one of the chairs that looked out over the backyard. The sun was glowing a fiery orange as it fell towards the horizon. She was reminded of the many times Randi would stop by on her way home from work to watch the sunset with her and have a glass of wine or maybe a beer.
She took out her phone to snap a picture of the setting sun. With a couple of taps on her phone she sent the pic to Randi, inviting her to come by one day after work.
She smiled when Randi sent her a sun emoji with a smiley face and a thumbs up.
“Oh, Randi,” Eden muttered. “What am I going to do with you?” She shook her head as thoughts of Cari filtered through her mind. There was Cari gently touching Randi’s arm and the way she kept catching Randi’s gaze at the bar. Eden sighed.
Was she really worried about Randi crossing that line with Cari or was it something else? Eden could still feel the heat that shot through her body when she saw Cari touch Randi’s arm. She’d felt somewhat possessive instead of protective. But it was just a simple touch.
“Good God! Was I jealous?” she exclaimed aloud.
Eden sat up in her chair then sank back down. “I’m the analytical one. Randi is the free spirit,” she said to no one. “Figure this out.”
Why would I be jealous of Cari, she wondered. “Randi said nothing was going to happen.”
How many times had Eden witnessed other women look at Randi like that only to be let down as Randi went home alone or with her then girlfriend.
“Girlfriends,” she said aloud. “Randi’s had plenty of girlfriends and I never felt this way, right?”
She thought back over the last several years. The closer she and Randi had become, the fewer girlfriends either of them had. Hmm, was that strange? She hadn’t realized it until now.
“It doesn’t mean anything,” she muttered.
Her phone pinged with a text and her heart dropped a little when she saw it wasn’t Randi, but Tennie.
Meet me for coffee in the morning?
Yes! It’s my turn to buy.
We’ll see about that. See you there.
This was just what Eden needed to get her mind off of Randi and Cari. A brief morning date with Tennie was a perfect way to start the day. Tennie was uplifting and always had a positive outlook.
Eden smiled, put her phone away, and went back inside. Letty would be demanding her dinner soon and they both knew who ruled this home.