Chapter 3
“Sorry I couldn’t get home tonight, Rach.”
I snuggled farther under the covers with my phone propped on a pillow for Bradford to see me. “It’s fine. I know this project means a lot to you. I’m just selfish and miss you.”
Bradford smiled, showing off his dimple as he pushed his blond hair out of his face.
“You’re not selfish. I miss you, too. I’ll be home next week. I can’t wait to see you.”
“I can’t wait to see you. Today was awful.”
“Hey, Rach, I have to go. I just got a text message that they are expecting me downstairs.”
“Okay, Mr. Important.”
“Wait, why was today awful? You had your presentation with Aurora for the indie project. What happened?”
“Nothing, it’s fine. Go shmooze the people downstairs so you can hurry up and get home.”
“Ugh, why does it always have to be at night? I just want to go to sleep.”
I chuckled at his pout as he put on his shoes. “Try to have fun. I love you.”
“Love you, too. Goodnight, babe.”
“Night, love you.”
After plugging in my phone, I pulled the covers over my head.
I can’t believe I punched him in the back of the head.
I groaned into my comforter. The back of my eyelids replayed my ankle going out from under me to me cold-cocking Mr. Easton on an endless loop.
Yeah, that’s going to be repeated in my brain for the foreseeable future.
“Morning, sunshine,” Jules called out when I walked out of the elevator, her hand thrust out with an energy drink clutched in it.
“Thank you. We really should cut back on these,” I said, cracking open the can and gulping half of it down.
“Yeah, we should totally cut back.” Jules giggled and took a sip of hers.
“Have we heard anything back from Aurora?” I knew it was a stupid question. Honestly, I didn’t even know why I asked it.
“Stop,” Jules said as I shook my head.
“Stop, what?”
“You asked because it’s on your mind. It’s on both of our minds right now. I’ll ask you the same thing numerous times before the week ends. We just can’t get annoyed at the constant question.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too. So, when is Bradford coming home?” Jules waggled her eyebrows. Sighing, I walked into our office to get some work done.
“He’s not going to be home until the end of this week.”
“Damm, that boy has been working a lot. He hasn’t traveled this much in forever.”
“I know. He’s working so hard. I’m proud of him, but I miss the fuck out of him.”
“Aren’t you lucky you have an amazing best friend who will keep you from losing your mind while he’s gone?”
“So lucky.”
“Dinner tonight?” Jules wiggled her shoulders. “Sushi?”
“Remember? Sushi is when we get the Aurora deal.”
“You’re going to say something healthy, aren’t you?” Jules’ bottom lip pushed out, and it was my turn to wiggle my shoulders.
“Yep, can I interest you in a salad?”
“You’re an asshole.”
“But you love me.”
“I must, this is the second salad I’ve had this week.”
“Shit,” Jules grumbled as she dropped her eyeliner for the second time in under a minute. She was at her desk getting ready to go meet her unicorn couple.
I bit my lip, wanting to keep out of it.
“What?” Jules snapped, aggressively slamming the lid back on her eyeliner.
“Nothing, I was letting you get ready. You seem nervous, that’s all.”
Jules let out a long sigh and dropped her head on her desk. “I am nervous, which is stupid because I’m never nervous.”
“You know you don’t have to go through with it, right?”
She lifted her head to roll her eyes at me, and it was well deserved. Of course she knew that. “Stop, I just wanted to reiterate what I know you already know.”
“I’m also pissed we haven’t heard anything from the Aurora project yet. They said they would have their decision by Friday, and hello, it’s Friday.” She tapped her red-lacquered nail on the calendar behind her.
Now, it was my turn to roll my eyes, just as annoyed as she was. It was the end of the day, and I’d been habitually refreshing my email and checking my phone to see if they’d responded.