Maybe Someday With You: A Small Town, Opposites Attract, Workplace Romance

Chapter 1

The heat was gettingto her.

“This one’s for you, Amber,” Jake said with a cute grin on his baby face. The adorable blond regular’s arms strained the Northfield Fire Department T-shirt when he held out the shot glass she had just poured him.

Amber Hart’s wild streak, the one her family had been warning her about for years, butted against her good sense and came out victorious, and she tossed the shot back with a flourish.

She didn’t drink often, but the unseasonably warm June heat was making her edgy tonight. Oh, and stress too. Yeah, she had plenty of that.

The too-sweet butterscotch schnapps hit the back of her throat hard, and she sputtered. Everyone in Northfield knew she made killer drinks, but she didn’t drink often enough to take the shot without grimacing. She just hoped her boss didn’t see her.

“Stop drinking my liquor, woman.”

Busted. Killian Kennedy had the face of a dark angel, so beautiful it could make you weep, but right now he looked more annoyed than anything as he stared pointedly at her through the pass-through window. Oops.

“Sorry, boss. I didn’t want Jake to drink alone,” she said cheekily. Killian was no stranger to her impulsive decisions, but he loved her anyway.

“Jake,” Killian yelled back.

“Yes, sir?” Jake ducked his head to see Killian.

“Give any more shots to my bartender, and you’re cut off.”

“You got it, sir.” Jake winked. He was adorable, really, but oh-so-young. She was inching a little too close to thirty to think about dating the rookie or anyone else, really. She couldn’t remember the last man she’d gone out with. She dismissed that depressing thought quickly.

“Your scallops are burning, Killian,” she said, knowing that would get Killian to leave the bartending to her. The man took great pride in his food. Good thing his shift was ending soon, and he was leaving her in charge.

She turned back toward the sea of uniforms crowding the bar. The pub was the unofficial hangout of the off-duty Northfield Fire and Police Departments. The men and a few women all ribbed her like a little sister and tipped her generously for putting up with their nonsense. She knew most of their families too, at least the ones that were from Northfield. Perks of working at a small-town bar in your hometown.

“Cute outfit, Am,” said Allie. Her sister sat next to her husband Davis on the other side of the bar poking her straw around the lemon drop martini Amber had made her.

Amber did a little spin behind the bar to show off the sequins on her new Jean Paul Gaultier skirt she bought last year on Poshmark for a steal. “Thanks. Want to borrow it?”

Allie snuggled into Davis’s side. “Should I borrow Amber’s skirt?” Amber made a mental note to get her sister water. Allie was a lightweight, and she rarely got out since she had the twins.

Savannah and Tessa were almost three, and the apples of Allie and Davis’s eyes. If ever there was a more perfect family to be born into, it was Allie and Davis’s. They were crazy about each other for one, and their little blended family of Allie’s son and Davis’s kids from their previous marriages doted on the little girls’ every whim.

Davis leaned in and whispered something in Allie’s ear that made her turn bright red. Allie and Davis had been married four years now, and they still acted like newlyweds. It was kind of cute, but Amber would never admit it.

“Get a room, you two,” Ford said, scooting onto the barstool. “Hey, Amber.” Ford Clairmont flashed his all-American grin at her, and Amber wondered again if she was broken. Ford was handsome, successful, wealthy, and all she wanted to do was ask him to rub the tight knot between her shoulders. What a waste.

“Hey, Ford.” She expertly tossed a coaster in front of him with a flick of her wrist. “I think they’re trying to make more babies.”

Allie’s head whipped around. “Take that back, Amber Hart, or you’re going to do an overnight at our house. Davis, did you hear that?”

Davis raised his head from nuzzling Allie’s neck and grinned wolfishly. “I wouldn’t mind making more babies.”

“Are they for real?” Amber asked.

“I know. It’s disgusting.” Ford smiled. “Kind of makes you want to settle down and make some cute babies, though.”

“Not for me.” Amber shuddered. She loved her nephews and nieces more than anything, but kids were an automatic no for anyone she dated, no matter how sexy their dad was.

Kids, puppies, plants. No, thank you. She didn’t trust herself to keep any of them alive.

“Good. Don’t. I need all the free babysitters I can get,” Allie said.

“It’s busy tonight,” Ford said, checking out the packed bar.

“Yep.” Amber deftly slid a stack of tips off the bar from a group of college boys and stuffed them in her pocket. Aside from her boys in uniform, they were her second favorite customers. Young and fun, but they didn’t have much money.

But the tips in her pocket were a reassuring weight, and the night was young still. Plenty of hours left to make money. The tightness that had a permanent hold on her shoulders lately drew into a familiar spring.

“Everything okay?” Allie asked, studying her with sharp hazel eyes. As the oldest of the four Hart sisters, Allie didn’t miss much. Since having the twins, Allie was busier than ever, but they were still close. “You don’t usually work Friday nights,” she said.

“I picked up some extra shifts,” Amber said breezily.

Allie’s eyes narrowed. “Why? Aren’t you still working for Mrs. Pearson? Did you get fired already?”

“Hey, rude,” Amber said. “I didn’t get fired. That ship sailed to Florida,” Her latest gig as a personal assistant had been great while it lasted. It was mostly keeping track of Mrs. Pearson’s appointments, filling up her pill containers, and driving her places, but she liked the lady. They had some good times together, and Amber had been sad to see her move down south. Working for her had been one of her favorite jobs to date. And, yes, she’d had plenty of them.

“I don’t ‘get fired,’ anyway. I prefer to leave in a blaze of glory.” That sounded way better than the truth: her track record holding down jobs sucked. It was so well known it was a family joke how many jobs she’d had over the years. Waitressing, office work, that one time she started a dog walking business, she had worked them all, but none of them panned out for one reason or another.

But she wasn’t ready for that much introspection on a Friday night.

Allie sighed. “Right. Well, whatever comes next, let’s hope you decide to stick with it. I just want to see you happy.”

Amber saluted. “Got it, boss.” She had been picking up shifts at the pub for the extra cash, but she really needed another job, one with benefits, preferably. Her car was on the fritz and the window AC unit had stopped working right before the heat wave. Sleeping in her apartment had not been fun this week. “Know anyone hiring, Ford?”

“Actually,” Ford said, swirling his drink in his glass, ”Theo”s assistant eloped. Left him without any warning.”

”Really?” Allie looked excited. “You could totally do that job, Amber.”

”Yep.” Ford nodded. “The sooner the better. Knowing my brother, he hasn’t left the office since she eloped. You want me to put in a good word for you?”

Amber snorted. “Can you imagine?” she said. She laughed again just thinking about working for the mayor. Theo Clairmont was No Fun with capital letters. “That would be a disaster.”

No one else was laughing.

“Why not?” Allie frowned at her. “You’re organized and smart. You have plenty of experience and you need a steady job with benefits. What’s the issue?”

How to say this delicately? “Theo Clairmont has a massive stick up his ass.” Or not, but she wasn’t known for her tact anyway.

“Ouch,” Allie said. “What’s the mayor ever done to you?”

Amber ignored that.

Ford grinned. “True. To be fair, he’s got a town to run, but I’m definitely the fun brother. I’d hire you in a second, but my secretary scares me. I can’t ever fire her. I think she’d poison me.”

“Just think about it, Amber. It’s a good job,” Allie said.

“Will do. Hey, you never showed me the girls’ dance costumes,” Amber said. Showing off the girls never failed to distract her sister. The phone came out, and she was done talking about Theo Clairmont. Everyone in Northfield loved the mayor. Except her.

He was polite to her, sure. Theo Clairmont’s manners were impeccable. But that was it. He certainly didn’t bother to display any of the easy charm that Northfield was so in love with.

From the first time she’d met him, when she was a starry-eyed, stupid teenager in a bad spot, her wild streak had surfaced every time she saw the mayor. He was just so proper she couldn’t resist poking him to see how far she could push before he lost some of that polish.

For years, she had watched him command every room he stepped into with a natural confidence that irked her to no end. Men respected him and sought him out, and women of all ages sat up and took notice when the mayor arrived. In turn, the mayor was charming and patient, earning him countless awards and accolades during his years in office. But when it came to her, Theo Clairmont was noticeably cooler.

It was a feeling Amber was wholly unfamiliar with. She knew a thing or two about charm. You couldn’t work as many service jobs as she had without learning how to wield a smile and flirt like a connoisseur. It was kind of what she was known for and what made her so good at bartending.

She enjoyed talking to people and learning about them, and yes, fixing them up too. She looked around proudly. There were a few couples in the pub right now that she’d had a hand in matchmaking. She was friendly, dammit.

Yet Theo Claremont looked right through her as if she didn’t exist.

It hadn’t always been that way, but Amber quickly dismissed the thought. She didn’t want to ruin her good mood.

Later, after Allie and Davis left, the pub swelled with the Friday crowd and the pace picked up. Amber flitted around, mixing drinks, and pouring wine and beer.

For most of her life, she had heard she was too much. Too flirtatious, too outrageous, too much for most people to handle, so she had started to embrace it rather than make herself smaller to fit someone else’s idea of how she should behave.

Once, when she was in middle school, she’d stayed home sick and binge-watched a Marilyn Monroe movie marathon. She’d studied Marilyn’s mannerisms and her effect on men the way some people studied textbooks, fascinated by the power one little blond woman held.

Some women, like her mother, Annette, exuded a natural authority, and others like her sisters, had a calm, confident way about them.

Amber had Marilyn. Now, there was a woman who knew how to use what she had to make an impression. Well, minus the disastrous results toward the end of her life, but Amber didn’t focus on those. She channeled her inner bombshell when she needed an extra boost of confidence.

“What can I get you, boys?” Amber asked, leaning over the bar a smidge, knowing her tight white tank top dipped enticingly into her deep cleavage.

She was a firm believer in making an outfit her own, which is why she had cropped and shredded the boring white T-shirt Killian made them wear into a tank top, leaving a playful fringe that swung teasingly between her stomach and the waistband of her sparkly skirt.

She leaned down farther, watching their reactions with amusement. Not too much. The pub was a family establishment, after all. She just liked to tap dance on the line between outrageous and respectable.

“Can you do that thing with the cherry stem, Amber?” Ethan, another fire department rookie, asked hopefully, pushing his way closer to the bar.

Men. So predictable. She grinned.

“Now, why would you want me to do that, Ethan?” She winked and popped a maraschino cherry from the garnish tray into her mouth, eating the fruit, and leaving behind the stem.

“Ow-ow-ow.” Catcalls pierced the air as Amber worked the cherry stem with her tongue and looked at the court of eager faces crowded around her section of the bar.A mix of appreciation and lust looked back at her, just how she liked it.

She pursed her red-lipsticked lips and wiggled her tongue around, finally thrusting out the perfectly tied cherry stem to her audience.

She crooked her finger and gestured Ethan closer, curling her fingers around his scruffy jaw and drawing him toward her lips. His face turned eagerly, just in time to swipe the air as Amber snatched the twenty-dollar bill from his other hand and shouted around the stem, “Pay up, boys!”

The pub doors opened again, and Amber looked over automatically, her tongue still offered in triumph.

And met the cool blue eyes of Mayor Theo Clairmont.

He stood just inside the doorway with a tall, slender brunette on his arm, easily commanding the attention of the room he had just stepped into as people noticed his arrival.

The mayor’s dark hair swooped back from his forehead neatly, revealing a chiseled, smooth-shaven jaw and devastatingly handsome face. Even from behind the bar, she could see how his perfectly fitted, no doubt obscenely expensive suit molded to the tall lines of his body.

Icy blue eyes held hers, and an unexpected shiver shot down her spine.

He didn’t look at her with interest. It wasn’t outright disdain. Theo Clairmont looked at her with a calm sort of assessment that left her feeling oddly, inexplicably, exposed. She was instantly annoyed.

Men like Mayor Theo Clairmont were born into privilege and power: wealthy, handsome, with a clear path laid out for them. They conducted their lives on golf courses and in boardrooms, spaces where she had never been invited or welcomed, unless she was taking notes or serving refreshments.

They had no concept of the struggle and sacrifice it took to survive in this world, while she worked two jobs just to make ends meet. She had worked for people like the Clairmonts her entire life—pouring their drinks, taking their orders, catering to their every whim behind the scenes.

Pure stubbornness made her hold his gaze until the crowd surged to greet him and, like a shock of icy cold water, she jerked back to reality.

“Can you do it again? Take all my money,” Ethan groaned. He slapped a crumpled pile of dollar bills on the bar toward her.

The warmth of the pub intensified as Theo, phone pressed to his ear, led his date through the crowd toward a table of people, looking every inch the confident, charismatic picture of success, while she picked the cherry stem from her mouth and eyed the damp dollar bills on the bar.

She was really, really tired of being the one behind the scenes.

Theo Clairmont was not amused.His eyes burned from lack of sleep, and the music in the pub was reverberating in his skull while he waited on hold.

His assistant, Kelsey, had managed his life efficiently until last week when she eloped. Who eloped anymore? Why she didn’t just go down the hall from their office and have the judge marry her, he’d never understand. Now, he was left with a mountain of loose ends on top of his regular workload.

Ah, hell. With the grueling week of work he’d just had, he should have just canceled tonight and gone home to bed instead of coming out for a drink with his campaign staff.

“Welcome to the pub.” Amber Hart tossed four coasters onto the table. Theo glanced up for a brief second—long enough to notice her new hair, cotton candy pink mixed with blond curls. Outrageous, as usual.

She was looking directly at him, a faint smirk playing on her lips. “We’ve got ice cold beer on tap, or a selection of New York’s finest Finger Lakes wines. What’ll it be?”

“Chardonnay, and make sure the glass doesn’t have spots on it.” Neal Barclay said, his longtime chief of staff. Neal looked around, frowning. Theo knew that look. Neal had inspected the interior of the pub and found it lacking. Theo didn’t care. He liked it here. There was an unpretentious charm to the dark interior that was a welcome change from the formal events he usually attended.

“You got it. No spots. Spotless. Free of spots,” Amber said. She popped her hip out, making her long, feathered earrings dance around her face. Theo turned back to his phone call.

“No,” he said into the phone. “That won’t work. It was supposed to be for the twenty-first. Yes, I realize this is short notice. Who? Beckerman booked it? Damn it. No, not you. I meant?—”

“Theo, did you hear me?” His date, Addison, tugged on his sleeve. “I think we should order something really special.”

Theo covered the mouthpiece on his phone. “I’m sorry. I’ve got to take care of this.”

“Do you remember what today is?” she added with a coy smile.

Theo looked at her blankly. “Friday?”

Addison pouted. “It’s my birthday month, Theo. You said you were going to take me out somewhere nice, and instead you took me to this shitty little bar.”

Birthday month? Theo held back a groan. “Right. Just give me a minute to?—”

The woman slid off the chair and stood over the table. “This is so boring. I’m going to meet my friends. Call me if you want to join me later.” She blew him a kiss and waltzed out of the pub.

“Well, that was awkward,” Amber said brightly, leaning over to take back the extra coaster. Theo raised an eyebrow at her obvious enjoyment of the situation. She smirked. “I’ll get you a beer, Mr. Mayor. You look like you could use it. Be right back with those.”

“Really, Theo? You forgot her birthday?” Charlotte, his director of communications asked, disapproval written all over her face.

“Yeah.” Theo sighed. “In my defense, I met her last week.” Still, he felt like an asshole. He knew agreeing to take Addison out was a bad idea. She was funny and, okay, he wasn’t going to deny it, she had legs for days. He was a leg guy, through and through, but he knew it was a bad idea the first time they went out. He worked way too much to give a relationship the time and attention it deserved.

Neal frowned at him. “Stunts like that,” he nodded toward Addison, who had stopped to talk to a table of off-duty officers, “do not go over well with your voters. Your approval rating is already down 33 percent and Beckerman’s has doubled. I know you don’t want to hear this, but these numbers tell us you’ve got to make some serious changes to your image to have any chance of being reelected in November.”

“What’s wrong with Theo’s image?” Ford, his youngest brother, slid into a chair. “Did you suddenly start mugging old ladies?” He tossed a handful of complimentary peanuts into his mouth.

“Theo, Neal’s right,” Charlotte said quietly, putting a hand on Theo’s arm. “The polls are consistently favoring Beckerman. He’s painting himself as a family man in his ad campaign, and voters are eating it up. They see him as more stable and reliable.” Theo knew Charlotte was right, but it didn’t take the sting out of her words.

“Beckerman’s a prick,” Ford said. “I played golf with him once, and he was bragging about shagging the waitress while his wife was pregnant.”

“It doesn’t matter who he shags as long as he looks like a family man,” Neal said bluntly. “It’s all about optics.”

Theo winced. While Neal was incredibly successful at getting Theo’s father reelected for multiple terms, they didn’t see eye to eye on everything. Theo usually kept the peace because he respected Neal, but sometimes things came out of his mouth that made him wonder how similar they were at all.

“His family image is resonating with voters,” Charlotte said.

“What do you want me to do? Adopt a golden retriever and start baking apple pies?” Theo asked sarcastically.

“That’d be better than the gossip about who you’re dating this month all over the town’s Facebook page. People want to see their mayor settled down,” Neal said.

That damn Facebook page would be the death of him. Whomever ran it had too much time on their hands and Theo was their favorite subject. He dated, yes. But Theo wasn’t an indiscreet lover. He didn’t flaunt his dates or talk about them at all. In fact, he tried his best to avoid the spotlight as much as possible when it involved his personal life.

His last relationship was over a year ago with a local reporter, Pippa Shelton, before they decided their demanding careers left little time for a relationship, and he had only dated casually since.

But lately, he had been thinking about the future. At thirty-five, the thought of meeting a woman and starting a family had crossed his mind more often than not. It would certainly make his grandmother happy.

His record leading Northfield spoke for itself, despite what his constituents thought of his personal life. He poured his heart and soul into protecting Northfield’s charm and sustainability, only to be reduced to his dating history.

The Clairmonts had been shaping Northfield for generations. Theo’s father held the title of mayor for twenty-eight years before he retired and Theo was elected in his place. The following year, in a shocking accident that had shaken the entire town, his parents’ privately chartered plane went down not long after takeoff, and no one survived. The pain of losing his parents was still deep and raw.

It was why Philip Beckerman’s campaign was so distasteful. Beckerman, with his car salesman talks and grandiose plans, represented everything Theo opposed. His latest proposal to pave over the village green—a space the Clairmonts had protected for generations—was a clue to his short-sighted, profit-driven mindset.

Theo couldn’t stand the guy. Beckerman’s vision for Northfield threatened to undo everything Theo and his family had worked for hard for all these years. Losing the election in November wasn’t an option.

“We need something to replace the speculation. Something that shows you’ve turned a new leaf.” Charlotte said.

“He was just named Rochester’s most eligible bachelor,” Ford laughed. “That would be a one-eighty.”

“My personal life is not on the ballot,” Theo said tightly.

Charlotte, always the voice of reason, nodded. “It shouldn’t have anything to do with whether or not you can lead the town, Theo, but that’s not how politics work. It’s all about perception. Right now, you’re seen as the fun mayor, not the family mayor. Four years ago, that got you elected, but now voters want to see you settling down. They want to see that you’re committed to the needs of the families here. We need to shift the narrative fast.”

Ford sat forward. “If you need to cut some of your girlfriends loose, I can help with that. Take one for the team and all.”

“Why are you here again?” Theo glared at his younger brother.

“To provide brotherly support,” Ford said with a wounded look. “And my date is meeting me here later,” he added.

“Son, you can play with anyone you want, but you need someone steady by your side, someone who knows how to play the politics game, leading up to this election and after.” Neal looked him in the eye. “Do you want to be reelected or not?”

Theo scrubbed a hand over his face. He did want to be reelected more than he could put into words. Aside from a brief rebellion in college, he’d always known he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps. He loved his job, loved making Northfield a better place and planning for the future. His father used to tell Theo that leading a town took a servant’s heart, and Theo never forgot it.

He’d gone to college for political science and then went on to law school, all the while preparing to run when his father retired. When that day came, Theo won by a landslide. He’d spent the last four years working his ass off to make this place he loved better for everyone, and he couldn’t help the resentment that his job was in jeopardy because of his sex life.

“It’s not just the dating, Theo,” Neal said. “It’s who you’re dating. These women are not exactly cut out for a life in politics. You need to settle down with someone who’s wife material. Find yourself a nice woman who’s ready to have your babies. Someone who…who…knits?” Neal looked around the pub as if a magical knitting woman was waiting in the wings before his eyes homed in on Charlotte. “Someone like Charlotte.”

“Me?” Charlotte asked, a hand to her chest. “I’d never marry Theo, and besides, what makes you think I knit?” She sounded inexplicably hurt, Theo noticed.

Theo glanced at her in equal horror. “I’m not marrying you. I’m not marrying anyone.”

Neal leaned forward and Theo recognized the look. Theo respected Neal’s experience, but he was out of his mind. He wasn’t marrying anyone for his job, especially not Charlotte. She was like his sister. He glanced at Charlotte and was relieved to see the look of horror still on her face.

“I meant more like finding a nice woman to date steadily for a while,” Charlotte hurried to add.

“Amber,” someone near the pool table yelled, and Theo’s gaze drifted to the bar to look for her. She wasn’t hard to find.

In all the years he’d known her, he had been aware of her as soon as he stepped into the same room.Her laughter rose above the music and the noise, vibrant and dazzling, attracting people to her like magnets.

She was weaving her way in and out of the crowd of off-duty firefighters and police officers, passing out drinks and pocketing money, teasing and bantering with each of them. Amber’s energy practically sparkled in the dim lights of the bar, but he turned back to the table.

“Look at her,” Charlotte said. “She’s beautiful.” Theo glanced sharply at Charlotte’s wistful tone, but she was staring at Amber.

For a split second, Theo let himself drink her in. Even when he met her as an eighteen-year-old girl, Amber Hart was the kind of woman who demanded attention. He just didn’t make a habit of giving it to her.

She was bent over the pool table, in her little sparkly skirt that made his eyeballs throb, taking a practice shot while Northfield’s finest shouted encouragement and envisioned themselves behind her, no doubt. Her pink hair and lush body made her impossible to ignore.

It always surprised him how strong the bolt of lust was when he let himself look at her. He’d always gone for tall, cool brunettes—refined women who were as motivated and driven as he was. Not someone who dressed like a six-year-old with a bedazzler had gotten a hold of their clothes. Yet he reacted with a primitive awareness that took him by surprise whenever they were in the vicinity of one another.

She was striking, with her heart-shaped face and big hazel eyes that seemed perpetually amused. Of course, he was a man, and had noticed those generous curves too.

He dated women who were…predictable wasn’t the right word. From her wild hair to her too-short, too-tight clothing, there was nothing predictable in the package in front of him.

That didn’t stop him from admiring the way her tight skirt moved over the curves of her ass as she walked away. Her tanned legs were on perfect display, and as he watched along with the rest of the bar, she leaned over to shimmy even farther over the pool table for a shot. Theo had the distinct impression she knew exactly what she was doing, and she was enjoying every minute.

“We could use someone with connections like hers,” Neal said idly. “Do you think it’s true she’s slept with most of those guys?”

Ford’s normally easygoing expression turned hard. “Watch yourself. Amber’s a friend.”

“Are you really suggesting I date the local bartender for the sake of politics?” Theo said icily. “Do you hear yourself?”

“I was suggesting you hire her, not date her. I know she’s looking for a job,” Ford said. “She has some experience as a personal assistant, and I told her I’d put in a good word for her.”

“You can’t hire her.” Neal scowled. “But you could get to know her and use some of her connections. If anything else happens, well, I’ve heard she’s a good time.” He smirked.

Theo was momentarily stunned into silence. That was low, even for Neal.

“I won’t allow you to do that,” Ford said firmly. “She doesn’t deserve to be used. That’s not you either, Theo.”

“I agree,” said Theo, relieved. Jesus. Since when did town politics get so cutthroat? “Grant’s a police officer,” Theo said, referring to their middle brother. “How much better connected can we get?”

“Grant’s a detective in Boston. He doesn’t have any connections here. Not like her,” Neal jerked his head toward Amber, who let out a peal of laughter just then. She was talking to the captain of the Northfield Fire Department and a group of veteran firefighters. Theo had been in his fair share of town hall meetings with the captain. Cap was an influential man to have in his corner. Cap appeared to be fully in Amber’s. She leaned up and kissed his cheek.

“Most of these guys have some kind of connection to her entire family,” Neal observed, practically rubbing his hands together in glee. “Look at her. She’s even got Cap eating out of her hands.”

Ford shrugged. “Amber’s a good person who could use a steady job with benefits. She’s a little wild, but she’s got great energy. Hiring her might get that stick out of your ass.” He grinned.

Theo tapped his fingers impatiently on the table. “I can’t work with someone like that. Can you imagine her in an office setting?”

“Hiring her is a terrible idea.” Neal scowled. “She’s clearly not office material.”

Theo found Amber again in the crowded bar with another group of people. She radiated vibrant energy that drew people to her just to be near all that light.

Theo glanced at Ford. “You don’t think this is a good idea, right?”

“Actually, I do,” Ford said, smiling. “Amber’s smart, good with people, and she’s bound to have some fresh ideas. You could use someone like her managing your life. I’d consider it a personal favor if you hired her. I think she’d be good for you.”

“What if you just talk to her and see if she’s even interested?” Charlotte, ever the voice of reason, suggested. “You don’t have to decide now. Besides, she might say no, anyway. She’s not exactly struggling in her current job.”

“One she’s not very good at,” Theo said, glancing irritably at the empty table. “I’ll go get our drinks.”