“We both used to work atThe Arkansas Democrat-Gazette,” Jade said.
“In Little Rock,” he added.
“Now isn’t that a coincidence,” Mabel said with a slight smile.
Seb turned to Jade. “Yeah. Coincidence.”
Mabel pushed her chair back and started to get up. “Let me get another glass of tea.”
Jade shook her head. “That’s not necessary—”
“Sweet or unsweet?”
“Unsweet, please,” she quietly replied.
Mabel disappeared.
Seb looked at the briefcase again. “Hmm.”
Jade frowned. “Hmm what?”
“Nice briefcase.”
She gave it a quick look as if she hadn’t noticed she was holding it, then put it underneath her chair. “It’s nothing special,” she muttered, staring down at the tabletop.
“Looks like real leather.”
“It’s not. Real leather is expensive.”
“Hmm.”
She turned to him, exasperated. “What?”
“I just figured with you working at a fancy-schmancy company, you’d have a fancy-schmancy attaché.”
“I’ve never liked schmanciness.”
His lips twitched. “True. You were always unostentatious. That was one of the things I liked—” He shook his head, irritated at the almost slipup, even though it was accurate.
She looked at him, less guarded now.
Once again he was caught up in her eyes. When he and Jade first met, they were filled with determination and pluck. As they grew closer, he saw the kind softness that she kept carefully hidden. Then there was the desire, as they fell in love—
Seb’s thoughts screeched to a halt.
Jade leaned toward him. Not too close, but the distance between them wasn’t exactly businesslike. “Would you like to grab dinner tonight?”
His brows shot up to his hairline. “Huh?”
“We can have a bite to eat, catch up on the past ten years.” She smiled, but there was something off about it.
Even though he had no idea if her offer was serious or if she was trying to manipulate him, he was tempted—more than he wanted to admit. What had she been doing for the past decade? Did she like living in Atlanta? Did she ever miss Arkansas?Or me?He was torn between wanting the answer and letting it alone. His curiosity was winning, though, and he knew a cozy restaurant fifteen minutes outside Clementine that served the tenderest sirloin steaks—
“Jade!”
They both turned to see a tall, biracial man with black curly hair and freckles stride toward them, a bright yellow backpack slung over one shoulder.
“Logan,” she grumbled. “He wasn’t supposed to be here until tomorrow morning.”
