I laughed at her teasing and almost missed her asking if I was doing anything fun tonight.
I coughed, my face feeling warm when I thought about Julia and the Gotham Exiles Club. I hesitated for a moment, but pretty soon I was spilling my guts. “I was thinking of going to this meetup thing. It’s for ex-New Yorkers that work at this company. I don’t know though, it sounds kind of dumb now.”
“It sounds fun to me. I bet Tariq invited you, and you’re trying to figure out how to get out of it.”
She didn’t miss a thing, my little sister.
“Maybe I’ll stop by for a drink.” I wasn’t even sure who I was acting like this. It was just a happy hour, for fuck’s sake.
“Do it. I want a full report when we talk Sunday.”
I looked at the clock again—only five thirty.
I clicked my tongue and gave a sharp nod as if Sofia could see me. “All right, Ms. Bossy. I’ll go. Kiss baby girl for me.”
“Have some fun, bro. You deserve it.” I wasn’t going to read too much into the fact that my twenty-one-year-old sister, who was trying to raise a toddler on her own, thought I needed to loosen up as I ended the call. It felt like this day had been going on forever, but as I considered seeing Julia in less than two hours my heart sped up.
Never mind I needed to figure out how to manage that there was a tug-of-war between the owners of this company, and I was the rag doll who would most likely be torn apart. Or the fact that my promotion and getting a bigger place for my sister and Blue depended on not fucking up this project. All of that felt small as I powered down my computer and felt my chest tighten, wondering if I would finally get to see Julia with her hair down.
Chapter Three
Julia
This day had been an entire decade.
Not only did I spend most of it planning three different program visits that I needed to set up withMr. Quinn. I also had been a ball of nerves thinking about plans for the evening. I looked at the clock on my desktop monitor and confirmed I hadn’t been at work for ten years, and that as a matter of fact I still had more than an hour before I needed to be at the first Gotham Exiles happy hour.
I was nervous.
I’d taken a risk inviting people from the office, because if they all ended up snubbing me I’d have to see them on a regular basis, which would be pretty humiliating. But I was trying to stay positive and remember I was usually pretty good at this kind of thing. Which took my mind right to the one person who made me turn into a bumbling idiot, but I shut that shit down quick. I was not letting Rocco Fucking Quinn worm into my head again. I had enough to deal with already.
Instead, I veered into getting-ready mode. I was thinking about going to the bathroom to fix my face and do my hair when my phone buzzed with a text from my best friend, Alba.
Did you do it?
Alba had decided improving the pathetic status of my Dallas social life was her new life mission. And was the co-creator of my very ill-advised plan to improve it.
I did it. I am now officially an hour away from one last attempt at making friends at work that aren’t my boss. Although I’ve got a lot on my mind since that big and hot fucker they’ve got reviewing which jobs to cut is now my new official charge.
Instead of a text, a call from Alba started flashing on my screen after a few seconds.
“Can you explain?” Her voice was all business.
I let out a long exhale and rubbed my eyes. “The consultant that’s here to get us ready for the IPO is going to look into the foundation’s programs, and I have to arrange visits for him to go to. I’ll just have to figure out a way to not get fixated on his perfect face and magnetic eyes the color of the ocean.” I wanted to sound mad, but I was sighing, and also thinking that it was Dazzling Blue. That was the Pantone color that looked the most like Rocco’s eyes.
“Julia!” Alba’s sharp voice made me almost fall over.
“Jesus, Albita. Chill.”
“I was saying. Not to worry, ma. You’ll do your best and that’s all that matters.”
“There’s not really a choice. I have to.” I sighed again, feeling the weight of that whole fucking fiasco.
“I’m going to change the subject, because we have no ability to change your visits with the hot fucker, and I want to know about tonight. I feel very good about this plan. Salome told me you sent her an invite. It’s still happening, right?”
“I think so. And yes, I sent her one. I’ve been too scared to check if anyone has canceled, but last time I saw there were like six yeses.” I refused to put the app on my phone, because I knew I’d be checking all day at work. “I picked a stupid name.”
She balked at that. “Gotham Exiles Club is a fucking brilliant name.”
