“You’re a goodfriend,” Emily decided.
I rolled my eyes atthe computer. “You don’t even know. Vera and I go way back. All the way back. Iwouldn’t be who I am today without her.”
“Ah, she’s one ofthose friends.”
I smiled at aframed picture of us on my desk. It was one of my favorites, taken when we wereboth in college—before Derrek. We were at her dad’s house, goofing around inthe kitchen. She was holding a whisk and I was holding a paintbrush. We hadbeen making cupcakes for Vann and the grand opening of Cycle Life. Vera had thebrilliant idea to try to make them into little bicycles. She’d made perfectcupcakes and enlisted me to paint the frosting. By the end of the day we werecovered in flour and sugar, and sick from eating so much batter and laughingtoo hard. Her dad had snapped the picture. She had powdered sugar on her cheekand I had a stripe of black frosting down my nose.
It was only seven yearsago, but it felt like a lifetime. So much had happened since then.
“We raised eachother,” I told Emily. “It’s weird that she’s getting married.”
Not hearing thecatch in my voice or noticing the wateriness of my eyes, Emily said, “So whatyou’re saying is you’d like me to set you up with Adam’s friend?”
I shot her a look.“Ugh. No. That is not at all what I’m saying. That is the last kind ofcomplication I need right now.” I bit my lip to hide my grimace. Because was itreally? I acted busy and overwhelmed, but what did I really have going on rightnow? I was maybe facing an early mid-life crisis and secretly googling goodapartment cats. I had started to worry about the amount of Diet Coke I drankand whether it was too early to start using an anti-aging serum. But other thanthat, Vera’s wedding was the most exciting thing I had going on currently. Andit wasn’t even my thing.
How pathetic wasthat?
Emily’s phone rang,diverting her attention long enough for me to respond to Ezra’s email.
From: [email protected]
Date: February 23, 2017 16:27:33 EST
Subject: Final Destination
Ezra,
I’ll swing by my apartment and grab the spice racks afterwork. I can drop them off atLilouin an hour? I onlyhave four of them. Wyatt was planning to let me in tomorrow. Is that okay?
MM.
Also, bikini it is! I’m changing the theme to tropical. Is ittoo late to cancel the peonies? We could do orchids instead. And leis. We’lldefinitely need sometikitorches. Wyatt should roasta pig! How do you feel about a parrot or two? Three? You’re pure genius,Baptiste. Pure genius.
“Do you have thegraphics for the new logo?”
I jumped, lettingout a startled squeak. Henry Tucker hovered over my shoulder, his face tooclose to mine. I rolled back in my chair, forcing it over a random cord thatacted like a speed bump in my hurry to get away from his coffee breath andinvasion of my space.
He laughed at myexpense. “Did I scare you?”
You always scare mesat on the tip of my tongue, but I wrestled it back. “Iwasn’t paying attention. Sorry.”
His smile turnedinto a leer. “The graphics?” he pressed again. “Am I going to see them beforethe end of the day?”
I nodded. “I wasjust about to send them over. I have a few finishing touches and then I’llupload them to our shared file.”
Henry usuallyemailed everything directly to Ethan or me. He said he liked personalizedinteractions and it was easier for him to keep track of our individualprogress. I refused to communicate through email with him. After Tuesday, I’dasked him to move to our shared file with Ethan.
It was silly. Andway over the top since we were talking about email. But I felt safer with Ethaninvolved. Henry didn’t use pet names in there.
“See that you do,doll face,” Henry said. “Will you be around later if I have notes on them?”
Something uneasyslid through me making my stomach clench. It left a trail of slime in its wake.It was a legitimate question. Only it reeked of fishing. I was suddenlygrateful for Ezra’s email. “Actually, tonight I have a thing. Sorry. Andtomorrow I’m only here in the morning. But save your notes in the shared file.I can work on it over the weekend.”
Henry’s smileturned thin and forced. “I should make you come in on Saturday to make up forall the time you’re missing, yeah? This is an important account.”
I shifted in mychair, crossing my arms over my chest and rolled back further. “We haven’t evenmet with the client yet.”
