Cassie waves her hand in front of the screen. “They’re fabulous because you’re fabulous.”
I smirk. She loves talking me up, but she knows my writingwell enough to know that it’s not always great. We do a lot of slicing and dicing between the two of us when I finish a first draft, tearing the manuscript apart so we can build it back up and put the story together in a stronger, more compelling way. “Thanks for saying that.”
She closes her laptop and stands from her desk. I watch through the screen as her office background changes. She lives in New York City, so if it’s almost seven o’clock here in Wisconsin, that means it’s almost eight o’clock there … and she’s still at work. I know I’m not her only client, but sometimes it’s easy to forget how much Cass juggles because we’re friends, and she gives me so much of her attention, both for work and my personal life. If she’s stressed by her job, she doesn’t show it. I’ve never seen her looking anything but calm, cool, collected, and ready to kick butt.
“Aren’t you glad you went last weekend?” she asks as she pushes her arm into the sleeve of her sleek, black winter jacket.
“I am,” I say slowly. It’s been a busy week for Cassie, and I haven’t talked to Bex or Philly about my night with TJ either. I’ve wanted to call them. To go over every last detail of my time at the gala, analyzing it from all the different angles, but I’ve stopped short of picking up the phone at least a dozen times. I don’t know if it’s because I want them to tell me it was nothing or if it’s because I want them to tell me they think there was an actual spark.
Cassie zeros in on my hesitation, her gaze narrowing. “There’s a story there. I can see it.”
“I, well …” I sigh. “Yeah, there is.”
“Give me thirty minutes to get home, put on sweatpants, and then we’re going to call Bex and Philly. Don’t go anywhere!”
Cassie ends the call.
“Where would I go?” I ask my empty room.
Because I have the very best of friends, they’ve spent the majority of their Friday night on a video call with me, dissecting everything that happened at the River Foxes Gala.
“You’re really not going to tell him who you are, Lu?” Philly’s eyes do their typical doe-eyed thing.
“What would be the point?” I say with a sigh. “I told him I needed one night of fun. That’s what he delivered.”Along with a lifetime of memories.Dramatic? Maybe. I don’t get out much anymore, so it doesn’t take much to have me overwhelmed with emotions and sensations, and a slideshow of that night will play on a loop in my brain for a long time to come. “He isn’t looking for more than that, and neither am I.”
“But you bid on another date with him.” Bex pops a carrot into her mouth and crunches down hard. She screws up her face in disgust.
“Why are you eating vegetables at nine-thirty on a Friday night?” Cassie asks. “You’re more of a popcorn and chocolate chip girl.”
I nod, because that’s exactly what I was thinking.
Bex waves us off. “Richie and I started a new diet together.”
I frown, but I try to hide it with a yawn. Richie is Bex’s fiancé, and there’s something off about him. I can’t put my finger on it, but I don’t love how my feisty friend acts around the man who is supposed to be her biggest champion. It’s like she shrinks herself down to fit the view he has of her.
Then again, who am I to talk or know anything about a relationship? I haven’t ever had one.
Which brings me back to the point at hand.
“Your loss.” Cassie pops a chocolate-covered blueberry in her mouth and hums with contentment.
Bex presses her lips together and tosses her carrot stick on her bed. “Anyway, Lu, explain yourself.”
“It was a mistake.” I shrug. “I got caught up in the heat of the moment.”
More like the heat of jealousy. I have never felt so territorial. I had a visceral reaction to the thought of thatpeacock-colored-dress-wearing woman spending time with TJ. It’s ridiculous. I acted on instinct. I know that now.
“Hindsight makes me see that I wasn’t being rational. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Or maybe you should listen to your basic instinct and recognize that you like him and you want to spend more time with him,” Cassie offers.
I flick my gaze over to my computer screen. A week ago, I would have agreed with her. Coming off the high of being in TJ’s presence at the ball, I came home and did what any normal woman would do: I scoured the internet for anything and everything I could find about TJ Wilson.
I meant what I told him last week. I don’t know football, and even though I’ve been living less than thirty minutes from Green Bay for the past several months, I haven’t followed the River Foxes or their season.
Turns out they’re at the top of the league. And TJ? Well, TJ is their star. He plays on offense, and he handles the ball a lot.
That tracks with how well he handled me.
