“Thank you so much, George,” I say as I take the bottle of wine adorned with a pink bow.
“You’re very welcome, Miss Sinclair. Be sure to let us know if you need anything else.”
I’m just going to close the door when I spot Gia, carefully walking down the hall and looking toward my door with a furrowed brow.
“Evening, Miss,” George says to Gia before walking off. She stops in front of the door, turning toward me. She looks as beautiful as ever with wavy blond hair, tan skin, and big blue eyes surrounded in black makeup.
“Hi,” I say.
“Hey.”
She gives a small smile.
“Come in,” I tell her, then move aside. “They just brought up some wine for us. Do you want a glass?”
“That would be great,” she says, looking around the place with eager eyes. “This is nice. Harrison finally get a job or something?”
I grab two glasses from the rack and place them on the counter. I turn to her and say, “Actually, we broke up.”
Her eyes widen. “Oh?”
“Yeah. He, uh… he cheated on me.”
“He did?” She sounds truly shocked. She never liked him much, but I always thought it was because I was blowing her off for him. Maybe it was more than that.
“With his stepsister.”
“Ouch.”
I nod. There’s not much else to say. I pour wine into the glasses, hand her one, then grab the bottle and gesture for her to follow me into the living room. We get comfortable on the couch, both of us on opposite ends, curling our feet up, wine in hand.
“So, tell me what happened,” she urges.
I get into the story, explaining it all, which doesn’t take long. Then we fall into conversation about everything we’ve been up to over the last year, what we’re doing now, and plans for the future. Talking to her is so easy, and when I’ve moved onto my second glass, I’m feeling emotional.
“I’m so sorry, Gia. It was awful of me to do that to you. To us.”
“Yeah, it was,” she says simply. “But I understand. Relationships have ups and downs, right?”
“Right,” I agree.
“So, are you seeing anyone new?”
“No,” I answer.
“That was way too quick.” She grins behind her glass.
“I’m not!”
“Uh-huh.”
“Seriously, I’m not!”
And of course, that very moment, my cell rings and it’s right there on the coffee table for us both to see. We both look at it, and Gia’s eyes go as wide as the moon.
“Elliot Caldwell?” She gasps, then turns to me. “Why ishecalling you?”
I snatch my phone up and push the button to silence it. “He’s my boss.”
