Autumn watched as her explanation landed with each of her friends. Their faces fell and she took note of the disappointment. Autumn huffed a sigh.
“Okay, what’s wrong? Why do you all look like it’s Christmas morning and there are no presents?”
“It’s just…” Brianna let her words trail off.
River glanced over at Brianna. She gave Brianna’s arm a pat. The two of them were still sickeningly sweet together. Even now that they were planning a wedding together there was no denying the rightness of their relationship.
“I think maybe what Bri is trying to say is that we want to see you happy.”
“Success will make me very happy,” Autumn rebutted with a smile.
“We want you to have both,” Piper offered.
“It’s hard enough to find women to date here. Let alone finding one that you’re magnetically attracted to.” Willow’s words landed. Autumn couldn’t deny the sorry state of lesbian dating in WaterColor.
“I don’t know that I would say we’re magnetically attracted,” Autumn teased. She was hoping that she could lighten the mood. One glance around the table told her that she had in fact, failed.
“You know I’m not the only one to consider here. Quinn just got out of a serious relationship. I doubt she’s looking for anything serious either.”
She watched the collective eye roll from her friends. But they didn’t say anything. Autumn supposed that was progress, or at least as good as she could expect. Mel finished up with a table and came over to sit with them. Mel glanced around the table and arched an eyebrow.
“What did I miss over here?” Mel asked.
Autumn had been so close to getting through the rest of their lunch unscathed. This was at least her chance to take control of the situation. Maybe she could squash the conversation before it regained any traction.
“They all think there’s something between Quinn and I. But I have reaffirmed to everyone that I am going to remain professional and not date my clients.”
Autumn splayed out her hands, resting her case.
“That’s too bad. Quinn is a real sweetheart, and you two seem interested in each other.”
Leave it to Mel to say what was on her mind in a way that was both succinct and absolutely sweet at the same time. Everyone turned, looking at her with expectation.
“Absolutely not,” Autumn demanded.
Quinn walked past them with a tray full of food and met Autumn’s eyes. She could feel herself being drawn in and forced herself to break eye contact first. Her friends were all shaking their heads.
“You can do whatever you want. Whatever feels best for you. But based solely on the eye contact, you’re going to have one heck of a time keeping this business related,” Brianna interjected.
Autumn could always count on her friends to state the obvious.
“I am quite capable of working alongside someone that I find attractive,” Autumn insisted.
“We’re not saying that you’re incapable of anything.” Piper crossed her arms over her chest.
“Then what are you saying?”
“We just don’t want you to shut yourself off to something that could be a good thing.” Piper reached over and gave Autumn’s hand a squeeze.
Sometimes her friends could be so frustratingly sweet. Autumn wrapped an arm around Piper and squeezed. What if once this project is done, I keep an open mind?” Autumn grumbled.
“That’s all we ask,” Brianna laughed.
“Assuming of course that Quinn and I aren’t ready to kill one another by the end of the project.”
Her friends laughed. Autumn was glad she could make them feel better. Of course, she had no intentions of keeping an open mind. But if it made her friends feel better than Autumn could pay lip service to the idea. She glanced down at her phone and caught the time.
“Speaking of this project, I should get going so that I can work on it.”
