He smiles at me, and something clicks into place inside me. I think he might be right. I won’t regret it.
13
HATTIE
“You what?” Taylor screeches, her mouth dropping open on the phone screen.
It’s been a couple of days since I agreed to move to Seattle to work for Bastion, and I’m still wrapping my head around it. “I got laid off from my job here, so I accepted a job in Seattle.”
Taylor’s stunned and frozen face stares back at me. “You’re actually going to leave the roost. I thought I’d never see the day.”
I narrow my eyes. “I don’t live with my parents.”
“No, but close enough. This is so exciting! But how the hell did you find a job out of state so quickly?”
I inwardly cringe at hearing her use the word hell. It’s not like I’ve never heard people use it or the Lord’s name in vain, but it’s especially jarring coming from Taylor since we grew up in the church together. It still seems weird to me even though she left religion behind years ago.
I tell her all about Bastion—how we met and struck up a friendship and then met up for the next several weeks. The longer I go on, the more and more narrow her eyes get.
When I’m finished, she says, “I’m going to table the fact that over the past month, you’ve not once mentioned that you’re off meeting with this handsome, older stranger every week. And I’m just going to ask if you’ve lost your goddamn mind?”
I ignore her using the Lord’s name in vain because I’m so shocked by her reaction. “What do you mean?”
“You accepted a job across the country in a city where you know no one from a man you hardly know. How do you know his real name is even Bastion? What if he’s a human sex trafficker or something?”
I roll my eyes. “He’s not a sex trafficker.”
“How do you know?” Taylor crosses her arms and looks at me pointedly.
“I don’t know, I just do.”
Taylor shakes her head at me. “Sometimes you can be so naïve, Hattie.”
“You’ve never met him. He’s not a trafficker. He’s a successful businessman. I can’t believe you of all people are reacting like this. You’re the one always telling me to take more chances.” I throw my hands in the air.
“Something about this doesn’t sit right with me. This guy shows up out of nowhere, you share a few coffees, and suddenly he’s offering you a job you can’t refuse.”
I actually thought this would be the conversation with my parents. I thought Taylor would be singing my praises and giving me an “atta girl.” This, I didn’t expect, and it makes me wonder if I am actually too naïve. Could Bastion not be who he said he is?
“If you met him, you’d know you have nothing to worry about.”
“Hattie, I love you, but sometimes you’re not the best judge of character.”
She doesn’t have to say Rich’s name for me to know what she’s referring to. Her comment stings more than it should after all these years.
“This isn’t like Rich. I’m not romantically involved with Bastion.”
“Maybe not, but I think perhaps you’d like to be.”
I scowl at her through the screen. “What are you talking about?”
“I can tell by the way you talk about him that you’re crushing pretty hard.”
“You’re wrong. He’s a nice man, but there’s nothing between us.” I don’t bother to say that’s because there’s no reason a successful, attractive man would ever go for me. And I leave out the little amount of sexual tension I’ve felt the last two times we met up. “It’s a great opportunity for me, and at the first sign of trouble, I’ll leave, okay?”
Taylor sighs. “Just be careful, okay?”
“Always.”
