They continue to ignore me for another couple of minutes until Mom takes pity and announces her departure. She hands back the phone and kisses my forehead as she leaves.
“I swear the two of you together makes my ass itch,” I say around a fake shudder.
She shoos her hand at the camera. “Oh stop, you love us.”
“Separately,” I say deadpan.
“That’s just a lie,” she counters.
“Right. So, anyway, why were you stalking my location? Because I really don’t wanna work.”
“You told me to track you down and make you review the Wallflower samples today.”
Damn, I’d completely forgotten about my collaboration with the sunglasses brand, which had sent me prototypes of my designs for approval.
“Nishaaaaa. Don’t make me,” I say through a pained groan.
“I know, pookie,” she says patronizingly. “Who’s a pretty girl?”
I hold my hands over my head with a sigh. “Let me go grab the damn box.”
“Those are cute!” Nisha says about the pair with rose-gold lenses I’m wearing.
So far, we’ve gone through eight of the twelve pairs they sent me, and I’ve been unhappy with only one of them.
This pair has a gold nose pad and gold arms to accent the lenses and a three-barrel hinge to keep the design sleek.
“This might be my favorite pair.”
“What did you call that one again?” Nisha asks.
“Honeybee.”
“Buzz buzz, bitch. Those are perfect,” Nisha exclaims.
We fall into a fit of laughter over her corniness.
After I try on the final four pairs, I give Nisha a list of notes to send to Wallflower and ask her to schedule a follow-up meeting with them.
We go over a few other items before getting to the one I’m least looking forward to.
“Is there anything I need to know to be prepared for the meeting at Tanya’s tomorrow?”
That Tanya is an asshole for making me do this … with him.
“Mmm, nope. Nothing I can think of.”
“Okay, and it’s just me, you, Micah, and Bailey, right?”
I nod my confirmation.
“And, so, who is Micah to you? Like how well do you know him?”
What a loaded question.
I’ve kept my history with Micah a secret from everybody. I never even told Tanya because I didn’t want her rubbing it in our faces that sheintroduced us, and by the time I wanted to tell her, we were back to being strangers.
“We kind of dated,” I mumble. I don’t know what makes me do it, but I tell her damn near everything. I tell her how Tanya introduced us eleven years ago and we spent the most magical day together that led to a kiss in the rain. How I snuck out of his apartment that night for a job opportunity in New York and didn’t see him again for five years. How attached at the hip we were when we found each other again until he went home to Baltimore and distanced himself from me. I even tell her how I felt seeing him at his gallery opening three years ago when I walked away from the possibility of us for the last time.
