“EJ, are you doing okay?”
“Of course I—”
“God-wise, I mean?”
She huffed out a breath. “Come on, Jordan. You know me. I’m a Christian.”
“But are you trusting God with this, or are you mostly trusting EJ?”
Another breath loaded with frustration escaped as she rolled her eyes. “I really don’t need your negativity with this.”
“Is it negativity for a Christian to want to encourage his Christian friend to keep putting God at the centre of her life?”
She studied him a moment, and then the tension in her face evaporated. “Sorry. Okay, I guess I needed to hear that. I know I’ve been pretty preoccupied lately.”
“God loves you, and He’s got good plans for you, regardless of whether Dream Match gets listed on the stock exchange or not.”
“But just think of all the good I could do if it was.”
Her teasing grin drew one from him, and he sensed she wouldn’t be receptive to any more hints, subtle or otherwise, to focus on God. This was new territory for both of them, and he needed to tread gently, to keep from straining this friendship more than he’d already stretched things in recent weeks.
“So, how about we book a table for Friday night so we can celebrate your resignation properly?”
Her face lit, the sparkle in her eyes a welcome sight after the earlier storm. “I’d love that! Do you think we could go to Bennelong?”
The five-star restaurant at the Sydney Opera House was bound to be booked up at this short notice, but it had alwaysbeen a dream of hers to eat there. “I’ll see what I can do, but I don’t like my chances.”
She smiled, her face so full of affection that it felt like the challenges of earlier were far away. “I’m sure you’ll manage something amazing.”
“Because that’s the kind of guy I am, right?”
“Thatexactlythe kind of guy you are.”
His heart squeezed. The kind of guy who was awfully close to being in love with his best friend.
Chapter 3
EJ shifted back her office chair and pushed to her feet. “Here goes nothing, then.”
Jordan made a praying hands gesture. “I’ll be praying for you.”
“Thanks. I have a feeling I’ll need it.”
“You’ll be great. Besides, God is with you and you know you can always trust Him.”
She nodded, her tight bun hitting the collar of her black blazer. Again, the most overdressed person in the place, but today she had an extra-good reason. She was resigning, and this all had to go well.
She licked nervous lips as she passed into the hallowed grounds of Dean Donwell’s inner sanctum. She shot Maree, his middle-aged secretary, a small smile. Maree nodded back, pressed a buzzer, then said, “Miss Bennett is here.” She eyed EJ. “You may go in.”
Her chest was tight as she opened the door. There was no guessing how Dean would take her resignation. He might like to think he was a generous boss, and yes, yesterday’s bonus had proved that, but the man had proved to have a hair-triggertemper in the past. And while she’d never been on the receiving end of it, she had no desire to witness it firsthand at the last.
Dean was on the phone as she entered, the soft carpet making it hard to walk. He nodded, gestured to a chair, which she lowered into, taking care to tug her skirt to her knees as she sat, legs together, angled to one side, in a pose her mother had said was like how Princess Diana always sat. So if it was good enough for Princess Di …
Dean ended the call and frowned at her. “Well?”
Okay. Not exactly the graceful entry into a conversation on quitting she’d planned. She pushed her cheeks up into a smile. “Dean, you know I’ve been a loyal employee these past seven years.”
His brow furrowed. “Seven years already?”
