“That’s a shame. There’s no use working in an office with strangers. We’ll be spending every day together, might as well enjoy it.”
Dorothy smiled. “Then you should like everyone here. Your desk is in the office over there. Marlise and Clarissa aren’t in yet, and the other assistant is running errands. You can leave their coffees right here if you’d like. Go on in and get settled.”
Rebecca left the black coffees and a caramel latte with Dorothy and took the other one into her office.
Inside, two desks faced each other on opposite sides of the room. A guy was leaning over the desk on the right, reading something, so she lightly knocked on the open door to get his attention. This had to be Marlise’s nephew, James. Marlise had described him as the brains behind the operation.
“Be with you in a minute.” He didn’t look up. Whatever he was looking at must be super important. She could tell he was attractive. She liked his close-cropped brown hair, expertly styled, and his fitted dress shirt and slacks. Darn, she’d kind of hoped to avoid a handsome boss. Sharing an office would be tricky if she constantly needed to give her hormones a stern lecture.
He finally glanced up and stared at her, and her breath caught. He looked so familiar. She knew him, but it was hard to concentrate when he was studying her face so intently.
He came around his desk to stand in front of her, which only had her nerves quaking a little more.
“Hello, I’m Rebecca.” She held out her right hand for him to shake, but when he didn’t take it, she dropped it to her side and awkwardly held out the coffee in her left hand instead. “Do you drink coffee? I brought some in for everyone…”
He was still staring.
She put the coffee down carefully on his desk and moved to look out the window, wondering how she’d managed to offend him so fast. Discreetly, she checked her blouse. Everything was buttoned correctly. No coffee stains.
“I can’t believe you don’t recognize me.”
She turned to look at him but he’d turned away, studying something on his desk, or at least pretending to. Who was this guy? Maybe he was a friend of Patrick’s from college. All his friends had been handsome and rich, like they cloned them in some secret factory disguised as a boarding school. And all egotistical enough to think they were unforgettable, even after ten years.
“I’m sorry, I’m having a hard time placing you.”
He glanced up, looking disgusted. “Wow, when you said we couldn’t be friends anymore, you sure meant it, Becca-bug.”
Only one person ever called her that. “Jay?”
“I go by James now.”
She took in everything about him, trying to reconcile her memory with the man in front of her. He’d filled out in the shoulders, no longer a lanky kid with hair falling in his eyes. He sported a carefully trimmed beard, and the Jay she’d known hadn’t even owned a button-down shirt, but there he was, the guy who had once been the most important person in her world, and yet again, she’d managed to snub him. From the look on his face, he wouldn’t let her forget it anytime soon.
***
Actually, only Marlise called him James. And to be fair, Jay hadn’t recognized her at first either. He hadn’t been sure until she introduce herself. But he still couldn’t get over the blank way she’d stared back at him. Rebecca Scott. The reason he eventually broke up with every girlfriend he’d ever had. None of them were her. And however unreasonable, he was mad at her for it.
He was annoyed that she was more beautiful than he remembered, and he was mad at himself for falling for someone who would never love him back.
He needed to get ahold of his swirling emotions. No, he hadn’t expected her to walk in here, but he was her boss now. This office was too small for old grudges. She could never know how deeply he’d loved her when all he’d been to her was a buddy—a disposable one.
Jay forced a smile. “Weird that we both ended up in events. What happened to getting your nursing degree?”
She looked away. “Turns out I couldn’t overcome my squeamishness around blood. I ended up getting a semi-worthless degree in sociology. What about you? Your major changed a couple times, didn’t it?”
Touché. He shrugged. “I got a business degree, and Marlise took me on as an assistant. Now we’re partners. Didn’t know weddings were my thing until I tried it.”
She was staring at him. “You cut your hair.”
“Yeah. Marlise convinced me looking like Shaggy fromScooby Doowasn’t good for business.”
“You never looked like Shaggy.”
He didn’t like the conversation focused on him. On how much he’d changed. “So, I heard you never married Patrick.” It was a cruel subject change, but her eyes immediately ended their scrutiny of his face.
“No, I didn’t.”
“Sorry.”
