I snap my head up. She smiles into her drink, pleased at my reaction to her comment.
“He said something to you?” I ask eagerly.
“He said something toeveryone,” she informs me. “You’re one of the most talented journalists he’s ever met, and he had no doubt that you’d be a success. He said he knew that the moment he met you.”
Nodding, I look down at the table.
“He also told me the moment he met you was when he fell head over heels for you,” she continues casually.
“What?He said that in front of everyone?”
“Have you met Ryan? Of course not,” she snorts. “He told me that back before you went to Florence.”
“Wait, what? I’m confused.”
“Before the press trip to Florence, Ryan confessed his love for you,” she says. “It was very sweet. He made me promise not to tell you, though. He said you likely already knew, but you would probably be embarrassed about me knowing. So I kept schtum.”
“But… why would he tell you that?” I ask, aghast.
“He had to tell me so that we could concoct our little plan for the two of you to end up on the press trip together.” She sighs, setting her glass down. “You didn’t really think you ended up on that trip together by coincidence, did you?”
“But… you pulled his name out of the hat. I saw you! We allsaw you!” My brain is clouded by alcohol, but I distinctly remember there being multiple pieces of paper in that hat.
“That was all down to me being a genius magician,” she declares proudly. “I’ll let you in on the secret behind that clever trick. Every piece of paper in the hat had ‘Ryan’ written on it. Sneaky, right? It was a bit mean on the other members of the team, but I’ll make sure they get nice press trips at some point. You know I’m fair about these things, usually.”
“Mimi,” I say, reaching out and gripping her arm, “please explain to me how and why this all happened.”
“It’s very simple. I made the announcement about there being a spare place on the Florence weekend, and Ryan asked if he could have a word, so off we went for a coffee and he told me about his feelings for you and offered to do whatever work that I needed doing if I gave him the place on the trip. He said he’d work weekends, evenings, whatever. But I’m an old romantic, so I said that wasn’t necessary. I knew how you felt about him—everyone knew how you felt about each other—and, considering the hot kiss you’d had in his flat and how flustered you’d gotten composing that message to him after breaking up with Liam, I thought it would be a gentle nudge in the right direction for you both. And I was right.”
“You never… I didn’t… Wait, what do you mean everyone knew how we felt? You’re not talking about… you don’t mean people in the officeknew?”
She cackles with laughter. “Jesus, Harper, the way you two look at each other? Nothing has ever been more obvious. From the very first week that Ryan started at the magazine, the art team had a bet on how long it would take you to end up together.”
“The art team hadwhat?”
“Nobody won. It took you two idiots a bit longer than they were expecting. If only they knew the whole story and that it actually took you more than ten years to work it out.”
“I don’t understand,” I say, shaking my head. “We were always fighting.”
“Undeniable chemistry.”
“Everyone knew we hated each other.”
“Everyone knew you loved each other.”
I blink at her.
I haven’t said it out loud, but the moment she says it, I know she’s right. I do love him. Deflating, I close my eyes. It could be the cocktails speaking, but it suddenly feels that no matter what’s happened between us, it doesn’t matter, because I was wrong. I can trust Ryan. I do trust him.
More than anything, I don’t want to be without him.
“I said some horrible things to him. What do I do?” I whimper, opening my eyes and looking at Mimi pleadingly.
“You’re Harper Jenkins. You’ll think of a way to get what you want.” She smiles. “You always do.”
When I stumble home that night, it hits me.
I set my alarm for 5:55A.M., 5:57A.M., 6A.M., 6:03A.M., and 6:05A.M.
