“Tell me no,” I said.
She tipped her chin up, brushing her lips across mine. “You can kiss me tomorrow.”
20
AUTUMN
ARUGULA AND ARGUMENTS
“Hey,” I said with a bright smile as I weaved between tables at the small Italian bistro that my mom, Amber, and I had agreed on for lunch. “Sorry, I ran into traffic.”
Amber’s face was glued to her phone. “Where’s Clark Kent?”
“Who? Ryan?” I said as I slid into the booth across from the two of them. “He’s working back at home.”
Amber scoffed. “I thought the point of working from home was that you don’t actually have to work.”
My eyes twitched. “No, people who work from home work just as much as people who have to go somewhere to work.” I turned to my mom as I unfurled my cloth napkin and laid it over my lap. “How’s the salon?”
“Busy as ever.” She sipped her water. “But I can get you in if you want your roots done.”
I fingered the ends of my hair. I was in dire need of some fresh color. “I might change it up. Something different for the fall.”
“Fall colors always look good on you,” she said.
“Is that why you named me Autumn?”
“Your father named you Autumn. I picked your middle name.”
Amber rolled her eyes and pretended to gag. Thankfully, the server stopped by and broke the tension by taking our drink orders.
“How’s the job hunt going?” I asked my sister a minute later after the server had returned with white wine for her, tea for my mom, and water for me.
She slurped from the wine glass. “Um, I have a job.”
I perked up. “Really? Mom didn’t tell me you finally found something.”
“I’m an influencer.Duh,” Amber sneered.
I had the slightest hunch that she was bluffing . . . or delusional. “Really? What’s your niche?”
Her lip curled in disdain. “What do you mean?”
I shrugged. “What kind of content do you make?”
Amber stalled as the server came back to take our orders, but he didn’t take nearly as long as she probably would have liked.
“So?” I asked. “What do you post about? Have you done any collaborations?”
Mom sighed. “Autumn, stop antagonizing your sister.”
“I’m not antagonizing her,” I said as I sipped my water. “I’m just trying to catch up. I haven’t seen you post anything online.”
“I’m just getting started,” Amber snipped.
“You should talk to Ryan,” I offered. “He does tons of brand deals. I mean, it’s mostly protein powder and gym-rat stuff, but he could probably give you some advice on how to find your audience.”
Autumn groaned like a petulant child. “I don’t needadvice. It’s easy. Just take pictures and post them. Not everything has to be so complicated.”
