Page 26 of About That Pact

“Was it one of his favors?” Jada went first with the interrogation.

Charlotte was hungry and had already stuffed a pancake bite into her mouth, so she couldn’t answer.

“To clarify, did you have fun with his friends or fun with him?” Rachel followed up. “Wait, or was it like a twofer?”

Jada’s voice was soft. “Do you like him?”

“Do you want to sleep with him?” Rachel cut to the chase, which wasn’t all that surprising.

“Your two are letting your food get cold over something that isn’t a big deal,” Charlotte finally responded, pointing her fork at them.

She hoped they believed her because this was the mantra she kept repeating to herself. It wasn’t a big deal she’d gone to the party with him—and it definitely was not a big deal she’d hung out with him when it wasn’t one of his favors.

Will had even asked Rafe if she was a date or if it was the whole favor nonsense. She’d been standing right next to him, so what had he been supposed to do? He’d laughed it off and said it was as close to a date as Charlotte would give him. Sure, last night they flirted, but they also teased each other. It was innocent. Not a date.

Really.

“I don’t care if it isn’t a big deal.” Rachel wasn’t dropping the conversation. She crossed her arms, meaning business. “You’re all googly eyed at your phone. At least answer our questions.”

Jada and Rachel fist bumped in agreement.

Charlotte had great friends. The best. Her only hesitation was she wasn’t sure how to answer. It was odd to have these feelings for Rafe sprout up again after all these years. They had a history, and she wasn’t sure getting attached to him—again—was a smart move. Unfortunately for her, she knew how that ended. She crossed her fingers, hoping her friends wouldn’t examine her answers too closely.

“It wasn’t one of his favors. I had already met Will and Callie, so it was nice to put work on pause and go out. I did have fun, both with him and his friends. I like him, as a person, not anything serious. And I already did sleep with him, so I don’t need to do that again.”

Her friends were well-aware he had been her first time, but they didn’t look like they believed a word that came out of her mouth. Charlotte wiggled in her chair, uncomfortable with the interrogation. She did the only thing she was certain would satisfy as a good subject change.

“How was Tanesha’s labor? I hope she didn’t have to push for too long.”

Jada jumped into telling them all about her sister’s twenty-hour labor, which was a relief to Charlotte, even if Tanesha didn’t like it. The new conversation took the spotlight off her. It was well needed because she didn’t need her friends overanalyzing Rafe. She did enough of that on her own. Rafe had become her favorite subject to dissect, looking for something to be wrong. After all this time, it couldn’t be that Rafe was right—right for her.

Chapter 10

TUESDAYS WERE FOR the birds. It was close to seven p.m. and Charlotte was still working. People who thought HR was a fluff job had no idea the amount of work it actually took to be successful. Currently, she was up to her eyeballs in signing off on mid-year performance reviews. This used to be something that didn’t bother her, working hours after the office was closed, but lately, she was wondering if staying this late was really necessary.

Back to focusing on work, she made a note to send a company-wide email when she finished signing off on the reviews. She had to congratulate everyone on a job well done. So far, all the performance evaluations met the criteria of partnership between leadership and employee, writing the review together.

One duo of manager/employee wrote the review as if it were a story. It had been like reading a SNL skit and she’d loved it.

Her phone beeped, and she saw it was a text from Rafe.

If you are at the office, I am either pissed or relieved. Pissed because you’re still working or relieved you are home and not asleep by seven. I am undecided until you answer.

She couldn’t help but chuckle. They had talked about how she worked well over a seventy-hour week most of the time. Probably more like seventy-five or eighty, but really, who made a big deal over ten hours at this point? He countered it was nowhere near healthy to work as much as she did and planned to check up on her. Four days later, he was following through.

What if I’m out? She texted back.

He hadn’t included a social life as an option, and she was curious how he would respond.

Are you? If so, I have a whole new set of questions that will either make me mad or relieved.

Part of her wanted to feed into the drama and pretend like she was, but what would that prove? Nothing outside of being childish and that she was only looking for a reaction from him. Preferably, a jealous one. Charlotte didn’t play games, and playing games with Rafe wouldn’t end well. In an instant, he would figure out she was lying, and it would tell him more than she cared for him to know.

The only reason you have to be mad is because I’m still at work.

He didn’t answer her right away, which was one less distraction. There was light at the end of the tunnel as she started going over the last performance review. It didn’t take her much time, as this review was direct and to the point.

However, her never-ending list on her desk was long. It was screaming at her to finish more, but she crossed off performance reviews from her list, signed off, then grabbed a folder filled with the July activities and events for the company. It was one of her favorite tasks of the job, creating different contests, giveaways, and activities for the employees to participate in. They’d just had a huge Fourth of July picnic, so she was planning a desk decoration competition later in the month. She had to review her budget to determine what she could do for a prize.