Chris coughed, and Everly felt her own face redden. “Shut up, Noah. There’s a no-fraternizing policy. My employees are all trustworthy, dependable, and great at what they do.”
Noah pretended to pout. “But surely a little policy could be waived if two people were mad about each other.”
“Sometimes I think Mari and Mason are secretly in love,” Stacey said.
Chris did a double take. “Really? I can’t see that.” He must have realized what he said. “I don’t think that’s the case, and I’d feel a lot more comfortable if we talked about something else.”
“Chris is the serious one,” Noah said with a sigh.
Stacey grinned. “No shit. What are you?”
Noah arched an eyebrow. “The exceptional one.”
“And Wes?” Stacey asked, her smile widening.
“The geek. It’s a lot of weight to carry on my shoulders, but I’ve gotten used to it.”
“I think you like for people to think you’re a lot more confident than you are,” Everly said quietly, not even realizing the words came out of her mouth.
All three of them looked at her, and her pulse hiccupped. Uh-oh. Insulting the boss’s brother was probably not a good idea.
To her surprise, Chris chuckled, and Noah leaned in. “Really. Tell me more.”
Everly bit her lip and shook her head. “Sorry. No. You just … I mean, clearly, you’re all those things you said. I generally find that people who have to draw attention to those things about themselves have underlying feelings that they’re lacking those things.” Oh God. Why did she keep talking? “But you aren’t, so you shouldn’t worry.” Someone stop me. Stacey, stop me!
Instead, her friend looked amused. “If only you could psychoanalyze yourself as well as you do others.”
Swallowing the butterflies trying to force their way up her throat—very uncomfortably—she tugged at her napkin, tearing bits off. “Don’t get me started on you, Miss Commitment-phobe.”
Noah laughed, deep and loud. “Damn. I like these two. When do I get to meet the rest of the staff?”
A bus girl came to take the rest of their dishes away, silently reaching between them.
“Yeah, what about that? We were supposed to have some staff shindig. Bonding and beer and all that,” Stacey said.
Chris was eyeing Everly with a hint of a smile, like the other night when she’d felt as if they were sharing a secret.
“Very soon, actually. I’m putting it at the top of my to-do list.”
Everly nibbled on her bottom lip. That was interesting. Usually, the top of his list had ratings, followed by policy, ratings, and ratings.
“I want in. I can help you plan,” Noah said.
Brows furrowed, Chris shook his head. “You’re not staff. I’m not planning a kegger.”
“I’m like staff,” Noah said.
Everly realized she was watching Chris quite closely when she saw his jaw tense, his gaze fly to his brother’s, with an imperceptible shake of the head. What the—?
“Fine. You can come,” Chris said as the waitress approached with the bill.
She started to put it on the table, but Chris swept it up.
“You don’t have to do that,” Everly said quickly. Her jaw clenched tightly. Almost painfully. “That wasn’t the expectation. I’ll pay for mine and Stacey’s.”
Chris turned his head and locked his gaze on Everly. She worked to keep her breathing even. “No expectations, Everly. It’s my pleasure. Honestly, it’s fine.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Noah said, standing and stretching. “Chris would never let you pay. He’s weird like that. Mr. Responsibility.”
“I hope you’re still in good shape, because it’s about an hour walk to my place from here,” Chris said, giving the woman his credit card.
“Well, thank you. This was an unexpectedly fun evening,” Stacey said, also rising.
“Yes, thank you. It was really fun to meet you, Noah.” Everly stood and went around the other side of the table to stand near Stacey.
“Same goes. Come here,” he said, pulling her into a hug. Surprised, Everly kept her hands by her side, but he didn’t seem to notice. He released her and did the same with Stacey, who returned the gesture easily. Noah grinned at Chris, then back at them. “I practiced on Bear, so I’m really good at it.”
As he signed the credit card slip, Chris muttered something under his breath that Everly didn’t catch, but she laughed along with the others, anyway.
The guys walked them outside and said good night, leaving Everly and Stacey standing by their cars, which were parked close to each other.
“Interesting night. You look fantastic, by the way,” Stacey said, leaning on Everly’s car, seeming not to care about her black leather skirt.
“Thank you. So do you. Thank you for showing up. Did I wreck a date?”
“Nope. You saved me, so we’re all good. Are you okay?” Stacey eyed her in the way her mom used to when she tried to sidestep love interest inquisitions. At fifteen, Everly hadn’t wanted to share gossip about boys with her mom any more than she did now. Speaking of which, she needed to return her father’s phone calls. He and her mom had been tag teaming her voicemail for days.
“I’m fine. It was nice to meet Chris’s brother.” Spending more time with Chris didn’t suck.
“Sure was. Gave us a little insight to our mostly stuffed-suit boss, who has a wicked crush on you,” Stacey said, pulling her keys out of her purse.
Everly’s jaw dropped. A couple of guys walked by, smiling at them, but Everly turned toward Stacey, who, of course, gave them a finger wave. Everly grabbed her hand and pulled it down.
“He does not. Did you hear what he said about no in-house dating?”
“Yup. Didn’t stop him from making I-want-you eyes at you all night. Maybe that’s why your past relationships haven’t worked out. You clearly ignore the signals.”
Everly sputtered. Actually sputtered, making a strange, unintelligible sound while she waved her arm again.
Stacey laughed. Hard. “Well said. Great comeback.”
“How can I love you and want to throttle you so often?”
Her friend shrugged, not one trace of remorse on her beautiful face. “Don’t know. It’s a mystery. Definitely part of my charm. Which I’m telling you because of the aforementioned missing of signals and not because I secretly don’t think I’m charming.”
“I need to go home,” Everly said, suddenly overcome with a bone-deep exhaustion.
“Me, too.” She leaned in for a hug, squeezed her harder than usual. “Good to see you laugh tonight. Really laugh. And relax. Happy looks good on you, my friend.”
Stacey kissed her cheek and turned, giving Everly the same finger wave she’d given the group of guys. Everly watched her walk a couple of cars over before sliding behind the steering wheel. She sat for a moment, letting the quiet interior settle around her like the comfort of a weighted blanket.
She rested her head against the seat and tried to think of what was pressing down on her most. The dates. The weird feelings for Chris. Her parents’ back-and-forth. Or just the massive milkshake she’d consumed.
Opening her eyes, she started the car and then slid her hand in the side pocket of her purse. She pulled out Pepper, which was oddly soothing, holding it in her hand as she drove home, doing her best to think about nothing at all.
[29]
The staff was wrapping up their air check meeting—a playback of the shows from the week before—on Monday morning when Chris switched gears. The fact that Everly recognized he was about to slip out of work mode only worried her slightly. As people got closer, they picked up on tells. That’s all this was. I bet once you spend some quality time with Owen, you’ll pick up on his nuances, too. That was her latest diversion. Whenever she thought of Chris, she made herself think of Owen. Sweet, cute, available Owen.
“I’ve been putting this off for too long, but with all the extra hours you guys have been puttin
g in, I wanted to do something to show how much I appreciate you,” Chris said, looking around the table.
“You flying us to Hawaii?” Mason kicked back in his chair, giving Chris a toothy grin.
“Not quite. But there is a beach involved.”
“I like the sound of that,” Stacey said. She was doodling on a piece of paper while they chatted.
“I rented a house on the beach for next Saturday. All you guys have to do is show up. I’ll have food, drinks, and entertainment covered.”
It shocked Everly to realize that she felt excited. At the idea of socializing? Who are you? Where’s the real Everly Dean? What was happening to her?
Chris grew more enthusiastic. “We’ll have a lot to celebrate by the end of the week.”
Everly’s happiness deflated like a balloon. Right. She’d have made her final decisions on her love life.
“That’s awesome. That sounds fun. Where is it?” Stacey asked.
“I’ll have Jane send out all the information. There’s plenty of room for everyone to stay the night. I’ve arranged for pretaped segments and the remote deejay to cover Sunday’s spots.”
The staff started talking over one another, but Everly’s nerves crept in like a stealthy fun-sabotaging ninja.
“Hopefully no one minds, but my brother will be joining us. He’s out visiting from New York. Please feel free to bring your significant others,” Chris said.
“Oh, maybe Everly can bring her final choice. We don’t have to advertise it before the big reveal, but you’ll know by then, right, Everly?” Mason sat forward.
She nodded. “I guess, but I don’t want to bring anyone to a staff function.”
“But you’ll come, right?” Chris asked.
She turned her head. They were seated beside each other, and the minute their eyes locked, Everly felt like the others faded into the background.
“Of course.”
“Can we get back to work now? Is the meeting over?” Mari slapped a hand on the table, jolting Everly out of the moment.
“Sure. Sorry,” Chris said, appearing flustered like she felt. Which couldn’t be true. He has a wicked crush on you, Stacey had said. She was definitely more adept at picking up cues than Everly, but she couldn’t be right about that.
When Mari stood, Everly remembered what she’d wanted to do today. “Wait, I wanted to talk to everyone about something.”
All eyes turned her way, filling her stomach with lead. She took a deep breath. Stacey smiled at her, giving her a thumbs-up.
Chris moved his chair slightly closer. “What you were working on on Saturday?” He asked it so quietly, she almost didn’t hear him over the thunder of her heartbeat.
“Is that okay?”
“More than.” His ready encouragement boosted her confidence.
She pressed her hands flat to the tabletop so she wouldn’t fidget, then looked at her colleagues. Mari looked slightly pissed. Everly might not be great at social cues, but she hoped what she was about to say would eliminate the undercurrent of competition between them. Everly had no desire to compete with these people. They were … Holy shit. They’re your friends. Your work friends, but still.
She sat straighter, telling herself to pretend she was cool. Stay cool, Ponyboy. She grinned at the image of Veronica Mars saying that.
“I’d like to piggyback on the success of the dating promo by doing a real talk series. We can look into podcasts because I think it’s great to branch out, but after doing some research, I don’t know if we need to.” They didn’t look irritated, so she continued, “In the age of social media where everyone posts their best self, I feel like a lot of people would benefit from the truth. The other night, I chatted with a woman who talked about how hard it was to put herself out there. She said it was uplifting to know she wasn’t the only one. People want to know they’re quote-unquote normal. Whatever that even means. The point is, no one wants to feel like they’re alone. When we look at everyone else’s achievements, we feel less than. My proposal is that we do a series of interviews and chat spots with successful people who are willing to give us the gritty details.”
Mari shifted in her seat. “Gritty how? Like who’s cheating on their husbands and nanny cams?”
Everly pushed down on her instinct to sink farther into her chair. Explain it better. She glanced at Chris and Stacey. Neither of them looked ready to rescue her. She smiled. She didn’t need rescuing.
“Not at all, Mari. More of a ‘this is what I’ve gone through in my marriage while building a successful company, having children, and not cheating on my spouse’ discussion. I’m talking CEOs who share their slips down the ladder rungs before they reached the top. Supermoms who don’t mind sharing that the secret to their success is buying a dozen cupcakes instead of staying up all night icing ones she didn’t have time to bake in the first place.”
“People are getting back into radio because of the human connection,” Mason said.
Everly pointed her finger at him and said, “Yes,” loudly. She bit her lip, her cheeks heating up. “Sorry.”
“Never apologize for your passion,” Chris said.
“Human interest stories where we get to see the flip side but still with a happy ending,” Mason said.
Everly’s heart thundered in a new way. With pure excitement.
“The grit beneath the gloss. Not just ugly stories but more the mud they trudged through to get to the top. So people don’t think it’s as easy to do as it seems when they post the picture on the top of some mountain.”
They were getting it. They were excited, and they were actually getting it.
Ideas bounced around the table, everyone having a story about a struggle they’d faced to get to where they were. Everly realized as she listened to them that they were all different. They all had their thing; Stacey feared commitment, Mari didn’t know if she was good enough at her job—hell yes she was—Chris said he struggled with getting his father’s approval. Every one of them faced battles the others weren’t privy to. She spent so much time wishing she were different, calmer, chiller. If she’d been anything other than who she was, if she’d taken a different path, she wouldn’t be sitting here right now feeling like she finally belonged.
[30]
The house was awesome. Noah showing up, along with this inexplicable need to show his staff how much he appreciated them, gave Chris the idea to rent something beachside. They could have done a restaurant or someone’s house with a caterer, but he really wanted them to let their guards down. You want to get to know them better. All of them. He wasn’t getting attached; he was just doing what any good boss would.
“Dude. This place rocks. Maybe I should buy this,” Noah said, looking around. The two-story, almost-beachfront property was available for staff parties, weddings, vacations, or whatever else people could come up with.
“Maybe you should figure out what you want to do before you purchase anything,” Chris countered.
Noah opened the double doors off the galley-style kitchen. Crisp ocean air wafted through, easing leftover tension out of Chris’s shoulders. He’d intended for Jane to take care of the details, but once he’d started, he wanted to finalize everything himself. He wasn’t sure why it mattered so much to him, but once an idea struck, Chris couldn’t let it go until he saw it through.
“Not all of us have had our lives mapped out since we were kids,” Noah said, bringing Chris back into the conversation.
Grabbing a couple of beers from the party-size fridge, Chris brought them out to the deck and stood at the rail beside his brother.
“Nothing wrong with a plan. It’d stop you from wondering where to go next,” Chris said, clinking his bottle to Noah’s.
“Yeah. That’s one way to look at it,” Noah said, taking a drink.
Chris glanced at his watch. He had a caterer showing up shortly, and then the staff would be here soon. They had time to sit around, shoot the breeze. It felt like forever since he’d done just that. The fa
ct that some of his favorite people would spend the evening with him was a huge bonus.
“What’s another?” Chris glanced at Noah.
“It’s good to have a plan and all, but not if you never look up.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Why do you want to be like him so much?”
Chris reared back slightly. How they went from talking about the house to their father was beyond him. “What the hell, Noah? I bring you a beer and you insult me?”
Noah half smiled. Chris was only partially joking, though.
Turning so he could rest against the banister, Noah looked Chris straight in the eyes. “You sure the plan you laid out for yourself is still what you want?”
Irritation prickled along the back of his neck. “Of course it is. You think I worked this hard, bounced around fixing company after company, just so I could keep doing it?”
Noah tipped his beer back, fine with making Chris wait for his answer. “I don’t think you should have had to jump through any of those hoops in the first place. None of us should have. You seem happy here, man. Do you even know that?”
Chris shook off his unease, taking a long drink of the beer that no longer tasted good. “I’m a happy guy. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“No. You seem happy here.”
“I’m not meant to stay here, Noah. This was always temporary.” Even if saying it put a clutch in his chest.
Noah rolled his eyes. “Because that was the plan.”
Chris set his bottle down hard on the rail. “Yes, it’s the fucking plan. What’s wrong with that? What are you getting at? There’s nothing wrong with the path I’m on. It’s you who is aimlessly wondering what to do next because Dad said no to some warehouses. Speaking of being like him, you’re one to talk. You jump from one goddamn thing to the next wondering why you’re not satisfied. Stand still and maybe you will be.”
Chris’s lungs squeezed. Why did he feel so mad right now? What the hell was Noah’s problem?
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