Kiss Me Every Day

by Dena Blake

  “You didn’t smoke anything, did you?” Suzanna pulled her eyebrows together. “This is a pretty unbelievable story.”

  “I know. It took me a few days to figure out what was happening.”

  “I can’t believe you kissed Carly, and she ended up marrying Jordan.”

  “I thought she’d gone home with her. That’s what Jordan led me to believe, anyway. Carly set me straight on that one. She had taken her home but only dropped her off. Nothing happened between them.”

  “She did that purposely to make you lose interest. A familiar Jordan tactic.” Suzanna sipped her coffee. “She’s good at that, always has been. I can’t tell you how many times as kids she sent me on a wild-goose chase to get me out of the way. Remember the time she told me to go home to get Dad because she’d been bitten by a snake, but really hadn’t?”

  She nodded. “Dad was super-pissed.”

  “Right? We couldn’t find her. Thought she was dead somewhere.”

  Wynn couldn’t believe she’d forgotten how devious Jordan could be. “I totally fell for it—got out of her way, gave up all hope for something with Carly. Who was I to stand in her way if Carly wanted to be with her?”

  “She’s not the first one of my friends who’s fallen for those charms. Jordan is super suaveee.” Suzanna purposely mispronounced the word. “So how could Carly resist?”

  “Exactly.”

  “But Jordan doesn’t have an ounce of the compassion you do.”

  “I’m beginning to wonder whether I have any myself.”

  “Stop that. You’ve just been emulating the wrong sister.”

  She grinned. Suzanna was absolutely right. “I guess I have.”

  “But now with this time-loop thingy you’re experiencing, you think things could be different?” Suzanna seemed to be understanding now.

  “They have been for the past few days.” She raised her hands in the air and let them drop to her legs and gripped her thighs. “I just can’t get time to move forward. I must be doing something wrong.”

  “So you told Carly all this again this morning?”

  “No. I just went there and kissed her.”

  “To her office? And she was okay with that?”

  “Yes. She was more than okay. We almost had sex right there and then on her couch.” She nodded as she stared into the yard.

  “What stopped you?”

  “I don’t want it to be like that. I want it to be special because she’s special.” It had taken every bit of restraint she’d had not to make love to Carly this morning.

  “Hmm. I think you, little sister, are in love.”

  “I’m sure of it. No doubt in my mind at all.” She stood and paced the porch. “But is Carly in love with me?”

  “Well, she’s in something with you, because she doesn’t sleep with just anyone.”

  “I know.” She blew out a breath. “That’s the only thing that gives me hope that this will work out.” She flopped into the chair. “I’ve tried several different ways of doing things each day, and nothing seems to let me move forward.”

  Suzanna stared into her eyes with concern, as though trying to understand but didn’t. “Tell me more.”

  “You don’t believe me.” Wynn shook her head and stood. “I shouldn’t have told you any of it.” She turned and shoved her hands into her pockets. “I know it’s a crazy story.”

  “I’m really trying, but you have to admit it’s far-fetched.” Suzanna pointed her finger at her and moved it up and down. “I like that look you have today.”

  She’d chosen something more casual this morning. A plain white button-down covered by an army-green jacket along with black skinny jeans and white sneakers. It seemed to have fit the bill for Carly. I mean, who was she trying to impress? No one at work, that’s for sure.

  “It’s never gonna happen. I just need to get over it—get over Carly.”

  “You absolutely will not. It will happen. Just keep trying.”

  “This isn’t healthy. I think about her too much every day. I’ve changed everything at work, saved Shadow’s mom, and been close to her so many times. I don’t know if I can handle doing it again and then having it all fade away again. I want to wake up next to her—enjoy the sunrise—have morning sex.” She raked her fingers through her hair. “I love too fucking hard.”

  “Hey.” Suzanna popped to her feet and pulled her into a hug. “You go all in when it happens, and it makes my heart so happy seeing you like this. So captivated and in love.” She backed up, squeezed Wynn’s shoulders, and kissed her on the cheek. “It’ll be all right. I’ll help you.”

  Maybe Suzanna did believe her. “I just don’t know what to do anymore.”

  “You’re going to dazzle the fuck out of her like you did this morning.” Suzanna chuckled. “That didn’t come out quite right. No pun intended.” She patted Wynn softly on the cheek. “I am officially your wingman for the night. I’ll make sure Carly only has eyes for you.”

  She was relieved to hear that—to know that Suzanna didn’t think she was crazy, that she knew Carly and she were destined to be together. Only time would tell whether Suzanna’s help would make all the pieces fall into place. All she could do was hope.

  * * *

  After Carly finished counseling the Baxters, she immediately called Suzanna. “You’re not going to believe what happened this morning.”

  “Really? What?”

  “Wynn came to see me.”

  “Wynn? Really?”

  She repeated in detail everything that Wynn had told her this morning except the throwing-herself-at-Wynn part. She’d kept that to herself for obvious reasons. Suzanna didn’t seem surprised at all.

  “You’ve talked to Wynn, haven’t you?”

  “Yeah.” Suzanna dragged the word out slowly. “She just left.”

  “You just let me ramble on like an idiot? Why didn’t you say something?”

  “I wanted to hear your version.”

  “And?”

  “They’re pretty similar, but you left out a few details.” She laughed. “Apparently, you were on fire this morning.”

  “Maybe a little.”

  “Really?”

  “Okay, fine. I was like a nymph on pheromones. You know I’m not usually like that.”

  “I do, and I told Wynn that.”

  “I don’t know how to explain it. I’ve always thought she was attractive. You know that.” She took in a deep breath, trying to make sense of the emotions she’d been feeling. “It’s just lately I can’t get her out of my mind.” Wynn’s smile flashed in her head, and her stomach dipped “She does something unexpectedly crazy to me.”

  Suzanna’s laughter came through the phone loud and clear. “The whole scenario is amazing. I mean, I’ve been trying to hook you two up for years, with no luck.”

  “What? When?”

  “I’m going to tell you the same thing I told her. I have a full staff for events now—have for over a year. Neither one of you has actually been needed at any of them since I expanded the company.” Voices sounded in the background. “Hang on.” Suzanna’s voice was muted, but she could still hear her tell James to take the kids outside. “For such smart, professional people, you two are both a little slow on the uptake. I say that lovingly.”

  “You think I should just go with it and let things happen?”

  “Hell, yes.” Suzanna’s voice rose and then lowered. “You were going to have sex with her this morning. Why stop now? Clearly something’s going on between you two.”

  “That’s for sure.” Heat burned the back of her neck. “Okay. Wynn is picking me up later, so I’ll see you tonight.”

  “Yessss.” The long S hissed through the phone. “You two are going to be so great together.”

  Suzanna was absolutely right. She had been willing to break all her rules to be with Wynn this morning. Why in the world would she run from another chance? Maybe all she needed was the courage to let it happen and a few glasses of wine.

&n
bsp; * * *

  Wynn rushed into the coffee shop and picked up her order from the end of the counter, bypassing Sally by using the app on her phone again. She didn’t have time for a wardrobe change.

  “Hey.” Sally came from behind the counter and rushed her way. “I thought I’d missed you.”

  She threw Sally a wave. “Sorry. In a hurry. Got a big thing at work.” She spun and didn’t look back. Her desire to make things work with Sally had dissipated the first time Carly had kissed her. She had no idea why she’d been stupid enough to get herself into that situation in the first place. Yeah, she did. Having the attention of a young twenty-something was flattering, at the least. Now, she just wanted to get this day over with.

  She stopped at the security point at the entrance to fill in George on the plan to detain Davis, and he was all in. It was hard to believe a straitlaced security guard would be so excited about a prank.

  She met Jack at Evelyn’s office just like every day before, and they were both confused, as usual. “I brought coffee.” She slid the tray of coffee onto the conference table and dropped paper copies of presentations next to it.

  “Okay. I don’t have a lot of time for chitchat today.”

  Evelyn’s eyebrows flew up. “Who do you think you are?”

  “The one who’s going to save your job.” She blew out a breath. “All of our jobs.” She paced across the room and set up the easel and large pad. “And about a thousand more out there.” She pointed to the door.

  “I already have a plan for that.”

  “They’re not going to accept your plan.” She glanced at Jack. “They’re not even going to look at yours because Evelyn’s not going to present any of it because I didn’t give it to her.”

  Jack drew his eyebrows together. “But you told me—”

  Evelyn pointed at Wynn. “You’re out of line.”

  “Yeah. Yeah. Tell me something I don’t already know.” She started sketching the new organizational chart on the pad. She took in a deep breath and turned around. “We all want to keep our jobs, right?”

  “I have no plans to lose mine,” Evelyn said, and Jack nodded.

  “Okay. Then we have to work together. Davis is going to present a proposal to cut workforce. We have to locate him and lock him in a closet somewhere.” She left out the part about her own strategy. This wasn’t about redemption anymore, and that information would just make them trust her less.

  “I knew he was a sneaky bastard.”

  “You’d be correct on both those counts. So we have to detain him until leadership buys in on our plan.” She continued to write notes on the pad. “I’ve enlisted George in Security to assist with that task.” She smiled. “Seems he likes pranks.”

  The meeting with leadership went exactly as she hoped. Only this time she’d secured a raise for Jack. He was taking on a whole lot more responsibility and totally deserved it. She’d said they could take it out of her salary if needed, and Evelyn had reluctantly said the same. Evelyn was gradually coming on board with Wynn’s methods and management style. She seemed to be noticing that they made a difference. This had to go right today, or she would be at a loss.

  On her way in, she had Evelyn’s assistant schedule a meeting in the main canteen. An announcement there would eliminate everyone’s fears. Wynn and Evelyn and Jack would present a united front and hopefully regain employee trust. It would take more than that, but it was a start.

  All three of them strutted down the hallway in unison, like a scene from a John Grisham movie. Once they reached the main canteen, they greeted team members as they worked their way around the room to the microphones. There were three this time, rather than one. She scanned the room, and a feeling she couldn’t quite describe filled her. The uncertainty that she was doing the right thing had disappeared. As she made eye contact with people’s searching gazes in the crowd, she felt ready to put all these employees at ease. She wanted to let them know their jobs were safe and everything was going to be all right. That was her largest task for the day—the one that mattered most. She glanced at Evelyn, who smiled, and then at Jack, who couldn’t seem to hide his happiness—and why should he? His plan had been an instrumental part of why leadership had agreed to take this path.

  Wynn was slowly letting go of the protective shell she’d so carefully constructed. In the future all the people standing before her would become family. Isn’t that what good leaders did?

  A nervous silence blanketed the room, and everyone stilled, as they had before. It was the sort of silence that sucked the wind out of you, but that would soon be over, she hoped. She no longer wanted her presence to induce fear and uncertainty. She aimed to project a welcoming aura, where team members felt comfortable approaching her with greetings, ideas, and even issues occurring during their workdays. She calmed the shiver that came over her, a fantastic feeling this time. She glanced at Evelyn, who nodded. Today she got to deliver the good news rather than the bad.

  “Thank you all for coming this morning. As you know, Sexton Technologies has faced several challenges in the past few months. We’ve had to cut contractors and temporary employees to the bare minimum.” She started her speech exactly the same as she had on the day that now seem so far in the future. “I’m thrilled to say we will not need to reduce our workforce more, and all your positions are safe.” Applause within the crowd erupted, and she paused a moment to take in the relief and joy on everyone’s faces. Their suspicions had been debunked, their surprise evident. “You are all here because we…” she motioned to Evelyn and Jack… “wanted to tell you personally what a great job you all are doing. I’m now going to turn the floor over to Evelyn, your new chief operating officer.”

  Everyone clapped as Evelyn picked up her microphone and waited for the noise to settle. “And on that note, I’d like to announce that Wynn is our new chief information officer, and Jack is the new Director of IT.” Everyone applauded again, and Evelyn waited for the noise to settle once more. “We all have a lot of work ahead of us to get this company back in the black. It won’t be easy, but if we all pull together, it will happen much faster.” She went on to tell them what was expected of them in the future, and that they would need to earn their raises and bonuses. Everyone seemed to be on board.

  Wynn’s mind checked out at that point. Knowing the outcome already, she let her thoughts wander to Carly and how things between them had escalated to warp speed earlier. She’d wanted to let it happen this morning so badly, but that hadn’t been the right time or place to begin her life with Carly. She wanted to spend a lifetime making love to her, not just an hour on a couch in her office.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Next up, Buttercup. Wynn didn’t need to engage Jack with Buttercup. She had a plan to convince Maria to adopt Buttercup this time. She’d already called the shelter to make sure no one chose her in the meantime. Once home, if she succeeded, she would convince Maria that Buttercup was the sweetest dog, and that she would be a wonderful surprise for Jack.

  After arriving home and changing into jeans and a T-shirt, and sneakers, Wynn went to the backyard, grabbed a shovel, and did some prep work for her plan. She created a crawl space under the fence just big enough for Shadow to get through. After scattering the dirt with her fingers to make it look more like Shadow actually had done the digging, she wiped small beads of sweat from her forehead. The task had been a little harder than she’d thought, considering a lack of rain the past month. She glanced up at the clear, blue sky. Where was the rain they’d had in one of the previous loops?

  Now she was ready to put her plan into motion. She picked up Shadow and headed next door to Maria and Jack’s house, hoping to convince Maria that all dogs weren’t bad. After opening the side gate to her neighbor’s backyard, she moved silently around to the back of the house and surveyed the yard. No pool or any other obstacles that could put Shadow in danger, and she didn’t see anything she could get into trouble with either. Just a table and chairs set with an umbrella. She
dropped a couple of small training treats in front of Shadow and instructed her to stay. Shadow ate one of the treats and moved to follow Wynn as she turned to leave the yard. She put up a hand, repeated the command, and hoped she would remain there for at least enough time to let Wynn get out the gate and to Maria’s front door. She closed the gate, then ran up to the door and knocked rapidly in a panicked frenzy.

  When the door pulled open, she widened her eyes at Maria. “My new puppy got out, and I can’t find her. Can you help me search for her?”

  Maria hesitated. “When did you see her last?”

  “She was in my backyard. I always let her out first thing in the morning, but then I got distracted, and when I went to let her in, she wasn’t there.”

  “How old is she?”

  “I just brought her home last week, so about nine weeks.”

  Maria stopped and grabbed Wynn’s forearm. “How big is she?”

  “I don’t know.” She moved her hands up and down, trying to indicate her size. “Probably around fifteen pounds.”

  “Does she bite?”

  “No. Not at all.” She smiled. “She kisses a lot, though. She’s the most lovable puppy ever.” She tried to reassure Maria, but judging from the fear in her eyes, she wasn’t sure if her effort was working.

  Maria released her arm. “Okay. Let’s check your backyard again first.”

  When they entered the backyard, Wynn purposely went straight to the other side, leaving Maria to find the spot she’d dug under the fence.

  “I think she might be in my yard.” Maria found the place right away and headed back toward the gate. “I hope she’s okay. I don’t think there’s much there she can get into.”