Best Practice

by Carsen Taite

  “What if I was in love with Perry?” She gave Campbell a pointed look. “It’s hopeless, right? She’s too young, and she doesn’t want to live in Austin, and she doesn’t feel that way about me.” She paused to take inventory, make sure she’d listed all the reasons why it wouldn’t work, when Campbell reached across the table and took her hand. “What?”

  “I’m sorry. Earlier, when you asked me if I thought you weren’t good enough for my sister? Well, the truth is there is no one better, and there’s no one I’d rather have as a sister-in-law.”

  “I hear a ‘but’ coming,” Grace said, bracing for the other shoe.

  “It’s not about you. I love Perry, but I don’t know if she’ll ever be willing to settle down, and maybe never here in Austin. I want her to, and if it was with you, I could wish nothing better for you both.”

  “You should tell her how you feel,” Abby said. “She might stay if she knows you’re in love with her.”

  “But what if she doesn’t?”

  “Then you have us.” Abby reached for her other hand and Campbell nodded. “And there’ll be someone else one day. You’re a catch, Grace Maldonado.”

  Grace gripped their hands tightly. She was lucky to have such good friends. With their support she might be able to find the courage to tell Perry how she felt because that stuff Abby said about there being someone else was crap. She knew Perry was the only one for her.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Perry heard the whir of the garage door and braced for Justin to walk in and find her in the exact same position she’d been when he’d left for work that morning. Except for a couple of trips to the kitchen for water, she’d been parked on the couch for the second day in a row. She wasn’t proud of her lethargy, but she seemed unable to summon the energy to do anything following her fight with Campbell. Several times she’d picked up her phone to reach out to Grace, but stopped, finally understanding why it was a problem to get involved with her sister’s best friend. If Grace agreed Campbell was being unreasonable, where would that leave their friendship? And if Grace sided with Campbell, then they’d never work out.

  But they wouldn’t work out anyway because Grace was firmly rooted here in Austin with her nice house and her successful law firm, representing the kind of clients who fired lawyers who pointed out their faults. Flirtation and fooling around had been fun, but they could not be more different, and she couldn’t see a way to make a relationship between them work without either one of them compromising who they were. Best to let the memories of her time with Grace, from London to last weekend, stay fixed in her mind, exactly as they were instead of ruining them with inevitable clashes about the type of lives they would lead.

  As the door from the garage opened, she sat up straight and attempted to feign productivity by arranging the magazines on the coffee table into a neat stack. Justin shook his head when he saw her.

  “You can quit pretending,” he said. “I can tell you’ve been moping around all day. Again.”

  “I’m not moping.”

  “Yes, you are. Any chance you want to tell me what’s got you down?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I think you do.”

  She sighed. Justin was rarely persistent—not like Campbell—but he deserved some answers considering she’d basically moved in with no notice. “I’m agitated.”

  “Oh, I could’ve told you that.”

  “I slept with Grace.” She dropped the bomb and waited for it to explode, but Justin merely nodded.

  “Okay. You wanted that, right? I’m guessing she decided the kissing was no longer a mistake.”

  “Very funny. Yes, she came around to my way of thinking. I’m very persuasive.”

  “Yet, here you are all agitated and mopey.”

  “Campbell found out and she got mad. I guess I’m not good enough for her friends. She told me not to come back to the office, and she’s probably already talked to Grace, and now things are complicated.”

  Justin sat down in the chair across from her. “I’m trying to remember a time when you let Campbell’s opinion determine your course of action.”

  “Okay, but—”

  “And since when does complicated scare you off?”

  He was right in general, but the situation with Grace was a different level of complication. “I’m not scared.”

  “It’s okay if you are. You’d be crazy not to be. Look, I know you travel all over the world and fight legal battles in dangerous situations, but sometimes it takes more courage to face the fears inside than the ones the world throws at you. You can stay in one place if you want, get attached to people. What happened to Mom and Dad can’t define your life. If you let it, you’ll never have the life they would’ve wanted for you, for us. They had each other and a family they loved up until the moment they died. Don’t trade away your chance at having the same thing for fear you might lose it one day.”

  Perry sat with his words, letting the truth of them seep in. He was right, but him being right didn’t automatically erase her trepidation. “I hear you.”

  “Good.” He stood. “Now, go take a shower and get dressed. We’re going out to dinner.”

  She wanted to snuggle back into the cozy couch and shut out the world for a bit longer, but she kind of owed him the courtesy of accepting the invite considering his patience with her malaise. “Fine, but it better not be someplace dressy because I only have one clean outfit and it’s super casual.”

  “No worries, it’s come as you are.”

  An hour later, when Justin pulled up in front of Campbell’s house, Perry knew she’d been duped. “Come on, bro. You can’t be serious.”

  “I am. I love you both and I need you to make up. You don’t have to agree on everything. You don’t have to go back to work at the firm, you don’t have to stay in town, but I need my family to get along. Can you do this for me?”

  “When you put it that way, I guess so.” Perry opened her door. “Come on, let’s get this over with.” She walked to Campbell’s front door, surprised to find that her sense of dread dissipated with each step. She didn’t want dissension any more than Justin did. If she could fix things between her and Campbell, would that pave the way for her to explore something more with Grace?

  The door swung open as she approached, and Campbell walked out to meet her. Perry glanced over her shoulder, but Justin was hanging back, likely to give them time to talk. Campbell made the first move. “I’m glad you came. Wynne’s making dinner, and she’d really like it if you stayed.”

  “Well, as long as it’s Wynne cooking and not you.” Perry smiled, hoping her attempt at levity didn’t fall flat.

  Campbell returned the smile and led the way inside to the living room. “I’m sorry I blew up at you,” she said. “I think the stress of trying to balance this trial and the wedding is getting to me.”

  Perry appreciated the overture, but she knew they needed to talk about the real reason they’d fought or it would eat away at their relationship until it was resolved. “I’m sorry too. I hate it when we fight, but you and I both know this wasn’t because of the trial or the wedding.”

  Campbell hung her head. “I know. Believe me, I got an earful from Grace.”

  “You talked to Grace?”

  “Of course I did. She’s my best friend, we run a business together. But, Perry, you’re my sister and I love you. I don’t know how whatever is happening between you two is going to play out, but I support whatever you both decide.”

  It felt strange knowing Campbell and Grace had talked about her that way, but Perry supposed she should’ve expected the lines would blur if she and Grace were anything more than friends.

  “In fact, I invited her over too. I thought we could all clear the air and if you two want to talk, this would be a good neutral ground to do it.”

  Uh-oh, this was beginning to feel like a setup. Was Campbell trying to use Grace like she had in London, except instead of trying to lure her back to Austin, her goal no
w was keeping her here?

  She didn’t have time to think it through further before she heard Grace’s voice at the door. A moment later, she rounded the corner of the living room with Justin right behind her. Seeing Grace again outside the cocoon of her bedroom felt surreal, and for a moment everything in the room faded away, leaving only her and Grace, eyes locked. She wanted to go to her. Kiss her soft lips. Wrap her up in her arms. Whisper in her ear and tell her how much she’d missed her in the forty-eight hours they’d been apart.

  Justin’s voice broke into her reverie. “Campbell, the mailman came while I was standing out there. Hey, Perry, this one’s for you.”

  She tore her gaze from Grace and stared at the envelope in his hand, instantly taking in the official seal. Could it be? Already? She grabbed the envelope, tore it open, and palmed the navy booklet that fell into her hand. She thumbed through the brand-new, unstamped pages, full of promise and possibility, but the excitement she’d expected to feel fell flat.

  “It’s your passport. That was fast.”

  Perry looked up at Grace who was standing beside her, and the irony struck hard. Grace was the reason her passport had come so quickly and now Grace was the reason she didn’t need it anymore.

  Wait. Had she just decided not to leave? Was she ready to make that leap? Did Grace even want her to stay? Perry looked around and noticed everyone else had scattered, leaving the two of them alone in the room. “It was fast. Maybe too fast.”

  “I thought it was what you wanted.”

  “I want a lot of things, but they’re all jumbled up right now.”

  “John Hadley called today.”

  Seriously, Perry was standing here trying to come up with the right words to tell Grace she was in love with her, and Grace wanted to talk about work? Was that the reason she’d shown up at Campbell’s? “Did he tell you to fire me?”

  “Not even close. In fact, he called to talk to you.”

  Perry raised an eyebrow.

  “It’s true, ask Graham. Of course, I intercepted the call as any good control freak would. Do you want to know what he had to say?”

  Perry didn’t care what John Hadley had to say about anything because she had stuff of her own to say. Stuff that was way more important than defenses to illegal dumping and ways to circumvent environmental regulations. But Grace seemed intent on telling her, which she should probably take as a sign she’d read the signals wrong. Grace was more interested in her job than anything else, and maybe she should take her lead and call Tom and let him know she was free to travel anywhere in the world.

  “Are you listening to me?” Grace asked.

  Perry sighed. “John Hadley. Called about me. Go on, tell me how I lost you a client.”

  “But you didn’t.” Grace grinned. “He called to offer you a job. The arrogant jerk wanted to hire you right out from under us. He took your advice about charitable causes, but he wants to go one better. He’s forming a foundation to address environmental issues from the hill country to the coast, and he wants to talk to you about running it. He was impressed by your, and I quote, ‘willingness to speak truth to power.’”

  Perry’s head spun. “You’re joking.”

  “Not a joke. He’s for real.”

  “I don’t have any experience running a foundation.”

  “He likes your passion and he has enough money to get you a staff that can handle the day-to-day. He wants you to be the face of the foundation, the fundraiser. I told him he couldn’t have picked a better candidate, but you might have other plans.”

  Perry sunk onto the couch. Talk about big commitments. Her brain whirred at the possibilities, the opportunities a job like the one Hadley was offering would allow her to make a significant impact in the world. So why was she more disappointed than excited? “Is this why you came here tonight? To tell me about Hadley’s offer?”

  Grace sat beside her. “No. I didn’t even know about it when I decided to come.”

  “Okay.” Perry wasn’t sure what to ask, where to start.

  “I have an offer of a different sort.”

  “A job offer?”

  Grace shook her head. “But I am looking for someone with your kind of passion.”

  Perry’s heart beat faster. This was the moment she’d been waiting for. The moment she feared, with all Grace’s talk of Hadley and his offer, had passed her by. Determined not to let the opportunity slip away, she blurted out the words she’d been practicing in her head. Words she’d never spoken out loud, but she’d written in the spiral notebooks she used to carry around when she was a kid, framed with a heart and cupid’s arrow. “I love you, Grace Maldonado.”

  She waited, holding her breath, hoping her fantasy would come true, but she didn’t have to wait long. Grace took both her hands in hers and gazed into her eyes. “I love you too, Perry Clark. And you can take the job with Hadley or tell him to shove it. I don’t care either way because I want to build a life with you, and we’ll work it out no matter what.”

  Chapter Twenty

  “Wake up, sleepyhead.”

  Grace slowly opened her eyes, squinting as they adjusted to the light. Perry was standing next to the bed, wearing a towel around her waist and nothing else, and she was holding a tray. Grace stretched her arms above her head. “This is the perfect way to wake up on a Saturday morning. Or any morning.” She reached over and tugged at the towel. “Except you’re wearing too many clothes.”

  Perry swatted her hand away and set the tray on the nightstand. “Quit trying to undress the help and have some coffee. We have a big day ahead.”

  Grace propped up on the pillows and took the mug Perry handed to her. “You’re spoiling me.”

  “It’s all part of the package, ma’am.” Perry mimed writing in a notepad like she was taking an order. “Coffee, light cream. Young female companion, light clothing. Delivered fresh each morning.” She bent down. “With a kiss.”

  Grace took Perry’s lips between her own and savored the silky soft touch. For the past two weeks, she’d gone to bed with Perry by her side and woken to this same ritual, and it was still fresh and new and joyful. She deepened the kiss, and when Perry’s eyes shuttered and she could tell she was in the haze of arousal, she reached behind her and ripped the towel away.

  “You got me,” Perry said, sounding happy about it.

  “I kind of think you let me.” Grace ran a finger up Perry’s thigh. “Are you sure we don’t have time for you to crawl back in bed and let me have my way with you?”

  “Not until the brides leave for their honeymoon.” Perry backed just out of reach. “Until then, we’re team maid of honor. I hung our clothes and shoes by the front door, and I’m going to pack some snacks. Enjoy your coffee. It’s going to be a long day, but we’ve got this.”

  Perry started to walk away, but Grace reached for her and she returned to her side. “You’re pretty incredible. Kiss me one more time and I swear I’ll leave you alone until our bridal party duties are done for the day, or at least until after you give your toast at the reception. I can’t make any promises about what will happen once the champagne starts flowing.”

  “Deal.” Perry bent and kissed her again, a quick, light kiss. The kind they’d exchanged dozens of times since Perry had moved in. The kind of kiss that said I want you to know there will be more where that came from. Grace watched her leave the room, enjoying the sight of her tight round butt wrapped in a towel. Morning coffee had never tasted so good.

  An hour later, she drove while Perry navigated the way to Moonlight Ranch. Abby’s mom had gotten married here last year, and Campbell had fallen in love with the setting. The massive property boasted several different venues, all fully customizable, and Campbell and Wynne had selected a canopy near the edge of a bluff for their ceremony and the large pavilion strung with shiny, twinkling stars nearby for the reception. They’d planned a full day of events, including brunch for their closest friends and family, and Kate’s Donuts was already on hand preparing trays
of fresh-made deliciousness.

  Grace pulled the car to a stop in the parking lot and reached for Perry’s hand. “Two things.”

  “Name them.”

  “I am fully dedicated to Campbell’s happiness today, and I know that we’re probably going to both be running in different directions to make sure everything goes smoothly, but I want you to know that wherever you are today, I’ll be thinking of you and wishing you were by my side.”

  Perry grinned. “I like the sound of thing one. What’s thing two?”

  Grace tugged her closer. “When Campbell and Wynne get back from their honeymoon, let’s take a trip of our own. Wherever you want to go. As long as there are no thirty-story Ferris wheels in my future.”

  “I seem to recall you hanging on tight during that particular ride.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll hang on tight no matter what as long as you’ll let me. I have a lot more to lose now.”

  “A trip it is.” Perry kissed her, lingering over her lips like she was reconsidering her plans for the day before she eased away. “I’ll be thinking about you all day. Someday, this will be us.”

  Grace watched her face carefully for any sign she was joking around, but the intensity of Perry’s gaze told her she was completely serious. Before she could respond, Perry was out of her seat. “Let’s go,” she said as she jumped down from the SUV.