by Hart, Staci
Her eyes widened, but she didn’t speak.
“I know you don’t know my sister, but I do. She loved him desperately, and he ruined her, made her life hell until she left for college. And I know this is just high school drama, but people like Will don’t change. Someone who would treat another with so little respect or regard doesn’t just grow up. It’s a dark part of them that doesn’t go away.” I sighed. “There are two versions of him—the one who wants something and the one who didn’t get what he wants. So, please—just promise me you’ll be careful.”
“I promise.” Her eyes shone with understanding. “If one of my sisters were hurt in any way, in any context, I would be unforgiving.”
“I know. And that’s why he and I can’t ever be friends.”
She reached for my hand, her fingers warm and soft around mine, her face wholeheartedly sincere. “Thank you for telling me how you feel and the other side of what happened. I…I hate that this happened between you, and I hate that I’m caught in the middle. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, but I feel like I’m supposed to choose.”
Do it. Choose me. But I couldn’t do that to her. I couldn’t do it to myself.
My throat clicked when I swallowed. “I won’t make you choose, Annie.”
Annie looked down at our fingers. “You’re my friend, and I care about you. I don’t want to give you up any more than I want to give him up; your friendship is just as important to me as being with Will is. But I want to see this ballet with you.”
When she met my eyes again, her face was so ardent, so open, so absolutely beautiful in its honesty that I only gazed at her with my heart aching.
“Will you come with me?”
The word no had no place in my heart, not when it came to her. “Are you sure Will will be okay with it?”
“If he’s not, then we’ll have a bigger problem.”
The possibility of bigger problems with Will had its own appeal.
Could I do it? Could I be her friend? Could I put my feelings aside and take what I could get?
If the alternative was no Annie at all, there was only one thing to say.
“Anything you want, Annie.”
She brightened up again, eyes full of sunshine and spring grass, and I sighed, knowing what a magnificent mistake the whole thing was.
But with her happy, it was hard to care.
I didn’t see Annie much of the rest of the day, although we did eat enough of those donuts to almost make ourselves sick. There were only three left by the time her shift was ending, which was impressive by anyone’s standards.
As the time approached for her to leave, I found myself dreading it, wishing I had an excuse to get her to stay or get her to leave with me. It was relief I felt, a respite from the wanting, from the words that had hung between us since she’d walked through the door on Will’s arm. For an afternoon, things were like they used to be. Before him.
Just before Annie was off, a girl walked in and headed to the bar. She almost made it onto the stool when Annie pounced on her with a hug.
The girl laughed and hugged her back, and when Annie pulled away, she turned to me with her cheeks high and smiling.
“Greg, this is my big sister, Elle.”
“Nice to finally meet you,” she said with a smile and extended her hand, which I took.
“You too. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
She blushed, and I saw the resemblance. Elle was a little darker than Annie, but her skin was colored like peaches and cream, like Annie’s, though Elle’s had more color. Their lips were shaped the same, but Elle’s eyes were hazel, colored with bursts of green and brown and gold.
“I’ll just be a few minutes, okay?” Annie assured her. “Have a drink. Greg makes excellent drinks.”
She laughed. “How would you know? I know you haven’t crossed that one off the list.”
Annie shrugged. “People talk. Be right back!” she said before bounding off.
I smirked and set a coaster in front of her. “So, what’ll it be? Alabama Slammer? Jägerbomb? Shot of tequila?”
Elle chuckled. “How about a cup of coffee?”
“Coming right up.” I turned my back to pour her one.
“I’m glad to finally meet you,” she said from behind me. “Annie’s told me so much about you. She’s had more fun with you over the last few weeks than she has in years.”
When I turned to face her, she was smiling sweetly, hands folded on the bar in front of her.
“It’s been my pleasure. Really. She’s something else,” I said as I set her coffee mug in front of her and reached under the bar for a sugar caddie. “Need cream?”
“No, thanks.” She pulled a couple of sugar packets out and shook them. “I know she’s told you about Daddy and everything. And I want you to know that your friendship really does mean everything to her. Getting her this job, helping her with her list—it’s brought her back in a way that’s made all of our lives better. So, thank you.”
It was that word again, the one that hung over me in big block letters—friend.
“Like I said, the pleasure’s mine. She has a way of changing the people around her without even trying, doesn’t she?”
“She does. It’s something we can always count on. The sky is blue, the grass is green, and Annie will make you feel every possible emotion, sometimes in the span of an hour.”
A gentle laugh burst out of me at the truth of it. “It’s maddening and wonderful,” I said, too honest for my own good. “So, Annie said you work at Nouvelle magazine?”
Elle nodded, a spark of excitement in her eyes. “Very recently, and just as a secretary, but yes.”
“It’s got to be crazy, working at a magazine of that size.”
“It is, but I love it. The phone is always ringing, and the calendar is always pulled up and blocked off by the hour, sometimes by the quarter hour. Ward has to schedule lunch, the gym, even calls to his mother,” she said on a laugh. “Maybe because she forces me to put them on his calendar. I don’t know that he’d call her otherwise.”
“None of that sounds as exciting as you make it sound,” I teased.
“Trust me, I know. I love when things are orderly and neat and organized. Annie says I’m OCD, but it’s not like I have to flip the light off and on thirteen times or wash my hands seven times in a row. I just like order. And even numbers.”
I chuckled. “So, Ward is your boss?”
Another flush, this one deeper. “I really should call him Mr. Ferrars, but…well, we’re friends. He’s a friend of the family, which is how I even got the job. God knows I’m not qualified.”
“Well, anybody who loves organizing schedules and answering phones sounds like a natural. Crowd control just comes with practice. Not that it’s the same, but I came from being a barista at a coffee shop to running a bar. I honestly didn’t think I could do it, but here I am.” I spread my arms to display my domain. “Growing pains are normal. But I still have the worst anxiety dreams.”
“Do you?” she asked, bringing her coffee to her lips.
“Oh, bad. People keep walking in the door and coming to the bar, but I’m the only bartender. At first, I have it under control, but the busier it gets, the angrier people get until they’re yelling and climbing over the bar for me. I usually wake up right around the time I realize I’m naked.”
Elle laughed. “I had one the other night where I had all the appointments on the wrong days, and the phone wouldn’t stop ringing. And every person who called yelled at me. And, when Ward came in, he was so…disappointed.” She sounded so sad but shook it off. “It’s awful.”
“Goes with the territory of a high-octane job. There’s a rush about it though. It’s what keeps us adrenaline junkies coming back for more.”
That earned me another laugh. She took a sip of her coffee, leaving us in silence for a moment, which was all the time my brain needed to say something I probably shouldn’t.
“I…listen, I know it’s not
my place to say anything, but I guess I’m going to anyway.”
She put all of her attention on me and set her mug down with a gentle nod of permission.
I took a breath. “I know Annie likes Will, but he hurt someone I love very much, and even though it was a long time ago, I don’t trust him, not with her.”
Elle’s own worry creased her brow. “I understand. How worried should I be?”
I gave my head a shake. “I don’t know. I’m too close to the situation to be reasonable about him. So just look out for her, okay?”
“I promise I will. Thank you, Greg, for telling me. Would it…would it be all right if we exchanged numbers? I don’t want to conspire, but if the time comes that I might need more information, can I call?”
“Of course,” I answered as I reached into my pocket for my phone, relieved to have an ally, someone to be there when I wasn’t, to be aware.
I only hoped I was wrong about the whole thing, that we’d never need to talk about it again. But deep down, I knew that wish was nothing but fool’s gold.
Bigger Problems
Annie
Cam looked up when I walked into the office to clock out. “Hey, Annie.”
“Hey!” I reached for my coat. “I’m all set out front. Need anything else?”
“Nope, you’re good to go.” She watched me as I clocked out using the little machine in the back. “Excited about the mixer?”
“I cannot wait. I’m bringing my new boyfriend,” I sang, waggling my eyebrows, feeling that zing of excitement and unfamiliarity of the word in my mouth.
“Boyfriend?” she asked, though I thought there was a little bit of shock in the question.
I nodded, smiling. “Will, the guy I met in the park the other day.”
“Ah.”
Disappointment? Was that what I’d heard? I shook off the notion.
“We’re going as Sophie and Benedict from An Offer from a Gentleman.”
Cam nodded her appreciation. “Ooh, Julia Quinn. I like it. God, I wish I could be there. I was this close to convincing Tyler to come with me as Jondalar and Ayla from The Valley of Horses. He was pretty staunchly opposed to dressing up like a big, beautiful caveman.” She shrugged. “Anyway, I’m not tall enough, and he’s not blond or bearded enough. But man, what I would do to see him in a loincloth in public.”
I laughed. “After that pitch, I can’t believe he wasn’t jumping at the chance. Also, that’s definitely taking historical to new levels. I didn’t realize we could go back thirty thousand years.”
“I like to test boundaries.”
“No…you?” I pulled on my coat.
“Shocking, I know.” She smiled at me for a beat. “So, you and Will jumped right in, didn’t you?”
I sighed. “He’s just so…romantic, you know? Every word that comes out of his mouth is just…right.”
“You know, I had my own Will once.”
“Did you? A total dreamboat?”
“Oh, yeah,” she said, leaning back in her chair. “Football player, total babe. Smart, funny, into me. But he didn’t end up being who I’d thought he was.”
The smile that had been on my face most of the day faded, and Greg’s recount of Will’s story crossed my mind.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I learned a lot about what’s real and what isn’t, who to trust with my heart and who to keep out. But it wasn’t an easy lesson to learn; it took me years to sort it out.”
Apprehension snaked through my stomach, but I waved away the sense of foreboding. “Well, hopefully my Will doesn’t do me like that.”
“I’m sure you’ll fare better than me, but it wouldn’t hurt you to keep your eyes open,” she said, the words holding more weight than I’d been prepared to shoulder. But then she smiled, and the moment passed. “I’m so bummed I won’t get to meet him at the party. I hate missing it, especially historical night. All those cravats.” A sigh slipped out of her. “But Tyler and I ended up having this last-minute dinner with one of his sports agency’s clients.”
I gave her a look. “You’re missing a costume party for a work dinner?”
“Uh, yeah, but only because it’s Julian Edelman. I hate the Patriots, but God, if I don’t love me some Edelman.” She paused. “Is Greg doing okay? I caught wind of some gossip about him and Will.”
I sighed. “I think so, yeah. We talked about it earlier, and I think it’s all right. We’re going to the ballet in a couple of days. God, I’m so excited. My week is going to be the absolute best.”
She smiled enigmatically. “I hope you guys have fun.”
“Thanks. Me too. I’d better run; my sister’s waiting.”
“See you tomorrow, Annie.”
I waved and left the office, hurrying to the front where Elle and Greg were still talking. They stopped before I made it to them, and Elle was off her stool and pulling on her coat in a second flat. And then we exchanged goodbyes and headed out into the chill, arm in arm.
“How was work?” I asked as we headed toward the burrito joint down the street that everyone always talked about.
“Fine. How was your day?”
“Good. How’s Ward?”
Her cheeks flushed. “He’s fine.”
“Still handsome?”
She bumped me with her hip. “No. He came to work today, and his face was all wrong. Nose where an eye should be, ear where his mouth should be. It was like Picasso took a solid swing and landed him in the Cubist period.”
“Ha, ha.”
“Ward is fine. Everything is fine.”
“I mean, with a word like fine, how could I not be assured?”
She laughed but otherwise ignored me, swiftly changing the subject. “Tell me about your day.”
I sighed and gave up. “It was great. Greg asked me to the ballet to see Romeo and Juliet. Isn’t that incredible?”
Elle didn’t say anything right away. “What did Will say when you told him?”
I frowned—mostly at her, but partly at myself. “I haven’t told him yet, but I’m sure he’ll be fine.” The second I said it, I thought of at least four reasons he absolutely would not be fine. Dread slithered through me.
She gave me a look.
“Well, he has to be fine with it. Greg’s my friend, and I’m going.”
“And if he’s not fine?”
“Then I’ll have the same talk with him that I just had with Greg. I don’t want either relationship to interfere with the other.”
“I know you don’t, but they might despite the fact.”
That dread took a hard left, looking for attention. “It’s so stupid. Greg doesn’t like me. I even asked him, and he said no.”
She fixed another disputing look on me.
“Honestly, Elle, he had a chance right then to tell me if he did. I believe him. I trust him. He wouldn’t lie to me.”
She sighed but didn’t argue.
“Why can’t things be easy?”
“Because,” she said gently, “easy is for fairy tales. Life is too fluid and unpredictable and nothing short of complicated. But the good news is that they say nothing worth having is easy.”
“How’s that the good news?” I chuckled, not feeling like it was at all funny.
She tightened her arm, bringing me a little closer. “I just mean that there’s a payoff, if you can get through the hard part.”
I blew out a noisy sigh. “If you say so.”
“I say so.”
“Then I have to believe it’s true.” I laid my head on her shoulder.
My mind turned in on itself, admitting first that I’d been relieved at Greg’s answer. Because if the answer had been yes, could I have kept hanging out with him? Was I allowed to be friends with someone I knew had feelings for me? I didn’t know the rules, wasn’t sure of the protocol. And his answer saved me from having to consider it in detail.
But he’d said he cared about me, and I understood that. I cared about him too—a lot in fact. I wan
ted to tell him the details of my day and hear about his. I wanted to spend my time with him, craved his company. But most importantly, I didn’t want to lose him.
But didn’t all friends feel that way? Because we were just friends, right?
I drew in a breath full of resolve, filling my lungs up with decision. If I had to ask myself whether or not I felt more for him than just friends, the answer was no.
“So,” I said, breaking the silence, “you’re coming to the costume party with me, right?”
“Annie…” she sighed my name like she was exhausted.
I pouted. “Come on. It’s gonna be so fun. Just think, there will be loads of guys there, and they’ll be largely wearing cravats. Cravats, Elle.” I raised my head to give her a look so salacious, I could have been talking about porn.
She laughed. “Ugh, I don’t know.”
“Come on,” I full-on whined this time. “Please?”
Elle looked over my face for a second and sighed, rolling her eyes, and I knew I had her. “Oh, all right.”
I cheered a Woohoo! imagining us at the party together—Will on one arm and Elle on the other—just as my phone rang. My heart skipped faster when I saw it was Will.
“Hey,” I said with a smile. “I was just thinking about you.”
“I like the sound of that.” I could hear him smiling on the line. “Busy?”
“I’m just on my way to dinner with my sister. Why? What’s up?”
“Ah,” he said, disappointed. “I was hoping we could grab a bite. I knew I should have texted earlier. I just didn’t want to bother you at work.”
“Oh. I wish you had.” I glanced at Elle and got an idea. “Hang on.” I pressed my phone to my chest. “Think Will could meet up with us?”
Elle nodded. “Of course.”
I pressed my phone to my ear, grinning. “Want to come meet us for burritos at Besos?”
“You sure your sister doesn’t mind?”
“Not at all. You in?”