Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 82767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
When I returned, the mood had lightened, and we drank a few beers and chatted. I even enjoyed myself, laughing at his commentary on the various people who came into the bar. He was an expert people watcher, and we had spent hours like this, imagining lives for the strangers around us. It was after midnight when we made our way into the cool evening air and he walked me home. I didn’t ask him up, and he didn’t expect me to, either. The evening had been unusual enough without complicating things further. We stood talking on the step for a few minutes and then he turned to me, his hands – thankfully – still in his pockets but his face earnest.
“I can’t help feeling we have unfinished business, you and me,” he said, his voice catching a little. I can’t deny it sent a surge of some unidentifiable feeling through my body.
“Drew–” I began.
“Tell me you don’t feel it, and I won’t mention it again.” He took a step closer to me.
“I know,” I said, looking at my shoes. He felt incredibly close and somehow taller. I felt suddenly like he was a stranger, not quite the Drew I remembered.
“Okay,” he said softly. “Okay,” and he stepped back and smiled his regular Drew smile.
It was enough for him, and I was relieved. I turned and made my way up to my apartment. A month ago I wasn’t giving Drew a thought; I was so making travel plans that I had pretty much checked out of the family business. Now here I was on some sort of date with Drew, travel plans forgotten, and working as an intern with some vague hope of saving the company. I was going backward. But weirdly, it felt good. I looked at myself critically in the mirror when I undressed and thought about how just a few years had changed Drew so much, and yet I was the same as I had been. Same crazy hair, same round butt, and scrawny legs. Maybe my boobs finally became bigger, and my figure had softened and was less lanky, but I had barely changed at all compared to Drew. I stopped myself. I was not about to start thinking about Drew like that. No way. I spent the rest of the weekend lounging on the couch binge-watching some British crime drama that Taylor had been talking about, eating chocolate, and avoiding everyone.
I realized with a start that I needed to get moving if I was going to be on time, and the reality of working at Clover House filled me with fresh dread. I left my coffee, feeling jittery enough already, and made the short journey to work, running through the rain and arriving looking like I’d had to swim in. I dumped my jacket and went to the bathroom to try to dry off and smooth my hair, and when I emerged again, Frank was waiting for me, his face solemn.
“We are wanted in Keegan’s office,” he said. “There’s been some… confusion… over Friday’s disaster.”
“Oh,” my face must have given away my panic.
“Don’t worry, we didn’t do anything wrong – but Sean is on the warpath, and he wants to see whoever worked on it after he left.”
“Sean?” I asked, slightly relieved that it wasn’t going to be Keegan.
“Both of ‘em,” he looked apologetic.
We made our way to the glass office. Frank knocked and a voice barked at us to come in. At the large dark wood desk sat Keegan Callahan, looking even darker than his picture suggested. I was certain that he was the hot guy from Antionette’s, but now was not the time to chat about a missed connection. This guy looked like a villain from a cartoon right now. All angles and energy, and something else I was surprised at – sexiness. It was almost funny. Sean stood at the window. He looked surprised, and smiled when he saw me.
Keegan looked me over, and I blushed. For a moment, I felt like he could see through my clothes.
“Frank,” Keegan began. “I hadn’t realized you had left this with the new intern. The intern who has been here a week, right?” Keegan didn’t even look at me, addressing his question to Frank as if I weren’t there.
Keegan had an Irish accent, and for a second I wondered why he had an accent and his brother, who was obviously only a little younger, had no trace of one. I wondered if they had grown up separately; they certainly didn’t sound like they had grown up together.
“Effie was only proofing the frames; that’s how she noticed the mistake–” Frank started to explain, but Sean cut him off and turned to his brother, who was still brooding at the desk.
“There shouldn’t have been any mistake,” he said calmly to Keegan. “You were in charge, and if this had gone through, we’d have been up shit creek. It is just another example of this department’s laziness.”