Page 52 of Almost Love

No more Xander. Just Oakley.

Clementine had been punished for two hours, leaving her staff to handle the cake tasting. She could have been upset about it, but she was lying on her stomach on her office floor, looking for inspiration in old copies ofGood Housekeeping. Her door opened and she looked up to find Ginny stepping inside.

“What’s going on with you?”

“Needed a break,” Clementine said and sat up, leaning against her desk. “How did the tasting go?”

“It went fine. I missed you.”

“Aw.” But there was zero emotion behind it. Not that she wasn’t touched by the sentiment, she knew that Ginny was digging. “Stop looking at me like that.”

“You’ve never missed a tasting. Even when you’re sick you show up.”

“I was told to delegate.” She pushed to her feet after much grunting and groaning, bones and muscles protesting at the position change. Straightening her clothes, she gathered everything off the floor and moved to her desk. The whole time, she could feel Ginny watching her, but pretended to be busy.

With a dramatic groan, Ginny said, “Jeez,fine. The couple first said they wanted something with fruit, but ended up settling on a vanilla cake.”

Clementine snorted. “Freya and I decided to toss that in there to piss Roscoe off, he’s probably not pleased about this development.”

“I’ve never actually seen smoke come out of a real person’s ears before, but he looked like he was going to explode,” Ginny said, collapsing onto the couch against the wall.

“Why did they pick that one?”

“Something about simplicity.”

“I’ll refrain from adding it to the list next time.”

Ginny clapped her hands. “Great, now…talk to me.”

“There’s nothing to talk about. I seriously have things on my mind, that’s all.”

“It’s a person. And they’ve gotten your pastel coat in a twist.”

“Yes.” What was the point of ignoring the obvious? “I don’t need advice, I’m working through it.”

“Had no plans to give you advice. Is it the hot muscular dude with the little kid?”

She gagged and Ginny snorted.“Ugh, no. That’s Mack. Mybest friend.”

“I’d totally understand getting things in a twist because of him.”

“Because of who?” a gruff voice that belonged to saidhot muscular dudecame through her ajar office door. Mack stepped into the room and smiled at Ginny. “Hi, there.”

“Don’t flirt with my friends,” Clementine warned him, but he kept his bright smile fixed on the brunette.

“We were just talking about you.” the wedding planner said, totally unaffected by his sparkling charm.

Mack laughed, making Clementine roll her eyes. Of course he was flirting with the pretty woman and shamelessly at that. “Happily single, in case anyone was wondering.”

“Wouldn’t know from the obvious way you turned that charm up at the sight of me,” Ginny deadpanned.

“What can I say? I see a beautiful woman and the switch flips automatically.”

Clementine groaned and got to her feet, shooting Mack a glare. “Okay, turn that switch off. Thanks for coming to check on me,” she told Ginny who winked.

“Whatever’s going on with you and yourperson, I hope you figure it out.”

With that, Ginny walked out and Clementine found her best friend watching the woman before turning to look at her.

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