Page 11 of Forever After All

"Are you kidding me? If I go home tonight and tell him I shook Macaulay's hand, he'd probably lick it and ban me from washing ever again."

"You have such a weird marriage."

"I'm not arguing with that!" she shouts back at me as she runs to the meeting room doors.

Twenty-five minutes later, Anna rushes through the door looking flustered but still beautiful. She’s in her early forties, with a blonde bob, blue eyes, and a Pilates body to die for. I'm fairly sure you could bounce coins off her butt. She's about five-foot-two, but you wouldn’t know it with her huge personality making up for her height.

"Brenna is in meeting room two with Macaulay. Here’s a coffee. Skinny latte, no sugar. You look great. Go get 'em.” I smile, holding out the coffee.

"You're a lifesaver, did I ever tell you that?" Anna grabs the coffee and heads through the glass gates to the meeting rooms.

"You've told me twice today, Anna." I grin and give her a small thumbs-up.

A few moments after Anna moves through the meeting room corridor, Brenna comes back towards me with the biggest smile on her face. She bounces off the floor with sheer excitement when she walks.

"So, I'll ask again. How much do you love me?" I tease, returning her smile as she slumps down into the chair beside me.

"Jake will probably invite you for a threesome after that. Mac just gave me two tickets to their game tomorrow! He was so cool!"

"Oh my god, that's incredible! How exciting!" A genuine warmth spread through my chest, seeing the happiness radiate from Brenna. "I will say, though…I've done a lot of things in my time, but a threesome has never crossed my mind."

A low, rumbling male laugh echoes across the lobby and we both stop dead, aware of our very inappropriate conversation.

"Oh my god, it's…" Just when I think that Brenna couldn't possibly get any more excited today, she does.

"Carter Green. Yep. This one, I know."Dear god, he looks fine as hell. I try not to smile as he walks towards us. Carter is drapedin an all-black suit, shirt, and tie. He takes his sunglasses off and presses them up to sit on top of his head. I would swallow, but apparently I've forgotten how to. That hotness shouldn't be allowed. His brown hair is brushed back, reaching the collar of his shirt, and his muscles areincrediblyevident through his clothes. Not that I'm looking closely. Not at all.

Brenna's mouth pops open, and I whisper, "I'll explain later."

"Hey, Carter. Why are you here?" I ask, feeling a little too uncomfortable. It’s the first time I've seen him since the day after Autumn’s wedding, and I wasn't expecting to feel so flustered. Once again my cheeks redden slightly, betraying me. Even though I knew we were meeting for lunch, seeing him standing in front of me makes my brain malfunction a little. I wasn't expecting to feel so awkward if I’m being totally honest.

"We said we'd meet for lunch, but you didn't reply after my last message. I wasn't sure where we were meeting, so I thought I'd come and pick you up," Carter answers and looks between me and Brenna.

I look at the clock. 11:45. The morning flew by and I didn't realise how close to lunchtime it was.

"Sorry, I didn't even think about that. The front desk has been crazy today." I organise papers into a folder, prepped for Anna’s afternoon meetings.

"Alice, just go now.” Brenna nudges my chair leg with herfoot, making me look at her. “Come back when you're ready. You did me a solid today, I owe you." She nudges me again, but doesn't take her eyes off Carter. "Then you owe me an explanation and a piping hot cup oftea." She leans in and whispers the last part.

"I left my purse in the back office. I'll be back in a second," I say as I stand from the desk.

"I didn't know you wore glasses," Carter says. He tilts his head to the side and regards my face. I move my hand to the side of my face and feel for the frame of my glasses—like me wearing glasses is brand new information. For a split second, I didn't seem to remember I wore them either, for some reason.

As I walk through the sliding doors behind the desk, I hear Brenna making polite conversation with Carter.

"Looks like we're both finding out things about Alice today that we didn't know! Hi, I'm Brenna. It's so cool to meet you. My husband would freak!" Brenna stands from her seat. “He’s a huge fan of yours.” She holds out her hand to shake Carter's. "Sorry, I should probably try to be cooler about this, given that it’s my job and everything, but I absolutely can't."

As soon as I’m out of sight, I grab my purse from the back office and power walk to the restroom to check out my reflection in the mirror. I need to make sure I’m presentable after all. I look very much like the stereotypical secretary today. Blackskirt suit, white shirt, flat pumps, long hair pulled back into a slick bun, thick-rimmed glasses framing my green eyes—which I somehow forgot about—and red lipstick washed over my lips tops off the look.

I look…kind of great, I will admit. I make sure there is no smudging from my mascara, and head back to the lobby where Brenna and Carter are still chatting.

"So, let me get this straight. Your brother is Alice's best friend's husband?"

"That pretty much sums it up, yeah," I hear Carter confirm "And now Alice and I are really good friends. We shared a room together the night of their wedding too." He sends a devilish smile in Brenna's direction.

I glare at Carter as Brenna looks up at me. He winks at me, fully aware she is lapping up every second of this conversation.

"Anyway…" I cut through the middle of this weirdly gossip filled conversation. "We must be going. See you later, Brenna." I smile cheerily at my colleague, who is still looking bewildered, and drag Carter out of the building by his elbow.