Page 18 of Go Away, Darling

She was still giggling as I ended the call. I finished my morning work session with a visit from another Anderson sister, Berlin. Even though I worked with London now, it was Berlin who was my best friend, seeing as we were the same age and were always in the same grade. We bonded over being sisters. My sister Summer was on a year long international tour opening for Travis Brantley and Kristen Holt. I couldn’t wait for her to get back in a couple of weeks. I missed her terribly.

“Hello, hello!” Berlin called from the front door. I knew she was coming so I left it unlocked.

“In the office!”

I listened to Berlin stop and chat with Linc about the cartoon he was watching, and then a minute later she flopped down onto my office sofa that sometimes served as a prop. “What a day!” she sighed.

“It’s not even eleven.”

“And it’s already been a day!” Her brown hair was French braided and her tan legs on full display beneath yellow shorts. She got bangs a month ago and I hated her because she looked great with bangs. No one in real life ever looks good with bangs, but Berlin sure did.

I spun in my desk chair to face her, leaning back. “Okay spill it.Whyhas it already been a day?” This is how Berlin worked. She loved to over share, but for some reason she required a prompt to do so.

“So...I have to tell you something.”

Again, needing a prompt, I waved my hand for her to continue.

“I met someone.”

“Today?”

She scowled. “No not today. About a month ago. His name is Ryker and I think he might bethe one.”

Berlin was once upon a time married to her college sweetheart, Jack Cassidy. They were what I would call soulmates. But they were young and Jack was an ass who showed his ass and Berlin, not willing to take being shat upon, left him. He was still hopelessly in love with her, but Berlin was determined to move forward, not backward. I didn’t blame her. What Jack did was selfish and stupid. But he also—quickly—learned from his mistake. I felt for him because as an outsider it was plain as day that Berlin and Jack complimented each other, put up with the other’s weirdness, and were hopelessly in love.

But Berlin had taken off the love goggles and was blind to Jack now.

And so she foundRyker.“All right. Tell me about him.”

“He’s a real estate developer out of Miami. He’s got dark hair and a kind smile. He’s...awkward, but after Jack I kind of like awkward. He calls me all the time, loves my work, and I miss him.”

So, if I was translating Berlin’s words correctly, this Ryker was steady, nerdy, rich, supportive, and, above all,safe.

I should note that Jack is mostly none of these things. He’s a hockey player turned coach of the Miami Pythons. He’s an alpha (thus the selfish jackass part that got him in trouble), bordering on alpha-hole, unpredictable, emotional, and insensitive.

Or he was. Like I said, he learned from his mistakes.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. “Well that sounds nice.”

Berlin frowned. “Nice?”

It wasn’t like I was going to tell my best friend to go back to her selfish ex, butsafesounded like another relationship disaster in the making. Berlin was a fiery personality. That’s part of why she and Jack worked. He could stand up to her and take whatever came at him and throw it right back. While “safe” Ryker, I suspected, would roll over and play dead.

Not that I’d met the man. I probably shouldn’t judge. “Missing someone and being missed sounds nice. That’s all I meant. I’d like to be missed one day.”

And that set off the Chris ache in my chest again. I missed him. After one freaking day. And I wondered if he missed me. I felt like a teenager who didn’t know any better. Because I knew better than to pine for a guy I just met. It was just pheromones and the lack of sexy times in my life.

“Olivia Alina Saldana...who is he?” She sat bolt upright, jaw slack, eyes wide with excitement.

Was I that obvious? “I just met him. It’s probably just lust.” I definitelylustedhis athletic body. I never thought I had a type, but clearly I did. I had the hots for athletes. And not just any fitness focused guy, elite performanceprofessionalathletes.

I was a disaster.

“Lust has a purpose.” She swung her legs to the ground. “It’s called sex. Lots of it.”

I waved to the giggling kid in the next room. “I retired my sex card a long time ago.”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s okay to have a fling. It’s okay to fall for someone. You’re not boxed up and stored away just because you have a son.”

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