Page 100 of Party Favors

“You’re very welcome.”

I hung up the phone and headed toward reception. When I reached Vella’s desk, she asked, “Who got Adrian flowers?”

“They’re for me,” I said, trying to fake an enthusiasm I didn’t feel.

She raised a single eyebrow at me. “Adrian, the human participation trophy, went through the effort of getting you flowers?”

“Technically he had me order them but didn’t tell me that they were for me,” I said. “How nice was that?”

“Zero percent.”

“It’s the thought that counts.” I didn’t believe it but I couldn’t handle Vella making me feel worse about things.

“Yeah, I’m sure it takes a lot of thought to make a gesture this small, this late. He should have been buying you flowers every day for the last four years to thank you for being such an amazing assistant and for sacrificing so much for him. Why did he finally pony up?”

Just a few weeks ago, I would have been bursting at the seams to share my incredible news. I discovered that I did not want to tell her.

“Adrian asked me out on a date tonight and I accepted.” I pushed my shoulders back, waiting for her response.

She just blinked at me a few times and then said, “I’m sorry, did you just say you were going on a date with a man who has the emotional capacity of a doorknob?”

“That’s not—”

“What are you planning on doing with him on thisdate?” she demanded, cutting me off.

“We’re going to have dinner at his apartment.”

It was the first time I’d ever seen Vella look shocked. “You are going to his house, which is filled with sharks and snakes, and he’s your employer with a shady past? That’s not a date. That’s a nineteenth-century Gothic novel. Don’t do it.”

“You told me to figure out what I wanted and that’s what I’m doing,” I said defensively. I knew she was upset because she cared about me, but the depth of her reaction surprised me. “I had a crush on Adrian for a long time. Maybe if I spend some time with him, I can figure out my feelings faster.”

“That seems like a stupid way to work things out. Like jumping into the ocean to see whether or not you can swim,” she said, shaking her head. “Is this because Max went out with his ex? Are you trying to even the score?”

“No.” It wasn’t, was it? I wasn’t a vengeful or petty person. That didn’t seem like something I would do, but what if it had been like, a subconscious thing? “Adrian is being up front about what he wants. Max isn’t.”

“And neither are you!” she practically shrieked. “When have you told Max anything about how you feel?”

She was right. I couldn’t say as much, but I knew she was right. It wasn’t fair that I expected him to share how he felt when I was too scared to do the same thing.

“Isn’t Adrian engaged?” she demanded. “Weren’t you supposed to be getting him a ring?”

I had honestly forgotten about that, and other than a couple of random texts from Adrian that had nothing to do with rings at all, he’d never brought it up again. I tried not to drop the ball on things like this, but I’d been so completely caught up in Max that I had totally blocked it out.

“Things are over with Colette,” I said.

“So you elected yourself president of Reboundlandia?” A UPS driver arrived with a package, and she stopped her rant long enough to sign for it. But as soon as he was gone, she picked it right back up again. “What I don’t get is why you’re going on a date with Adrian when you’re so pathetically in love with Max.”

My heart started banging hard in my chest, preventing my lungs from drawing in breath.

In love with Max?

What?

CHAPTER THIRTY

“I’m not ...” I tried to protest but couldn’t finish my sentence. I wasn’t in love with Max.

Right?

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