Page 19 of Love.V2
She leaned back, considering, as I took another sip of coffee. She was quiet for so long, I wasn’t sure she’d answer.
“I like that we’re encouraged to fail here. We’re not expected to be little robots churning out Facebook ads all the time, you know?”
“You once told me the Worther campaigns didn’t have any soul.”
She blinked in surprise, glancing at me for a too-brief moment. “Yeah. I probably said that. Here, though, people are passionate about what they do. Other corporate design jobs have burned most of us out. Jinx feels like a safe space.” Her mouth hitched to the side as she surveyed the bright furniture and big windows in her office. “It feels like we…like we…”
Frowning again, she looked up at me. She’d been avoiding my gaze for so long the extended, unfiltered eye contact caught me off guard. My heart jumped.
She grinned when she spoke, and that jerked my feet from under me, too.
“I have an idea for the pitch.”
Just a couple of hours later, and we did, in fact, have one helluva proposal coming together nicely.
“This is going to blow them away next week.” I stood, grabbing my stuff, fighting to keep a smile off my face. I liked our pitch, the approach. I liked working with her.I liked her, and I’d missed her so damn much.
“You think?” She was still clicking around on her computer, looking at a few of NCR’s competitors we’d been stalking. “I’m wondering if we shouldn’t pull a few loose designs together to give them an idea—oh. You’re leaving?” She’d finally looked up to see me standing, jacket and laptop in hand, just listening to her talk.
“I’m told people usually go home around five. It’s been a refreshing change of pace.”
She stared at me like I’d grown a third head.
“I mean it when I say I’m not the same man you left in Nashville, Angel. Maybe I’ll tell you about it when we talk.”
I waited for a few more seconds, but she just held still, rigid in the frosty silence that suddenly permeated the air.
“Goodnight, Tess. Don’t work too hard.” That, at least, got a reaction. The dry, disbelieving look she shot me made me grin, and the smile held until I walked into the hall.
What would Tess do after work tonight? Where would she go home to? Did she have people she was meeting? Friends? Someone…
I scrubbed my hand over my face, trying to smother that thought into nothingness. I had too many questions—about Tess, and us, and her life.
Soon, maybe, I’d get a chance to ask them. For now, I could be happy with the progress I’d made this afternoon. An empty coffee cup, a few smiles she hadn’t been able to bottle up, and just a bit less stiffness than she’d had towards me a few hours ago.
I was good with that. Happy, even. And I would take those positive feelings with me all the way to my crappy long-term-stay hotel room, where I’d get more work done because I had nothing better to do this weekend.
“Jesus,” I sighed. I’d thought just passing evenings alone in a strange town was bad, but what was I going to do about an entire weekend? I’d already checked out a few restaurants in the little neighborhood I was staying in, but there were only so many times a person could eat.
“That didn’t sound good. You okay?” Meery, Eric’s assistant, smiled from her desk as I passed.
“Yeah, I’m—Actually….” I paused. Meery was nice, friendly. And she knew Chicago better than I did. “You know of a good gym around here?”
Chapter 5
Tess
I’d spent the week exhausted, unable to sleep because of the buzzing anxiety thrumming through my veins, then expelling too much emotional energy during the day, trying to stay cool as Dylan practically glued himself to my hip.
After a Saturday of restorative hyperfixating, I’d resolved to do more of the same for the rest of the weekend, until an SOS text from my friend Lainey changed my plans.
I’d met Lainey the first time I’d ever gone to my gym, R3, and she’d made me feel so welcome, I’d kept coming back. She and Jasmine, the wife of one of the gym’s owners, had hung out with me once or twice, including a notable girl’s night when I’d consumed way too much wine and babbled about Dylan for an hour, but they hadn’t held that against me.
They were both smart and kind, and I really, really wanted to be their friend. I just didn’t push them to hang out very often.
Lainey was usually busy with her work as a cardiothoracic surgeon, and Jas had her own career, a family, and another baby on the way. My life and its problems seemed small compared to their priorities, so I held back. But when Lainey reached out, I’d immediately agreed to meet.
Probably for the best. My wallowing had reached a pathetic point, and I needed to muster as much strength as possible before I walked into work on Monday.
