Page 56 of Sunset Serenade
Rose cleared her throat. There was no need to get her feathers ruffled. “Sorry, it’s just all new. How have you been? How’s work?”
“Amazing. My stock portfolio has never been happier.”
He talked for twenty minutes about his role at the company, how much he’d grown, and how much he loved it. “It comes at a cost, though.” Greg scratched his eyebrow with his finger. “I don’t know if you knew this, but I got engaged.”
“You did?” Rose feigned a surprised face as best she could, even going as far to touch a hand to her chest. “Congratulations!”
He shook his head. “Please. It’s already over. I just couldn’t…” He let out a breath. “…see myself with her, you know?”
Rose nodded. “Yeah.”
“Sometimes I just…I wonder. You know? What could’ve happened between us. You and me. Greg and Rose, star-crossed lovers.”
Her heart took off like a balloon. “I wonder sometimes, too.”
“I feel like we never got it right, you know? I miss you. I do.”
The balloon in her chest was going to carry her away if she didn’t reel it in. All she could manage to say was, “Yeah.”
He smiled, nodding. “Maybe we could, I don’t know, spend some time together? I feel like I need you in my life again. And maybe you need me as your mentor.”
The little balloon deflated. “A mentor?”
“Yeah, I mean, you’re obviously very intuitive. You’re making friends, but you can always use another one, right? Maybe I can advise you on career moves and you can help me too. Introduce me to people.”
Their entrées arrived. Her salad looked decadent in its oversized bowl, peppered with cheese and mounded with croutons. Underneath, the lettuce was chopped and torn. Chaos no matter how they tried to dress it up.
She looked away. “Introduce you to people like…Barnabas?”
“Sure.” He shrugged. “If you think we’d click. It could be fun, you know? Like the old days. You and me against the world.”
She forced a smile. “Huh. Yeah.”
“I mean, I’m not ready to commit to anything, obviously. Getting out of an engagement was rough.”
“I bet it was.” Rose kept her eyes on her salad.
“But I have to say, Rosie, I just feel myself pulled back to you. Don’t you feel it? We’re always in each other’s orbits.”
She looked up, staring into his golden-brown eyes, searching.
What was she looking for? She’d waited for this moment. Meditated on it, dreamed of it. And yet? Why did it feel like there was nothing there?
“I don’t know.”
“Aw, come on. We’re free spirits, both of us.”
Rose picked up a crouton with her fingers and loudly chewed it. “I’m not really a free spirit, Greg. I’m kind of the opposite.”
“That’s why Ineedyou in my life. To give me direction. To give me hope!”
She took a sip of her soda. “My roster for clients is full, actually.”
He laughed and shook his head. “Good old Rose. You always know how to cheer me up.”
“Good old Greg,” she said, grabbing another piece of bread. “You never change.”
Chapter Twenty-two
