Page 75 of Sweet Heat at Bayside
“I would love that. We can knock a few things off of our explore-Boston list. Thank you for today. It was just what I needed. Now the week won’t seem so long. I’m going to practice the guitar, but you know I have no music for my ridiculous thirteen-year-old-girl songs.”
“Ah, butIdo.”
“What?” She was stunned. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Nope. They’re written by my ridiculous teenage-boy heart.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
He held her tighter. “Because I can’t reveal all my secrets to you at once.”
“Yes, you can! If you wrote them back then, then we reallyaremeant for each other.”
“You doubted that?” He looked perplexed.
“No, not at all. But you know what this means. When you come up next weekend, we’ll have to play your music to my songs.”
“There’s nothing I’d rather do.” He nuzzled against her neck and said, “Except maybe make my name come off your lips in the throes of passion.”
She clung to his shirt, wishing they had another night together. “That doesnotmake me want to leave. I want to spend all my nights in your arms.”
“I’m far more selfish than you are. I want you in my arms at night, I want to see your beautiful face every morning, and I want to monopolize every minute of yours in between.”
Chapter Nineteen
“DO YOU THINK it’s possible to have a happiness hangover?” Serena asked Chloe over the phone more than a week later. She leaned back in her office chair Tuesday afternoon, looking out at the cloudless sky and thinking about how busy last week was and how glad she was that Drake had driven up for the weekend. He’d brought buckets of sand and a baby pool, just as he’d mentioned the first weekend she’d moved to Boston. They’d sat on the rooftop deck Saturday evening with their feet in the sand, and later, they’d lain on the sand stargazing. It was heavenly.
“I think you mean anecstasyhangover,” Chloe corrected her. “You said you didn’t even leave the apartment Sunday until he left to come home.”
“But we went out on Saturday,” she reminded her. “We had breakfast in the café downstairs—”
“After hours in bed, I’m sure,” Chloe interrupted. “It’s totally unfair that my baby sister gets more action than I do.”
“Let me just enjoy this moment of achievement.” Serena listened to Chloe’s heavy sigh. “Anyway, we spent most of Saturday out. Remember the list I told you Drake made? We went to the Institute of Contemporary Art and hung out at the bar the showCheerswas based on. That was cool. And after lying out under the stars on the rooftop deck of my building, we had Insomnia Cookies. It was a perfect weekend. So maybe it’s a duo hangover of happiness and ecstasy.”
“Okay, before I choke on my jealousy, how’s work these days? Any more confrontations with your boss?”
“Kinda sorta, but last week was amazing. The clients I told you about, Seth and Jared, loved my team, of course, and our concepts, andeverythingI showed them at the design center. I think they’re my favorite clients, although the Wilkinsons are close. They’re the home-library remodel project. The husband is hilarious, and the wife rolls her eyes at him, then asks me to do whatever he wants anyway. They’re really cute together. It’s like she just wants him to be happy.”
She told Chloe about going out with Laura, Spencer, Chiara, Carolyn, and Gavin for drinks and karaoke last night. She’d had a good time, but with the exception of Gavin, it wasn’t anything like going out with her friends from home. The others were nice, but a little too buttoned-up for her taste.
“That’s a bummer,” Chloe said. “But hopefully you’ll meet other people.”
“I do like the girl who runs Kane’s Donuts, Abby Crew. She’s divorced, and she bought the doughnut shop on her own. I’m a little envious, to be honest. She doesn’t have to report toanyone.”
“Oh geez, Serena. How many doughnuts are you eating that you know this woman’s entire life story?”
“Probably too many, but it’s more fun to eat doughnuts and talk to her than eat dinner by myself. Besides, I like her. She’s easy to talk to. Oh my gosh. I almost forgot to tell you! Remember my first client? The attorney, Muriel Younger? She decided she wants glass in her conference rooms after all.”
“The woman who wantednocreative input? She reminded me of theDevil Wears Pradaboss.”
“That’s the one. Her assistant called last week to tell me. I was afraid her architect, Drew Ryder, was going to chew me out for even suggesting it, but he was really cool. I actually think we might use him for Seth and Jared’s project.”
“Aaaand…? Thekinda sortarun-in with your boss?” Chloe pushed.
“It was nothing, really,” she lied, because she didn’t want to hear Chloe tell her how she needed to take a step back and play the corporate game, like Mira had. She was still having a hard time wrapping her head around doing things in order to eke out billable hours when it seemed a waste of her time.
Serena’s office phone rang, and she said, “Chloe, I’ve got to take that.”
