Page 35 of Sharing Shadow Secrets
“What?” I ask, wondering why his expression shifted.
“You’re not escaping into something new?”
I flip him off. He’s always like this, cutting to the core without any preamble. But yeah … I do have a habit of swapping addictions. Taylor isn’t like that though. I mean, we’ve hung out a couple of times and not slept together. That’s progress for me.
“How’s no contact going?” he asks, raising a brow.
Kate.Thinking about her now feels like a dark cloud over my day.
“Honestly, I haven’t thought about her in a few days. Thanks for bringing her up,” I tease. “Still no contact.”
“How do you feel about that?” he asks, leaning back in the chair more.
“I think it’s for the best.”
Kate’s an addiction at this point.That’s a well-discussed topic in therapy.
Declan nods. “I ask because I care.”
“I know.” I sigh.
He bites his thumbnail for a moment, then asks, “You good with traveling to that crypto conference in Puerto Rico?”
“Yeah. We’ll need to bring at least one person who parties,” I say, thinking about how this conference is notorious for late nights and debauchery.
“You’re the point person. Put together your team. We’re the title sponsor, so bring whoever you need.”
“Five days is too long for a conference.”
“I know. That’s why I’m not going.” He chuckles.
October 27th through 31st.
Halloween. Taylor will be working. Not that I should be thinking that far ahead. We just met. I wouldn’t go to her event anyways. High Five is a no fly zone. I don’t need to be reminded of all of my bad decisions.
“Tell me about this person you’ve been hanging out with,” Declan says into the silence.
“Her name is Taylor. She does social media. Actually just quit her agency job to start her own company.”
“Wait. Does she know Dani? This sounds like the girl who got coffee with Dani the other day.”
“Yeah. I connected them.”
“Well, Dani fucking loves her. Says she has BFF potential.”
I smirk, happy to hear she likes her. “I’m trying really hard to take things slow with Taylor, but she’s … incredible.”
Declan smiles, resting his hand on his chin. “Is she sober?”
“No, but she seems to be pretty chill in that way.”
“I thought you were going for sober people now?”
I shrug. “We really hit it off. I only met her a couple of weeks ago. I’m taking it slow.”
“Cool. I’m excited for you.” He stands, extending his fist for a bump. “I gotta hop on a call.” He stands in the doorway looking thoughtful. “Bring Taylor to my next tech founder dinner. Plenty of people for her to network with, and I want to meet her.”
That’s a great idea.She’ll meet cool companies with nice people.
