Page 5 of That Moment
Before I can even respond, my cousin Milly waltzes right into my office with a look on her face that already tells me lunch is going to be exhausting today.
“You’re useless right now,” she says, dropping into the chair across from me and drumming her fingers on the armrest.
“Excuse me? I’m in the middle of a very serious negotiation with Midas.”
“You’re right, in between daydreams of Scotty.”
I glare at her. “I am deeply committed to getting my way on this negotiation,” I say blandly as I hit send on the email, pretending I did not just stare at the same sentence for fourminutes. “Whatever, Brooklyn will eat Ken’s dick for lunch, I guarantee it.”
Milly points at my face. “That is your daydream expression.”
“You’re right, it is. I’m daydreaming about ripping Ken’s dick off.”
She’s not wrong. I’m right on schedule for my usual Scotty infatuation, post-breakup.
I arch a brow. “I’m… strategizing, not daydreaming.”
She rolls her eyes and hikes her thumb over her shoulder. “Brooklyn is already at the new café. Close the laptop, Barbie. The empire will survive if you eat a sandwich.”
“I have a board packet to finalize.”
“We both know you finalized it last night, because you are a monster. Come on.” She stands and snatches my pen, clearly not buying my bullshit today. “You can brief me on the Scotty fantasies while we walk.”
Great, because saying my fantasies about Scotty out loud will absolutely not help me stop thinking about the way his smile tilts when he is about to say something that will live under my skin all day.
I grab my phone and give in. “Fine. Thirty minutes. And you’re buying.”
Milly loops her arm through mine. “Please. I expense everything to the Slade Corporate account. Let’s go.”
We pass Trent’s office, where he’s on the phone, gesturing at a schematic, face red with frustration, while Uncle Drake sits across from him with that classic unimpressed look on his face. He spots me and mimes a desperate plea for help, but I just shrug and keep moving. The elevator doors part and swallow us, and for a second, the mirrored walls catch my eyes and reflect back a woman who looks perfectly calm.
I am perfectly calm. I am not thinking about Scotty, no matter how much they goad me. I am absolutely not thinking about Scotty.
The bell over the door jingles as Milly and I walk into the restaurant. The new café that recently opened up in our small corner of the world is like a cutesy little place out of a Hallmark movie. Even the name, Pike’s Perk, feels like it should be the place where the small-town single mom meets the grumpy mountain man who’s new to town. There’s an exposed brick accent wall, fiddle-leaf fig plants dotted throughout, and of course, a chalkboard menu with drink names like: ‘Mile-High Macchiato’ and ‘Fourteener Fuel’.
“Welcome in,” a cheery voice greets us from behind the counter. The voice comes from a younger woman whose dark hair is piled impossibly high onto her head. She smiles, her cheeks so pink and rosy she looks cherubic. “Feel free to sit anywhere, and someone will be right over to you.”
Brooklyn has the corner table by the big window, laptop open, blazer on the chair back, phone face plastered to her cheek as she types frantically on the keyboard.
“I told you from day one, Ken, I won’t be dicked around by you or anyone at Midas Media. The terms and conditions were clearly outlined in the contract, along with the deliverables. It’s not my problem if you let an intern read the contract for you instead of your legal counsel.”
I smile to myself as she lays into him. Brooklyn has a lot less of a filter than I do and zero problems letting someone be on the receiving end of it.
There’s a smear of something glittery on her sleeve, probably toddler craft carnage, and a spreadsheet glowing on the screen that says she’s every bit as on-duty as I am. If there’s one woman who can do it all, it’s Brooklyn Slade, as evidenced by hertake-no-prisonersspeech she’s barking into the phone.
She sees us and shuts the laptop with a little sigh of relief. “I have to go, Ken, but don’t call me again about renegotiating because it’s not an option.” She hangs up and drops her phone onto the table before standing up and giving me a brief hug. “Finally. I was about five minutes away from sending out a search party for you.”
“Unnecessary,” I say, sliding into the chair across from her. “I left willingly. Also, nice speech to Ken.”
Milly snorts as she sits. “She left after I snatched her pen out of her hand and promised to pay.”
I press the cold water glass to my cheek. “You’re both dramatic, I’m swamped with work, you know that, and since Terrance moved back to Denver, I’m short a junior associate I can offload things to.”
“Whatever you say, counselor,” Brooklyn replies as the young woman from behind the counter approaches our table.
“Hi, ladies, welcome in. I'm Sadie. Can I get you something to drink?”
“This place is really cute,” I say, taking a moment to look around again, “are you the owner?”
