Page 28 of Just for Her
I supposed I should thank Stella for that. If she hadn’t been such an awful assistant, I wouldn’t have looked so good in comparison.
Once I stepped outside, my anticipation for a night out escalated quickly. I made it back to the apartment before Miriam and was feeling pretty good about myself. So good in fact that I decided to doll myself up for dinner—hair, makeup, the whole nine yards. I was just stepping out of the shower when Miriam burst through the door.
“Oh myGod, Ally. You are not going to believe this!”
My fight-or-flight instincts kicked in immediately. I quickly wrapped a bath towel around myself and grabbed the hot curling iron, shoving Miriam behind me. “What happened? Are you okay? Did Caleb find you?”
Miriam pushed at my back, and then she stepped out from behind me and looked at me like I was crazy. “What? No! Nothing like that. Put that down before you poke my eye out.”
“What the hell, Miriam? You burst into the bathroom, screeching like that. What did you expect?”
“Sorry.” For the record, she didn’t look at all sorry. She was practically bouncing on her toes. “It’s just ... you arenotgoing to believe this.”
“Yeah, you said that already,” I groused. I set my makeshift weapon down and grabbed a second towel to use on my hair. “What am I not going to believe?”
“I met Nick Penn!”
I peered at her through a mess of wet, tangled curls. The name meant nothing to me. “So?”
“So?So?Nick Penn is only aUSA Today,New York Times, andWall Street Journalbest-selling romance novelist!”
I continued towel-drying my hair and tried to summon some sisterly enthusiasm. “Cool. How’d that happen?”
“You know that guy who’s always in the bookstore, working on his laptop?”
I pictured the handsome guy who sat in one of the alcoves, the one Paul had said was his brother. “Yes.”
“That’s Nick Penn! I can’t believe I’ve been sitting so close to Nick freaking Penn all this time, and I never knew it! And he’s really nice. Mr. C told me I should talk to him about editors and stuff because he was an author too. But never in a million years did I think he wasNick Penn!”
My irritation faded. It was nice, seeing a glimpse of the old Miriam, the one who laughed and smiled and thought the world was a beautiful place.
“Maybe he’ll give you some good pointers.”
“That’s kind of why I’m here,” she said. “He told me about this group for new and aspiring authors. They’re meeting tonight at the bookstore and he’s speaking. I know we’re supposed to go to dinner, but maybe we could go tomorrow instead?”
I buried my disappointment. It was just dinner, right? This was important to her. I had to be supportive. “Sure.”
She grinned and gave me a quick hug. “Thanks, Ally. You’re the best.”
* * *
MIRIAM WAS STILL SLEEPINGwhen I left her apartment Saturday morning. Despite staying up late, waiting for her to return, my body was programmed to get up early.
I was glad to have somewhere to go. I knew that might sound strange to some, but like I’d said before, I preferred being busy and feeling useful.
Also, I genuinely liked being around Paul. Bonus:heseemed to like my company too.
In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have planned to spend an entire week with Miriam. I loved my sister, but we had difficulty with occupying the same space for any length of time.
Much of that was my fault. Even though we were both grown women now, I was seven years older and still felt the need to look out for her. It didn’t help that our personalities were as different as night and day. She found my OCD tendencies stifling and oppressive; I found her free-spiritedness chaotic and undisciplined.
Regardless, I’d be out of her hair soon enough. I’d decided to cut my stay short and leave a day earlier than planned. There was no reason to linger. I’d accomplished everything I’d set out to do, and she was clearly doing fine without my constant meddling. I’d told Paul that I’d help out today though, and I would.
He was already at the office when I arrived. His door was open, but he was on a call, so I just poked my head in to let him know I was there, waved, and went to pick up where I’d left off the night before.
When I walked into the conference room, I felt that odd chiver again. Instantly on alert, I looked under the table, in the cupboards, and behind every door.
I found nothing. I was alone. The files were still in neatly stacked piles ... except for one, which was slightly askew and had a piece of paper sticking out of it.
