Page 43 of When Stars Collide
“I don’t know. I think in the back of my mind, I always knew it was going to be this one. I only tried on the other style just to be sure.”
“Well, it’s perfect.” I blinked back a tear that was threatening to betray the overwhelming emotion I felt seeing my best friend one step closer to her own happy ending.
“Mena, are you crying?” Elle asked.
“Elle, have you seriously ever seen me cry?” As she turned her back to the phone, I quickly grabbed a Kleenex from my desk and dabbed at the corner of my eye.
“Are you all right?” a voice from my doorway startled me. I’d been too mesmerized by Elle to notice that Phineas had opened my door and was now partially inside of my office.
I nodded, motioning him in.
“Wow, I honestly never thought I’d ever see you cry. Not that I wanted to, of course. It’s just … it’s like I stumbled across a unicorn in the subway.”
“Ha, so you were crying,” Elle announced, triumphantly.
“To be fair, I am, too,” Kirsten added.
“You also cried when they told us there would be no complimentary champagne today, Kirsten.”
Phineas raised his eyebrow, totally and completely confused by what was transpiring. I pointed to my phone and directed him around my desk.
“It’s my best friend,” I told him. “She’s getting married next year, and she asked me for my input on her wedding dress.”
“What was that, Mena?” Elle asked, returning her attention back to the phone and the image of me and, now, Phineas staring back at her. Elle’s jaw dropped, her cheeks reddening.
“Elle, this is my boss, Phineas Drake; Phineas, this is my best friend, Elle Sloan.”
“Pleased to meet you, Elle,” Phineas greeted her politely. “I’ve heard quite a bit about you and Luke.”
“I bet you have,” Elle answered, smoothing out her dress as her focus moved from Phineas to me.
Phineas chuckled. “All good, I assure you. Your dress looks great. Luke is one lucky man.”
“Th-Thank you,” she stammered.
Phineas turned to me. “Do you have that manuscript you wanted me to look at?”
“Oh, yes.” I stood up and moved a file to uncover the manuscript for a romantic comedy we received from a nearby agency about a week ago and handed it to him.
“I’ll take a look at this. It was nice to finally meet you, Elle.”
“Nice to meet you, too,” two voices came over the speaker.
Confused, I looked at the screen to see both Elle and Kirsten waving at Phineas as he turned to head out of my office.
“Smooth, you two.”
“That’syour boss?” Elle asked.
“Yeah, why?”
“He’s got to be one of the hottest men I’ve ever seen,” Kirsten chimed in.
“He’s okay, I guess,” I replied, hoping Phineas hadn’t heard any of our conversation.
“He’s more than okay,” Elle added. “If I worked for someone who looked like him, Luke would be paying me visits at work on the regular.”
“Speaking of work, I should probably get back to doing just that.”
