Page 11 of Mid-Thirties Slightly Hot Mess Female Seeking Billionaire

"If you would just come to Sunday lunch."

"I’ll come to Sunday lunch if you promise there won’t be any eligible women there."

She lets out a deep sigh. "Fine, fine," she says again. "And you invite that friend Jackson of yours."

"I will. I’m sure he’d love to come, Nana. Love you."

"I love you, too, darling," she says.

We hang up, and I look back over at Jackson. "Nana wants you to come to lunch on Sunday."

"Ooh, I’m down," he says. "I love your nana’s cooking."

"I know."

"If your nana was younger and single, I totally would have married her."

I roll my eyes. This is the hundredth time Jackson has said this to me and my nana. Nana loves it because he’s so handsome, which makes her blush, but I know it’s not true. Jackson, for all his talk, has no interest in getting married, either. He comes from a very wealthy family that is even more messed up than mine, and even though we don’t talk about his reasons why, I know that he also doesn’t believe in true love, and he also doesn’t believe in a happily ever after.

"So, I was thinking," he says. "What about we change the company photo shoot from…" He pauses. "Wait, where were we going again?"

"I don’t think we actually decided on a place, but I was thinking Hawaii."

"Did you finalize which of the employees would be coming?"

"Not yet," I said, shaking my head. "I did go around to the different offices with HR, but I guess, apparently, there’s been some complaints because I went into a couple of offices and immediately said no. And they think it was based on me looking for people I thought were good-looking so the photos would be filled with the ‘beautiful’ people who work for me. But I don’t see looks in the office. You know that."

"I know, because if you had, you would have totally noticed that smoking hot girl in copywriting that was trying to talk to you."

"What smoking hot girl? What are you talking about?" I rack my brain to think about the different people I’d seen in copywriting. "There was that guy Dave, and then that old lady, and then that librarian-looking lady."

"Oh my gosh, Ethan. You totally didn’t check her out, did you?"

"Um, no, and you’re telling me you did?"

"She was smoking. Sure, she had her hair in a bun and those big glasses, but I looked into her eyes and she was really pretty. She had a pretty face. I mean, she needs a makeover or something, but…"

"But nothing. You know you’re not allowed to sleep with or date anyone at the office."

"Well, I’m not interested in dating her," he says. "But one hot night?" He smirks and puts his hands up as I glare at him. "Don’t worry, I’m not going to sleep with the hot girl in copywriting."

"You better not," I say, shaking my head. "Plus, I think maybe you need to get laid, because I don’t remember seeing any hot girl in copywriting." I shrug. "Are we nearly there yet, because I really do need to do some more work tonight."

"Don’t worry," he says. "We’ll be there in, like, ten minutes. We’ll have a drink or two and then you can go home and bust your ass."

"Uh-huh," I say, shaking my head. "You’re lucky that you’re my best friend or you would not be able to get away with half the stuff you say to me."

"But I am your best friend and I can," he says, winking at me. "And that’s why you just love having me as your CFO."

"Oh yeah," I say. "That’s why. You’re as welcome as a bullet in my head."

Jackson throws his head back and starts laughing because we know we would be lost without each other, and I couldn’t run Rosser International without his help. Yes, sometimes I can be grumpy, but I know I wouldn’t want to do it alone.

5

Sarah

Dear Diary,

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