Page 142 of From Rivals to I Do

“About an hour ago,” he answered, turning to face me. “Australia was amazing.” He starts telling me about all the things he saw and the animals he got to photograph.

“Did you know that sharks are color blind?” I ask him after he describes a scuba diving excursion he went on with his team.

He shakes his head no and laughs at me. “That can’t be true. Where did you hear that?”

I wrinkle my forehead for a minute, trying to remember where I heard the fact. I watch Animal Planet from time to time, so it must have been from there. I

laugh to myself when I finally realize where I heard it. Charlee told me.

“National Geographic, I think,” I answer Mick, not wanting to tell him I repeated the fun fact of a four-year-old.

I go to my room and find the slip for the audition and put it in my wallet, so I know I won’t lose it. When I see Rayne at the office tomorrow, I will give it to her.

I spend most of the day looking over documents that had been sent to me for a meeting I have scheduled for the next day. I must have read the same

passages over fifteen times because the only thing on my mind was Rayne. I can’t go on like this. I have to talk to her.

The next day I get dressed, making sure to look as nice as possible and leave for work. When I arrive, Rayne is already at her desk, and Charlee is there

with her. Charlee is sitting calmly in one of the chairs in the waiting room with an ocean creature coloring book.

“Leonard,” Rayne says as soon as she sees me. She stands from her desk and walks with me to my office. “I’m so sorry, but her daycare had a flu outbreak

and they had to close. My mom couldn’t watch her, so I had no choice.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I assure her. “It’ll be fine. I have a Zoom meeting later so she’ll just have to be quiet during that, but otherwise, it shouldn’t even matter.”

She lets out a deep breath and smiles before walking away. I don’t mind Charlee being around. She seemed to take a liking to me at Rayne’s house the last

time I saw them, so maybe it could be a way to bridge the gap between Rayne and me over what happened when we almost kissed.

When my meeting is over, I leave my office to sit with them in the waiting room. Charlee comes to sit with me and show me all of the pages she has

colored since being there and I make a point to marvel over each one.

“Did you know that jellyfish are older than dinosaurs?” she asks me.

“Really? Where did you learn that?” I reply. I should probably fact-check my animal facts from now on if I am going to be getting them from a child.

She excitedly runs over to the corner of the waiting room where she has put all of her belongings. She picks up a children’s book called Oh, Ocean and flips

through the pages to find the one with the jellyfish pictures. The facts on the pages explain that the jellyfish species were around during the dinosaur age, but I

don’t correct her.

“Wow Charlee, you’re so smart. Do you think I could borrow this to learn more about the ocean?”

She thinks for a moment but nods her head. “I like to share,” she finally says, looking back at her mother for approval.

Rayne and I share a laugh before Charlee goes back to coloring.

“How was your weekend?” Rayne asks me, breaking the silence between us.

“It was good, pretty relaxing,” I reply. “Did you get a lot done at the house?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty much all done now. You should see it sometime.”

I nod my head and smile at her, wondering if that meant that she wanted to pretend that last time didn’t happen, or if everything might have just been in

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