Page 12 of Unexpected You

“Having dinner with my best friend, Camille. You’ll meet her at some point. She lives close by and she’s more like a sister than a friend.” She pointed to a framed picture on the wall of what had to be a younger Eloise and a gorgeous blonde woman holding each other and laughing as they stood in front of a sunset.

“Girl’s night. Sounds like fun,” I said.

“Mmm, not exactly. She has a husband and three kids, so it’ll be less margaritas and dancing on tables and more pizza and board games.”

This conversation was throwing me again. She didn’t seem like the kind of person who would want to spend her night hanging with a bunch of kids. More like she’d go out to a fancy bar wearing a cocktail dress and drink martinis mysteriously and catch every single eye in the room but rejecting all advances. Aloof and untouchable.

“Well, that sounds fun too,” I said, trying to remember the last time I’d played a board game. Probably during some brunch thing with Hunter and Reid when I was hung over.

“It is,” she said, nodding and then rolling her neck in a way that made me need to look away.

“I, uh, should get going,” I said. “Let you get to your big plans.” Oh no. I was starting to do that thing I did when I didn’t have much control over what came out of my mouth and I was bound to say something inappropriate or embarrassing or both.

“You did well today, Cadence,” she said, and I wondered why she couldn’t call me Cade like everyone else, but I sure as shit wasn’t going to correct her. She could call me Crapface for all she wanted.

“Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow with coffee?” She nodded and we both walked out of the office together. Eloise followed me to the door.

“See you tomorrow.”

I waved like a dumbass before rushing to my car and shutting the door before I could do anything else to humiliate myself in front of her.

Hunter was sitting on the couch in the living room when I got back to my place.

“You know you can’t just let yourself into people’s homes,” I said, dropping my bag and clutching onto the paper sack with the giant piece of red velvet cake that I’d picked up.

“I know,” Hunter said, leaning back and pulling a beer out of the grocery bag at her feet and holding it out to me. “But I brought booze. And you need someone to help you eat that cake.”

I hated how predictable I was. Cake was kind of my answer to a lot of things. Good day? Cake. Bad day? Cake. Medium day? Cake. Itch I can’t reach on my back? Cake. Got a good parking spot? Cake.

“Ugh, fine,” I said, but I was happy to see her.

“You know I had to find out how your day with the romance goddess went,” she said, and I cringed as I popped the top on the beer. Not my favorite, but it was free so I wasn’t complaining.

“Don’t call her that,” I said. “It’s weird. That’s my boss.”

Hunter shrugged and reached for the cake. “They better have given you two forks.”

They had.

I hadn’t eaten dinner yet, but there was no law against starting with dessert. And if there was a law, I would be the first one to break it.

“So, tell me how it was,” Hunter said as we attacked the cake together. It was a testament to how much I loved her that I was sharing at all.

“It was fine. No major disasters. Her house is ridiculous. It’s like stepping inside of a movie set or something. I felt like I was wandering around a museum and if I touched anything an alarm would go off. She bought me a laptop. A really nice one. And she likes quiet. Lots of quiet,” I said, my thoughts disjointed.

“But it was good and everything? You think it’s going to work for you?” I gulped at the beer, which was blessedly cold.

“I mean, it’s still too early to tell, but I think so? I don’t want to get ahead of myself and count on it.”

Hunter pointed at me with her fork. “Don’t do that. You’re amazing and smart and she is lucky to have you.”

“Thanks,” I said, and we went back to the cake. “How was your day?”

“Filmed a new tutorial. What do you think?” She turned and showed me her braided hair which was so fantastic that I didn’t even know how she had done it. Guess I’d have to watch the tutorial.

“Gorgeous.”

“I also worked on a new painting and taught my usual class and then I grabbed beer and came here. Productive day.” I didn’t know what I would do if I had Hunter’s kind of money. I liked to think I’d be altruistic and spend my time volunteering or something, but I’d probably spend it reading books and scrolling the internet and eating my weight in cake all day. Maybe I’d take up an expensive hobby and rent a house on the coast and wear caftans or something. There were so many possibilities when you had money.

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