Page 33 of Love and Cherish

“Haylee.” Cherish pressed her lips together hard. She had to do this right. Haylee deserved it.

“Yes?” Haylee asked, looking at Cherish with professional but distant eyes. Cherish ached to see that sparkle return. This was all her fault.

“Can I buy you dinner?” Cherish held her breath, her fingers flat against her desk as she waited on the edge of her seat for an answer.

“What?” Haylee choked on the word, spluttering as some of the wall chipped away.

“I want to take you out to dinner and apologize for my behavior yesterday.” Cherish’s heart pattered pleasantly. Haylee’s eyes were wide and deep with true surprise. “You deserve an apology.”

“Oh.” And just like that the wall came up once more. “There’s no need for that. I screwed up, and you were rightfully mad about having to fix my mistake.”

“No.” Cherish shook her head, frustrated that she just couldn’t say what she meant. That she didn’t know what she meant. Her thoughts unraveled and despite the years she had molded herself into being the businesswoman who was comfortable in the city, who knew where she belonged, she suddenly felt like that eighteen-year-old country girl who kept getting asked what she wanted to do, and floundering for an answer that never came.

Haylee blinked, obvious confusion marring her features. Features that Cherish couldn’t pull her eyes away from.

“Please.” Cherish pursed her lips. She had to do this. She couldn’t leave it like this. “Let me take you to dinner and explain.”

Haylee shrugged, but the pain she had hidden throughout the day shone easily in her eyes now. “You don’t need to explain anything. We’re colleagues, and I made your job harder. I put this office in jeopardy.”

Cherish smiled, a lightness blazing in her chest, untangling the uneasiness as soon as the idea hit her. “Don’t you want to at least try to beat me?”

“Beat you?” Haylee shuffled the strap of her bag higher onto her shoulder.

“You think one little mistake means our bet for the gala is off?” Haylee liked games, Cherish knew that. And if this was the way to entice Haylee back into her good graces, Cherish would take it.

“It wasn’t just a little mistake.” Haylee’s voice came out so softly that Cherish had to lean in a little. A waft of Haylee’s perfume, mixed with the bustle of the day, caught Cherish off guard for a moment. Her eyes fluttered shut as she let the aroma wrap her entirely up in its headiness.

The sound of Febe’s door opening brought Cherish back, eyes flying open and pivoting to the woman standing in the threshold.

“Why are you both still here?” Febe asked, firm but not cruel, the soft woman from the day before vanished into the hardened city goer. No one would ever know where Febe had grown up.

“We’re just leaving.” Cherish smiled and gave Febe a small nod. “Haylee and I were going to try that new place over off Twenty-Third Street. Jeju, I think it’s called.”

“We were?”

“You are?” Febe’s eyes lit up. “You’ll have to tell me how it is. I’ve been meaning to check it out.”

Cherish hummed, not tearing her gaze from Haylee’s. She had just won that one, fair and square. Okay, maybe not fair, but it didn’t matter. She would get her dinner with Haylee and a chance for a proper apology.

“Will do.” Cherish grabbed her purse, still not taking her gaze off of Haylee. She was scared that if she did that Haylee would back out of the dare.

“I guess I’m going to dinner,” Haylee muttered, waiting at the door for Cherish.

The back of their hands brushed as they walked. Cherish didn’t quite manage to bite back the smile on her face. She was certain Haylee noticed it out of the corner of her eye if that quirk of her lips was anything to go by.

It had been a long time since Cherish had been on a date, not that this was a date. Yet she couldn’t help but wonder if she would get to kiss those lips by the end of the night.

These feelings were nothing like the torch she carried for Febe—that was more than evident. But the buzz in Cherish’s chest felt nice and warm. She could deal with a little crush on her colleague. She’d been doing that for years. It didn’t mean she would ever do anything about it, or that Haylee would ever want her to. Tonight was about an apology. Nothing else.

twelve

“What crawled into your brain?” Cherish asked.

“Excuse me?” Haylee jerked back in surprise.

Cherish had sat next to her instead of across from her. Odd. Haylee couldn’t stop staring at her, analyzing everything Cherish said and did. It was as if the entire day yesterday hadn’t happened, like it was wiped clean from existence. Except it wasn’t.

The tension still pooled in the pit of Haylee’s stomach.

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