Page 55 of Romance with Mr. Bossy Pants

“I got an interview!” I exclaim, unable to keep the excitement from my voice. “It’s with Carter & Associates. They want to meet me in tomorrow afternoon!”

Amber’s squeal can shatter glass. “OMG, Chloe! That’s amazing! Looks like my shopping came in handy.”

“I know, right? I finally feel…like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.”

“You absolutely have to call in sick tomorrow. We need to prepare you for this interview in the morning, and you need to look the part. Those suits I got are going to make you the most stylish candidate they’ve ever seen!”

“Okay, I’m gonna do it.”

“Epic! You’re gonna nail this interview, Chloe. I can feel it.”

18

Daniel

I blame the dessert table.

I’m sitting in my home office, unable to do anything with Michelle all over the place from her sugar rush. She’s been like this since we got back from the party, unable to stop talking about Chloe.

“She’s just so pretty, Dad! And everyone could see it. Especially some of those guys you work with,” Michelle gushes, bouncing her eyebrows up and down.

I try to keep my focus on the screen in front of me, but it’s no use. “Sweetheart, she’s a very nice young woman, but that’s all there is to it. Shouldn’t you be getting ready for bed now?”

“But Dad, your face! Were you jealous? You kept looking at her…it was kinda cute…like a guard dog or something.”

Jealousy is a strong word, and I’m not about to admit to my wiser than her years ten-year-old that she’s onto something. Where does she get this wit and intuition from?

“Michelle, you’re a kid. You don’t understand how these things work.”

“Sure, Dad.” She rolls her eyes. “Anyway, I was thinking…I want Chloe to come over for my birthday dinner. I wanna keep it small this time. And if you only think of her as a nice young woman, then she’s kinda a really good friend, right? At least, to me she is.”

Crickets.

My jaws drop.

I look up to find her staring at me with wide, curious eyes. They have grown closer together over the past few months, that’s for sure. And with her birthday around the corner, she knows I can’t deny her anything.

Well played, kid.

“Alright, sweetie. If it’ll make you happy, Chloe can come to your birthday dinner.”

“Thanks, Dad! You’re the best!” Michelle exclaims and throws her arms around me in a hug that squeezes the breath out of me.

“Go shower and get some sleep now. I have to catch up on some work.”

Michelle skips out of the room, and I get an unusual urge to bail on work. I open Facebook instead.

Chloe Summers, I type into the search bar. It’s been a good half-year since I last logged in. It’s pretty ironic, considering I run a media empire, yet I’m hardly ever on social media.

Since it’s almost 11:00 P.M. and sleep is playing hard to get, I decide to play detective. I start scrolling through her photos. The latest one she’s put up is an artsy pool shot, slapped with a filter that makes it look like something out of a magazine. The words ‘Just keep swimming.’ sit right there under the photo. Classic Chloe. I wonder if this is somehow related to me. Always finding the silver lining, no matter how stormy it gets. It drives me up the wall sometimes, but I’ve got to admit that the girl’s got grit.

I move on to the next photo and stop dead in my tracks. Is that...me?

It must be from our drive out of town when trying to secure the Chef for the soirée. It’s just a shot of a hand—my hand, unmistakably—clutching the steering wheel with such force it looks like I’m in a death match with it. The knuckles are bone-white, the veins popping.

Why on earth was I gripping it like my life depended on it? Then I saw the caption she chose: ‘Let it go.’

Really? She’s bold for posting a stealthy shot of me, even if it’s anonymous. ‘Let it go,’ huh? I feel like marching over to her place and showing her exactly how I can ‘let it go.’

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