Page 18 of Why Not Both?

“I’m heading home. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Great. I’ll walk you out.”

We have to pass Spencer’s office to get to the doors, and I catch his eye without meaning to. He’s on the phone, so he doesn’t stop me. I tell myself I’m glad. It felt awful to be near him all day and not be able to touch him. Not be able to laugh with him the way we had on Saturday night and Sunday morning.

I don’t know if she catches me staring or if she’d meant to say something all day, but when we’re alone in the lobby, Vic stops me before I can leave.

“You know, there’s no policy against dating at Blue Vista. Within reason. Obviously, you shouldn’t date your kitchen staff.”

“I appreciate that. But it’s my own policy. I don’t date people I work with.” Anymore.

“That’s an admirable policy.” She pauses, but I can tell there’s more she wants to say. It only takes her a second to continue. “I’ve known Spencer a really long time. He’s a good guy. If you decide to change your policy for him, I won’t hold it against you.”

“Why are you saying this? Wouldn’t a relationship between your employees be messy?”

“Undoubtedly.” She sighs and looks out at the water across the street. “But when he came home Sunday morning, he was happy. Happier than I’ve seen him in a long time. I can take on a bit of messy if it makes my best friend that happy.” She shrugs and looks back at me. “The choice is yours. I just wanted to make sure you knew it was your choice and not mine.”

I smile ruefully at her. “Thanks for making it harder.”

She laughs and claps a hand on my shoulder. “No problem. See you tomorrow.”

I nod and then walk along the Seawall home. When I get there, Sophie is sitting at her desk in her bedroom, working with headphones on. Cerberus gets up from his bed and wanders over to me on his stubby legs. I don’t disturb Sophie and lead my dog to my room, closing the door and pulling the hoodie out from my blankets. I should wash it and give it back to him tomorrow. I sit on my bed, holding it to my face, breathing in the scent of him on the fabric, something spicy and citrusy.

Cerberus whines and hops up next to me, laying his head on my knee.

“I know, baby. I need to get over this. We were only together one night. It’s stupid to be this hung up on him.”

I gather up some of my clothes, the hoodie, and the t-shirt and throw them all in the washer, refusing to mourn the loss of his scent. Then I let Sophie know I’m going to take Cerberus for a walk. We go to the dog park a block away from the building and I let him off leash, throwing the ball until he’s panting, his tongue lolling out of a doggy grin.

“Doesn’t take much to make you happy, does it buddy?” I say, patting his sides and hooking up his leash again. After we return home and I’m filling up his water dish, Daze comes in.

“How was it?” she exclaims, and Sophie emerges from their bedroom.

I pull up a smile at her enthusiasm. Cerberus ignores us all and goes to his water bowl.

“It was great,” I say. “I love my kitchen. The staff were really excited to meet me. My boss is friendly. And everyone keeps their office doors open, so it’s literally an open-door policy.”

Daze scans my face. “So what’s wrong, then?”

My smile falls apart. I debate for about half a second saying nothing is wrong, but Daze will see through it in less time than it takes me to say it.

“Spencer works there.” I swallow hard past the lump that has formed in my throat, meeting my sister’s eyes as my own fill with tears. “I’m not going to be… seeing him… romantically… again.”

Daze doesn’t say anything, just wraps her arms around me. Sophie wraps her arms around me from the back and I’m sandwiched between them. They’d both been there before, when my whole world exploded because I dated someone I worked with. They’d helped put the pieces of my life back together.

“Do you want to cancel going out?” Daze asks. “We could order in instead.”

“That would be great. Maybe we can put on a movie?”

“Sure. The Mummy?”

My heart cracks a little more. How can I watch that movie again now that all I can think about is him spending two hours going through his movies to find the one with my quote? My eyes prick with tears, but I won’t let them fall.

“It was only one night. Why does it hurt so much?”

“Everyone could see you had a real connection with him,” Sophie says. “I know what happened before, but Blue Vista is a different place. Are you sure you can’t make it work?”

I shake my head.

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