Page 42 of Forgettable in Every Way

“How’s the packing going?” Simon asked Jules, punctuating the silence. Per Sandra, he very well knew the move was no longer happening, but he and Jules hadn’t discussed it. He wanted to get her take.

She glanced over at him. “Interestingly enough, my dad is refusing to move.”

“What about your mum?”

Jules gripped the steering wheel. “She’s livid and giving my dad the silent treatment. Which I don’t think differs too much from how they were interacting prior to his revelation. Except now it comes with deadly looks. So, it’s been really fun being back home.”

“Are you going back to LA, then?” Simon asked, hoping she would stick around for a while. Not that he wouldn’t chase her in LA, but it would limit their time together. And he found he wanted every second he could get with her.

“The weirdest part of it all is that my parents want me to stay.”

“So will you?”

“I’m thinking about it,” she replied. “I feel like this might be an opportunity for me to really get to know my parents and for them to know me.”

“Are you going to tell them what you do for a living, spy princess?” he teased her.

She smiled. “Maybe, eventually.”

He leaned toward her. “Will you tell me?”

“Maybe, eventually.”

“All right. I see I will have to earn this honor. In the meantime, let me regale you with four thousand facts.”

She giggled. “Did you really look up that many facts?”

He tugged on a strand of her hair. “I did.”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“Yes, I did, Jules.”

She turned, and inside her gorgeous eyes, a hint of the way she used to look at him appeared. The Jules in the photo album was staring at him, and he wished he could go back and relive all those moments with her. This time, he would open his eyes and see what he had missed out on.

Simon took heart while Jules stole his with every smile and glance.

“I guess you better start. It sounds like we have a lot to get through.” Her words held double meaning.

Without a doubt, Simon committed to seeing this through. All of it. Because ... “Fact number one: you, Jules, are the loveliest creature I have ever known.”

Jules

“EARTH TO JULES. ARE YOU okay?” Calista grinned across the table from me.

We were at her sister, Stella’s, house, Monday night, making the bougiest bridal shower favors I had ever seen. Which included champagne bottles for every guest that said Pop the Champagne, She’s Changing Her Last Name, and personalized Kate Spade bags filled with chocolates and expensive perfume. It went against everything Calista believed in, but it was making her sister and niece happy, so she was rolling with it.

I looked up from the champagne bottle I was adhering the aforementioned label to. “Of course I’m okay. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Calista sang. “Maybe because you keep sighing and checking your phone, and you’ve hardly said two words since you got here.”

I suppose a certain someone was occupying my entire being. One couldn’t blame me. I did not see this plot twist coming from a million miles away. I’d been so freaked out by it, I hadn’t even told Calista about my excursions with Simon over the weekend. Or, most importantly, that he wanted to chase me. It was hard to put into words my feelings about the subject, so I’d just kept them to myself, mulling them around, not sure what I should do. It didn’t help that Simon had convinced me to give him my number. I’d changed it years ago for work purposes. He’d texted me good morning and then my random fact at midday. He’d also been asking when he could see me next. I hadn’t responded to that message yet.

I bit my lip and stared at the three beautiful women seated around the table—Calista, Stella, and Quinn, all giving me their rapt attention. I wasn’t sure how much Calista’s sister and niece knew about my situation, but they were about to get an earful. “Well ... I had an interesting weekend.”

“Everything okay with your dad?” Calista asked, concerned.

“Yes, he’s actually doing much better. He and my mom are still at odds, but I kind of think it’s a good thing. Things probably needed to come to a head. But that’s not why my weekend was interesting.” I paused, trying to gather my thoughts.

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