Page 26 of That Reunited Feeling

“What’s that?” Maggie asks, cupping her ear and leaning toward him. “Can’t quite hear you over the ringing.”

“I said, ‘She starts tomorrow,’” he says loud and clear.

I let go of Dylan, the fury again boiling inside me at his overconfidence and audacity. “Really, no, I’m not?—”

“It’s perfect,” Tom says, as if we’ve talked it through and agreed. “She’ll get the experience and fantastic reference she needs to get a PA job in California. Not to mention a nice paycheck to set up her new life. And I won’t miss any more bands I want to see.”

“Itisperfect.” Maggie smacks her hands together.

“You’re going to work for Garage Records, Mom?” Dylan’s voice is filled with awe. “Mrs. Dashwood told me Tom runs Garage Records.” He looks at me like I’m a real human, with abilities and skills he never knew about.

For a second, I’m not the mom who tells him to do his homework, that we can’t afford the shirt he wants, and that he has to wear his earplugs when playing video games.

For a second, I’m a cool person about to start a cool job.

A cool job that would give me much needed PA experience. And a reference from Tom Dashwood. And a paycheck that would make starting over in LA much less stressful.

A cool job with a cool and ridiculously hot boss I was once head over heels in love with but who drove a tank over my heart.

The ridiculously hot boss’s eyes meet mine as he sweeps his hair off his face and rakes his fingers through it, pushing it over the top of his head.

I’m frozen, mesmerized, unable to say no as much to him as to my son.

“She definitely is,” Tom says.

“So cool,” Dylan says. “See, I was right. Best nightever.”

Tom’s eyes finally leave mine to look over my shoulder. “Hi, Jim.”

Jim walks by me.

“Hmm,” he mumbles, eyes half closed, rubbing his temples. He grabs a glass and holds it against the cold water dispenser in the fridge. “I’m taking a Tylenol and going to bed.”

Tom folds his arms, and his shoulders shake as he chuckles.

And a smile spreads across my new boss’s face, making his eyes sparkle.

8

HANNAH

Sitting at the desk in the study of Jim and Maggie’s house, I scroll through yet another of the hopefuls who want to be Tom’s permanent Executive Assistant.

This morning, while Tom was talking me through the new job I’ve accidentally acquired, I came to realize just how worn out he is. Or maybe even burned out. Close to it for sure.

Last night he told me that he’s here for a rest, but I hadn’t realized just how badly he obviously needs it.

While he’d been fired up during the naked verbal sparring that first morning, and was all charm over food and wine last night, today when he was talking about work things, he was different. There was a heaviness about him, a darkness to his eyes, a fatigue in the way he moved his body.

I’ve searched for info on his divorce, and all the articles I found said it had been super fast and she’d gotten more than half. Which didn’t seem fair since apparently she was already awash with family wealth before she met him. And I can’timagine what she’d even do with the string of properties she got in the settlement.

But imagining the guy who threw balls of scrunched-up paper at me during geography class ending up owning a string of properties is also pretty tricky.

Anyway, whatever he’s been through, he looks pretty goddamn stressed and totally lacking in the energy or interest to go through the résumés sent from his HR department in London. So that’s my first task.

How quickly life can change.

Not that long ago, I thought Dylan and I would be squished in with Jude in her tiny apartment for months while I worked the few hours she could afford to have me help at the shop.

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