Page 1 of Just One Summer with the Grumpy

ONE

It all startedwith a fortune cookie.

I know, I know. It’s a little piece of paper printed by some company that mass produces these things and comes up with fortunes that can apply to anyone, like “Something great is coming your way.” Who doesn’t have something great happen to them at least once in their life after reading that?

But when your life is a chain of odd coincidences that work out in your favor, you start to pay attention. Like the guy who found my lost phone at a restaurant and later became my boyfriend. (It only lasted a week, but I’ll take good luck where I can get it.) Or the Help Wanted poster on the wall right after I saw my lucky number. That job turned out to be the highest-paying job yet—a receptionist position at billionaire Chase Everett’s event management company and the perfect job for me.

So today, as I sat at my dining table eating cheap Chinese leftovers for breakfast before work, you’d better believe my breath caught as I stared at that tiny slip of paper surrounded by broken cookie pieces. It read, “Your future spouse will cross your path today.”

Very specific. Almost oddly so.

If that wasn’t enough, my online horoscope app’s popup appeared minutes later, just as I arrived at the subway station for my work commute. Almost like the universe had coordinated it. I plopped onto the last subway seat and stared at the message, ignoring the wailing of a child across the car and the heavy body odor of the bearded man to my right.

“Your decisions today can bring the very lifelong romance you thought impossible—but you must become the pursuer.”

I read it three times, chuckling as the subway started to pick up speed. I only found one love impossible—Ty, my ex. The one who not only got away, but hashed my heart to pieces in the process. And I’d let him do it. Just like I’d allowed myself to get laid off from two jobs and evicted from an apartment in the year since then. No, that particular lifelong romance wasn’t very likely. Not that I even wanted that. Did I?

Nope. The only lifelong romance I really wanted right now was with whoever could pay my late rent and cancel out the eviction notice someone had slid into my mailbox last week. I had thirty days to figure this out or find a cheaper place, something I knew would be impossible. I’d been lucky enough to find this one and convince my roommates to ignore my poor credit history.

Fate and destiny had taken good care of me till now, but at some point, I’d have to figure things out for myself. Be the pursuer, like the horoscope said. Because leaving New York and going back home to Arkansas wasnotan option.

I let my finger hover over the message, hesitating, then took a screenshot of my horoscope before clearing it. I had to find a second job, and fast. The last thing I needed was a new relationship right now.

Sorry, Fate. Today isn’t a good day for lifelong romance.

When the subway halted at my stop, I pushed through the crowd, avoiding the gaze of every man I passed just in case. I darted past wide smiles and sharply-dressed men on the wide sidewalks of Manhattan and made it to the office in record time.

When I entered the tall, shiny building with EVERETT EVENTS in block letters above the double glass doors and clocked in at the shiny front desk, I sent Dani a wave. The redhead took one look at me and muttered something about living in a junkyard.

A junkyard? I brushed my denim skirt and took a second look at my blouse, suddenly wishing I’d thought to iron it. The buttons didn’t align correctly, leaving a button hanging by itself at the crook of my throat. Meanwhile, Dani looked like she’d walked right out of a shampoo commercial despite the five-hour shift she’d just finished. The woman’s bright red hair hung perfectly straight over her shoulders as if nothing defied her will, even rain or gravity. She probably ironed and pressed her underwear and hung it up in the closet, all color-sorted. I didn’t have to take a look in the mirror to know that my naturally curly hair would look wild and untamed in comparison.

Nevertheless, Dani looked the part of an Everett representative, and I very much did not. Which would only matter if Chase Everett walked in.

AHello, Daphnefrom her would have been nice though.

The phone rang and rang and, not surprisingly, Dani ignored it completely. A stack of work still sat in the black bins on our shared reception desk. The same size as yesterday. Had she done anything at all?

I grabbed the phone behind Dani. “Everett Events. How can I help you?” There was only silence on the other end.

Dani sprinted from the desk to open the heavy glass door. “Mr. Everett. Nice to see you here today.”

Chase Everett barely gave her a glance as he swept in the door, and I do meanswept.The guy swept everywhere he went. Not like a broom, but like a movie star. He definitely looked more Dani than Daphne, if you got my meaning. His broad shoulders filled his light blue shirt perfectly, and his tie hung perfectly centered in front of a hard, straight chest. A pair of expensive sunglasses covered eyes I’d never seen in person. The guy probably wore sunglasses at midnight.

And the swagger. Oh, wow. It was like he knew he was New York’s most eligible bachelor and wanted to leave every woman’s jaw hanging in his wake.

“Tell Blythe to meet me in my office,” he grumbled to me, heading for the elevator without sending me a glance or bothering to reply to Dani’s greeting. In fact, he seemed unaware of her presence at all.

A dial tone sounded in my ear. “Yes, sir,” I managed, hanging up the phone.

He strode into the elevator the second the doors opened. I found myself holding my breath as the doors closed, and the lobby and the world around us returned to normal.

“Jerk,” Dani muttered, still holding the door. Then she slipped through the doorway and disappeared into the hustle of downtown Manhattan.

I knew all about self-made billionaire Mr. Everett, at least the parts other employees of Everett Events were willing to share. The man barely spoke, hardly ever looked you in the eye, and wanted absolute perfection. He resented being argued with and expected instant obedience. How I’d even gotten this job, I didn’t know. Desperation on the part of Blythe, my manager and the resident wedding planner? She’d thrown a lot of work at me the moment she hired me on, probably because Dani refused to do anything she deemed grunt work. Which meant pretty much everything but answering the phone and batting her eyelashes at the grooms who came to meet with their wedding planner.

Despite being here nearly six months, I still got the feeling Chase Everett didn’t know my name.

But hey, at least he’d talked to me today, even if it was an order.

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