Page 11 of Stuck Together

“What choice did I have?” I yelled back. “I need a job or else I can’t pay my bills.”

“But he cru—”

“Emma, take it easy.” Kendra’s voice was soothing. She may be a hard ass with a dirty mind most of the time, but she also knew how to diffuse a situation with a calm tone. She turned her eyes to me. “Okay. Back to the interview. You said the look on his face wasn’t a good look. Was it a worried look, or angry, or sad? You gotta give us more.”

“More like horrified.” I downed the rest of my wine and grabbed the almost empty bottle off the coffee table. I didn’t plan on drinking tonight, but I didn’t have to report to work until Wednesday, so there was nothing to stop me.

“Looks like this is going to be a two-bottle kind of night.” Kendra headed to the kitchen to get another bottle.

“It gets better, or worse, however you want to look at it. Althea insisted that I go on an out-of-town meeting with him. That’ll be a blast.” I couldn’t help but laugh at my misery and potential doom where Logan was concerned.

“So, you took the job?” Emma asked.

“Well, yeah.” I shrugged. “It was either that or I move.”

Emma’s shoulders sagged. I could tell she wasn’t happy about this, but same as me, she knew I didn’t have much choice. “When do you start?”

I handed Kendra my glass and nodded for a refill. “Wednesday. But I don't just start on Wednesday. The out of town trip with him also starts on Wednesday. I’ll be traveling alone with him for three day. To a ski resort. In Vermont.”

“Oh, fuck.” Kendra swore under her breath.

“Oh, fuck is right!” Emma shook her head and waved her hand out in front of her like she was going to be able to wipe this conversation out of existence. “You mean to tell us your ex-boyfriend, whom you’ve never gotten over, is now your boss. And now you're going out of town with him for three days on a romantic getaway to Vermont. This is very much anoh, fuckkind of moment.”

“Yep, that about sums it up.” There was nothing else left to do but laugh at the situation.

“Oh, my God. You cannot do this.” Emma cried.

“Oh yes, she can.” Kendra’s voice was strong and firm. I popped my head up and looked at her in surprise. Kendra was strong willed and very opinionated about her own life, but she often left her opinions on how others chose to live to herself. “You are strong and more than capable to do this job. You are powerful and no man is going to dictate what you can and cannot do.”

“I'm glad you have faith in me, Kendra, because I'm not sure I have that kind of faith in myself.”

Emma closed her eyes and breathed in and out in long slow breaths. When she opened her eyes, she smiled. “I agree with Kendra. You’ve got this. Now let’s drink this wine and celebrate.”

“Yes, let’s celebrate.” Kendra whooped. “And talk about how you’re going to get laid on this business trip.”

Emma and I both glared at her.

“What?” Kendra shrugged and rolled her eyes.

“No one is getting laid,” I said.

“Well, not with that attitude,” Kendra said under her breath.

Emma grabbed my hand, catching me by surprised, and squealed. “And now you don't have to leave the city. Let’s focus on the positive. Because, honestly, if you moved on us, we’d die.”

“I’ll drink to that.” Kendra held her glass in the air and we all clinked our glasses together and cheered.

This wasn’t going to be easy and I wasn’t looking forward to seeing Logan again. But regardless of what happened. I was glad I had these two on my side.

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