Page 23 of So Bad It Must Be Good

Chapter Six

Kayla spent the next two days deleting all her temporary work profiles, determined to be done with temporary.

She had left Gallagher’s because she didn’t want that life. As much as she’d enjoyed her role as sustainability manager, it had been something Dinah had suggested. It hadn’t been her own choice.

She needed to start making her own decisions, and she needed to start thinking about permanence. About creating her life.

So she scoured every online job site and applied for anything that sounded remotely appealing, even if she wasn’t qualified.

Sometimes she’d catch herself staring at Liam’s card that she’d put on her fridge with one of her kitten-shaped magnets. She’d avoided calling him because she felt bad for everything he’d had to do for her that night, but the more she made decisions about permanence and moving forward, the more having a hobby seemed like a good idea.

A new job. A new hobby. A new life. Maybe he’d let her paint some of his carvings. It would be something artistic and fun to spend a few hours a week doing.

The surprising thing of the whole Liam debacle had been that, from what she could remember, he’d actually been really easy to talk to. The more she thought about what she’d said to him before getting out of his truck that morning, the more she was convinced he absolutely was one of the most decent men she knew.

Maybe he had some sort of secret, horrible fetish, or was mean to his customers. Maybe he liked to kick puppies or eat peas. She didn’t know. But a man who was eager to help just because he could fix things . . .

She didn’t know anyone like that. It was downright fascinating.

When her phone rang she was jolted out of her Liam reverie. The screen read Dinah. Kayla bit her lip. She’d been avoiding Dinah for months, saying as little as possible the few times they’d accidentally run into each other.

But if she was striving to be brave, and to find permanence, and to create a life, then she couldn’t be afraid to own up to some of the things she’d had to leave behind.

She accepted the call before she had a chance to talk herself out of it. “Hi, Dinah.”

“Kay, I . . . I didn’t expect you to actually answer.”

Kayla acknowledged the familiar pain in her chest. She’d missed Dinah, the woman who’d been her best friend her entire life. It had been a necessary break, but that hadn’t meant it had been an easy one.

“Well, I . . . I thought it might be important.” She wasn’t quite ready to spill her guts to Dinah. She needed a little more clarity before she got that far.

“It isn’t, not really,” Dinah replied. “But since I actually reached you, I’m going to ask anyway. I wanted to see if you’d please consider coming to my birthday dinner next week.”

“Your birthday,” Kayla repeated lamely. She’d spent her own birthday alone last month. Dinah had called, but Kayla hadn’t answered. Dinah had sent flowers, and she’d been the only one. Even Grandmother’s usual impersonal card had never appeared.

“Carter wants to make me dinner and told me to invite people, but you’re the only one I’d want to invite besides him, and you don’t have to give me a gift, because your presence would be my present. Really.”

“Dinah—”

“No, don’t answer right away, please. Think about it. Let the guilt really set in. I miss you.”

Kayla’s heart clenched uncomfortably. Dinah wasn’t one to easily talk about emotions, nor did she usually ask Kayla to think things over or through. Usually she insisted, no matter how kindly.

“I’ll think about it,” Kayla returned, and she planned to. Very carefully. Because she still loved Dinah, still wanted to be friends, but she also didn’t want to be flattened again by the Gallagher bulldozer.

“And just so you know, it’s a Gallagher’s-free zone,” Dinah offered as though reading her mind. “It’s just a dinner with my friends, otherwise known as you. Nothing business related. I promise.”

“That doesn’t sound much like you, Dinah,” Kayla said carefully. Dinah had been convinced Gallagher’s was her heart and soul and all that mattered not all that long ago.

“Things are different. I wish you’d give me a chance to prove that to you. I thought when I turned Grandmother’s director of operations offer down, you’d see that.”

“It isn’t you. It’s me.”

Dinah laughed, somewhat bitterly. “You keep saying that, but I’m still the one you’re not talking to.”

“I’m not talking to Grandmother or my father either, if it helps.” Not that they’d tried to talk to her. They’d considered her quitting a grand betrayal, one she should be punished harshly for.

“It doesn’t and you know that,” Dinah replied with none of their past humor about the situation of strained relations with the elder Gallaghers.

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