Page 74 of Seven of Hearts

Kristin knew me better than that. She abandoned her coffee mug by the pot and walked over to peer out of the windows that faced the DeRossis’ house.

Leah’s car was in the driveway. I couldn’t help but crane around the mess of computers on the dining room table to see if she was outside.

“Busted,” Kristin said with a smirk. “I think you’d quit your job before you went back to Chicago.”

“Then maybe leave me alone so I can get some work done before your husband fires me,” I grumbled. “Don’t you have a job? Because I don’t think ‘full-time future aunt’ is a paying position.”

“I’m okay with an unpaid internship,” she joked. “Besides. Full-time curmudgeon doesn’t pay the bills, and yet here you are taking over my kitchen table and mooching off of my coffee.”

“Coffee is an office essential,” I said as I took a sip from her favorite mug. I had stolen it from the dishwasher when I had gotten here after leaving Leah’s this morning. “It’s like air conditioning and toilet paper.”

“Spoiler alert—my house isn’t your office. And if you, Will, and Bryan don’t stop leaving your shit everywhere, I’m going to rent you an office space in town. I swear Bryan moved his entire home office set up out of Kylie’s and his place.”

I glanced over at the three-screen desktop monstrosity that lived at the head of the table.

Maybe an office space here wouldn’t be a bad idea . . .

Will worked remotely because he traveled a lot. The team that Bryan led was based in Texas. I oversaw the Chicago team and some other high-level stuff.

“You have that look on your face,” Kristin said as she set her mug in the sink.

I steeled my expression. “What look?”

“The look that says you’re going to stay.” Kristin pulled her silvering hair out of the clip that held it up and ran her hand through it. “And I hope you do. Not just for Leah and the baby. But for yourself too. Are you really happy in Chicago?”

All I had ever wanted was to escape Beaufort. To go somewhere where no one knew anything about me. All I wanted was to escape the presuppositions that people like Leah’s parents had about me.

And after leaving Beaufort and moving to Chicago, then coming back, all I could think about was how empty my apartment was. How mundane my life was. How it felt like I was a hamster in a wheel, running like hell but not going anywhere.

Perfection sucked. It set low standards and strangled growth.

“No,” I admitted.

Kristin passed by me on the way to grab her keys to head to work. “Then stop pretending like you are. Life will get good a lot faster than if you stay on your high horse.”

As the front door opened and closed, I couldn’t help but think that life was already good.

A text from Leah appeared on my computer screen, automatically forwarded from my phone so I never missed a message.

Leah:I deep cleaned all the blinds and curtains at the DeRossis’ house, and rented a steam cleaner for the floors at the Lawsons’. I think nesting hit and it happened at the wrong houses.

I laughedand typed out a quick reply.

Logan:Say the word and all the throw pillows will disappear. You don’t even have to lift a finger.

Truth be told,I liked her throw pillows. It was nice having something comfortable at every turn. But I liked teasing her about them even more. Leah knew it was all in good fun.

Logan:Kris said that we should name the baby Percy or Atticus.

Leah:Do they give us his dragon at the hospital? Because my apartment has a no-pet policy, and I don’t think I can convince the management office that it’s an emotional support dragon.

Her text mademe laugh as I turned back to reviewing Paisley’s presentation, but I was interrupted again by a knock at the door. Zoey was at school, Kristin had just left, and Will was upstairs in his office, on a conference call with a client. Maybe Kristin had forgotten her key and locked herself out of the house and her car.

But I remembered her grabbing her keys . . .

Maybe Leah had decided to take a break from deep cleaning the DeRossis’ house and sneak over after she saw Kristin leave.

“Just a second,” I hollered into the empty house as I darkened my computer screen and pushed away from the table. I jogged to the door and unlocked it. “Did you forget your?—”

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