Page 68 of March

“Former boss,” Bryce corrected, sitting up in bed.

“Hello,” Sophie said into the phone before she paused. “No, I didn’t check your voicemail. I don’t work for you anymore.” She paused again. “What? No.”

Bryce watched Sophie’s face as it contorted in frustration and then anger, and she hoped those expressions were never aimed at her because they were intense and well, kind of sexy.

“No,” Sophie said. “I don’t care. I don’t want it. I need to go. Please don’t call me again.”

She hung up and turned toward Bryce.

“What did he want?” Bryce asked.

“He wants me to come back to work. He offered me a raise and a bonus.”

“Really?”

“I declined. No amount of money could make me go back there,” Sophie said as she sat down on the end of the bed, facing away from Bryce. “But that was dumb, wasn’t it? I don’t have a job, and he just offered me another twenty grand a year and a fifteen percent bonus that they’d give me at the next pay period.”

“Twenty grand? Damn,” Bryce said.

“I know. I should call him back, shouldn’t I? Grovel? Tell him yes?”

Bryce moved then until she was sitting behind Sophie on the bed, wrapping her body around Sophie’s and pulling her back against her.

“You were miserable there, Soph.”

“But it’s a lot of money,” Sophie said.

“Is that worth your happiness?” Bryce asked. “You have an interview today with a company you actually liked working for.”

“What if I don’t get it?”

“There’s always Atlanta,” Bryce reminded. “But I think you’ll kick ass today and get this job. If you don’t, and you’re still worried, you can call him back and do that groveling, but for now, let him stew a bit. From what you’ve told me, he deserves at least that, if not more. He sounds like a total asshole, and I hate how they treated you there.” She placed her chin on Sophie’s shoulder.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Sophie said. “We should get ready for that interview anyway. Do you have something I can wear that would look at least somewhat decent? I’ll go home after and change for my Arnette interview.”

“You’ll only need a shirt since it’s a video interview, so that’s easy. Shirt, and I say just go bottomless. No pants. No cheer shorts. No panties.” She kissed Sophie’s neck. “I’ll even do it with you.”

Sophie laughed, and Bryce hoped her joke had helped Sophie get that horrible old job of hers out of her mind.

They stayed like that for a while, holding on to one another on the bed without saying anything else, until Sophie had to go the bathroom. Bryce stretched and found a shirt that Sophie could wear for their interview with the magazine and pulled one out for herself, too.

An hour later, it was time, and they sat on two different chairs: one that rolled and went with the small desk and another that went with the tiny table in the corner. Bryce gave Sophie the rolling chair, which made her look a good foot taller than Bryce and would probably be strange on camera, but they had no other choice in the matter because Victoria was on the screen.

“Hello,” she said. “You must be Bryce and Sophie. It’s so nice to meet you both.”

“Thanks. You too,” Bryce replied with a polite smile. “Bryce.” She pointed at herself.

“Sophie,” Sophie said, doing the same.

“And you’re together for the interview,” Victoria noted with a smile of her own. “Should I assume that things went well when you reconnected?”

“You could say that, yeah,” Bryce replied.

Sophie looked over at her and smiled.

“Can we start at the beginning? I would love to hear the story in Sophie’s words since I’ve gotten Bryce’s words already. But, Bryce, feel free to add in anything you didn’t include in your blog.”

“My words?” Sophie said, looking crazy adorable.

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