She snorted. It was more like six cups by lunch, but she’d never admitted that to anyone other than her doctor.
The headaches after the caffeine withdrawals were almost as bad as an early migraine, but she got through.
“In the scheme of things it’s all good,” she said.
“Back to Tucker,” Harmony said. “Tell me more. Are you going to see him again today?”
“Not much to say,” she said. “We went over a few things. Met for about three hours, had lunch, and I’m going to work on a schedule and a list of questions, present them to him, and then start to set up meetings the following week. I’ve got things to do this week anyway.”
“That’s not anything exciting,” Harmony said.
“Nope,” she said, putting her head down to take another sip of the room-temperature tea. “It’s not.”
“You’re lying to me,” Harmony said, pointing her finger. “I know you are. What else happened or was said?”
Her sister would bug her enough that she’d wish she’d pass out again.
“He told me to loosen up. That my shoulders were tenser than my cheeks.”
Harmony laughed. “You do that. It’s the forced professional smile you try to keep in place.”
“I know,” she said.
“Did you relax when he said that?” Harmony asked.
“I did after he said we could stop being so formal since his mouth had been on mine.”
Harmony pushed back from the chair she was sitting in at the island and did a little dance around it. “Was he flirting with you?”
She shrugged. “I don’t think so.”
“Come on now,” Harmony said. “Don’t play coy.”
“It didn’t seem it yesterday.”
Harmony went back to her seat, then jumped back up. “Not yesterday, but how about before?”
So much for thinking that would get past her sister.
“He might have flirted a bit months ago. We were working today,” she said. “I was relaxed around him.”
“My professional calm keep-it-above-reproach sister was flirting with a colleague?” Harmony asked, pointing her finger. “Nooooooo.”
“Will you stop,” she said, laughing at her sister’s antics. She did admit it lightened her mental load.
In the past, Harmony’s carefree nature got on her nerves.
Not anymore.
Now she felt as if it made her a better person.
Or at least someone who thought more of her actions.
“I’m not stopping until I know it all. Let’s rewind to what I think is going on.”
“Enlighten me,” Erica said, putting her chin in her palm.
“Don’t be Oscar again.”