Page 77 of In Good Company

Charlotte nods giddily. She grabs my hands and jumps up and down a couple of times, a beaming smile still on her lips. “I love this so much. I’m glad you finally gave in.” She points to the brand-new purse. “Looks like it’s working out for you very well.”

I laugh. The purse is the nicest thing I’ve ever owned. I still can’t wrap my mind around the price tag that came with it, but since Cal was insistent on purchasing it for me, it felt only right to use it tonight. “Yeah, we’ll see how things go. I have to remind myself to not get attached to him,” I admit with a resigned sigh. “It’s easy for me to lead with my heart instead of my head, and I can’t do that with him. I leave at the end of the summer, and we both live incredibly different lives. All we can ever be is casual.”

Charlotte lifts her eyebrows. “If you’re going to do casual, doing it with Cal seems like the perfect choice. He doesn’t seem like a total raging asshole. You, my beautifully lucky friend, have hit the jackpot.”

I let out a small laugh as I wave my hand through the air dismissively. “I am lucky, aren’t I?”

She nods excitedly. “Yes! I’m so happy I told you to accept the job with him. Can you imagine what your summer would look like if you’d made the wrong choice and turned him down?”

Her question makes me pause. Time has flown by since I started working for Cal. I haven’t really had the time to stop and think what my last summer in the Hamptons would’ve looked like if not for him.

I swallow, feelings that absolutely shouldn’t be there blooming in my chest. The summer is almost halfway over, and it’s already been the best one of my life.

“It really is crazy to think how different it would’ve been if I was still working at the Grill and cooking on the side for rude men like Laurent Hughes.”

Charlotte lets out a grunt of annoyance before turning around and stepping in front of the bathroom mirror. She fluffs her hair before rolling her eyes. “He was seated in my section two nights ago. The man really is intolerable.”

I nod before stepping next to her and looking at my reflection. A small gasp falls from my lips as I take in my appearance.

“Well, now I know how you immediately knew something had happened between me and Cal.” I’ve never been the best at makeup, but I had tried applying a nude lipstick while getting ready for tonight. I’ve had the occasional lunch with Cal and our friends here at Pembroke, but I haven’t had dinner here. Dinner at the club is different. It’s fancy. I wanted to apply a little more makeup than normal for it. But I hadn’t really thought much of it when Cal and I made out in the front seat of his car since we showed up to Pembroke a little early.

Charlotte snorts before pointing to my new purse. “Did you bring any makeup to touch things up? I can help if you did. No one else at the club will know you’re getting hot and heavy with a member. And not just any member…theCallahan Hastings.”

She wags her eyebrows playfully at her comment. In return, I give her an eye roll. Luckily, I had thrown my lipstick and some powder in my purse before leaving because I was trying to find things to fill my new bag with.

“The ‘no sex with members’ rule doesn’t apply to me since I don’t work at the club anymore,” I throw back at her as I search for my makeup.

“Oh, so I can go ahead and tell all of your former coworkers, then?”

I aim a dirty look in her direction immediately. “Charlotte!No, absolutely not. It’s none of their business. I want things with me and Cal to be private.”

She gives me a triumphant smile. “Then the ‘no sex with members’ rule does kind of apply to you.”

I smile, handing her the makeup, knowing she’ll be better at helping me clean it up than I would be. “Fine,” I begin with a laugh. “You win. Just help me get fixed up so not everyone knows about my pre-dinner make-out session?”

Charlotte grabs a paper towel and takes a step closer, the smile still on her face. She gently grabs my face and wipes at the smeared lipstick around my mouth. “I just can’t believe my best friend has Callahan Hastings falling at her feet.”

I try to hold still but roll my eyes at her words. “He’s hardly falling at my feet, Char.”

She freezes, the paper towel still pressed to my skin. “I know you don’t believe the words coming out of your mouth.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, the man is spending thousands upon thousands of dollars on you, and don’t even get me started on the way he looks at you in those cooking videos you’ve been posting. He’s a puddle at your feet.”

She throws the paper towel away before opening up the powder and gently dabbing it against my skin with a makeup sponge.

“No he isn’t,” I rush to get out. I don’t want Charlotte to make this thing between Cal and me seem like more than it is. That’ll only lead to me getting hopeful, and I can’t think that way. We’d never work anyway, and that’s okay as long as we both recognize that now, from the beginning. “It’s just a fling,” I add, trying to put as much conviction in my words as I can.

The sigh that Charlotte lets out tells me everything I need to know. She doesn’t believe me. “Whatever you say, Lucy,” she mutters with a hint of resignation in her tone.

I keep quiet as she finishes fixing my makeup. The only thing running through my head is how I don’t know if I believe me either. Things with Cal feel far too intense to only be casual, but that’s a problem I’ll deal with later.

Because no matter what, that’s all we’ll ever be…temporary.

FORTY-TWO

CAL

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