Page 43 of Sunshine

I smiled and settled down. It wasn’t that far, and it felt like I’d just closed my eyes when Julian was pulling into the driveway.

I waited for Luca to get out so I could exit behind him. I smiled at him sleepily, then pushed myself to remember my manners. “Thanks for having me over.”

Julian got out, leaving the station wagon running, and gave me a big hug. “Any time. And by that, I mean, let’s do that again soon.”

I could only nod. I wanted to say something cute and flirty, but cute and flirty were asleep at the wheel. All I could manage was a smile and a wave before I let myself into my cottage.

I brushed my teeth and took off the offending bra, then climbed into bed, still in Julian’s clothes.

I should have stayed over. If I had stayed over, maybe something would have happened.

But then, if it hadn’t I really would have cemented myself as just a friend.

I tried to work out if I should have said or done something differently, but as I was puzzling it over, my face nuzzling the soft fabric of Julian’s shirt, the scent of Pack Kahele lulled me to sleep.

The next fewdays I was slammed.

Instead of being able to work out how to ask Julian about whether the pack was open to dating, I had to focus all my energy on keeping my head above water.

All of my events required my full attention and, even with Holly’s help, I worked long hours. As much as I wanted to spend time with Pack Kahele, I barely had time to eat.

I’d expected Julian to be upset that I was so busy, but he took it all in stride, sending me text messages in the morning to tell me that I was a boss babe, and sending Luca or Logan over with food if he couldn’t bring it himself. It was sweet and touching andextremelydistracting.

Talia hadn’t texted me in days. I’d known she was mad, but as time went on, I realized she must have really been fuming. She’d obviously assumed I would reach out and apologize for what happened at the festival, but I didn’t know what to say other than what had already been said.

I wanted to take Julian up on his offer to talk about it, but I didn’t have the emotional energy, even if I’d been able to work it back into conversation.

When the pressure got too much, I took a work-from-home day. I’d been unable to focus at my office, and I preferred to do my crazy lady pacing in my living room, not where my family could see how stressed I was. I was still trying to figure out how to present my idea to Mrs. Cullen.

If I told her the theme of the gala was going to be ‘Dreams Come True’, she would think I was nuts. I had to get my ideas more formalized and, hopefully, some images mocked up.

I had too much to do and not enough time. I was doomed.

I’d spent every waking moment Googling event locations, going down a random rabbit hole about aquariums, and then circling back to the idea of the guests having stations they could interact with.

I’d grilled Raina about unfulfilled desires most people had, and it came down to money, status, health, and something artistic, but most of the attendees would have the first three covered.

I’d even managed to clear off the pressing items for the other events I was planning, but the timeline to present Mrs. Cullen with something amazing was rapidly shrinking.

I would have to give her the half-baked idea. I could picture myself telling her I would make her guest’s dreams come true. I made a face. She would laugh at me and then ask Logan what he was thinking.

I tried not to make event planning about my ego, about my worth as a person, but it was really, really hard not to. Everything lived or died onmyideas, on my ability to carry off the event.

I was aware that part of me wanted to fail. Because if I managed to pull this off for Mrs. Cullen, she would refer her friends. And then each new event would have to be bigger, and better.

No pressure.

My phone chimed again, and I ignored it. The family group chat was active today, planning out Sunday dinner, but the noise was too much.

I sat on the couch, flipping to a cooking show, and stared at my laptop. I’d looked at hundreds of venues, sketched out a few of my ideas, but I couldn’t see how to make the vision in my mind translate to reality.

My phone chimed again.

Julian:

Babe

Babe

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