Page 389 of The Sinner: James

She pauses.

“Thank you for telling me that I’m an ungrateful, immature jerk in your own cute words.”

“You’re welcome,” she says, grinning. “Now tell me a little more about this Thea girl. I need to learn from her.”

“She looks just like you,” I say.

Her eyes widen with surprise.

“No way.”

“Yes.”

“Oh, shit. He really did like me.”

“I think he did. Um... She’s about two years younger than us. She lost her family in a car accident. I met her once. I mean, I’ve seen her more than once, but I’ve only talked to her at a party in California. She’s smart. Pretty. Back then, she was like you, scared shitless when it came to men, or in her case, to Ed. But she was bold as well. She went looking for James once at the Casino to talk to him about Ed.”

“Really?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Ed and Thea had an argument or something, and he didn’t want to talk to her. It happened a year ago before Valentine’s Day. She tracked James down and asked him about Ed. Like you now, she almost swallowed her tongue when she talked to James, but she made it through and definitely won Ed’s heart.”

Her eyes go vacant for a second.

“I wish I were more like her.”

“I’m sure you can be anything you want to be,” I say as the door opens, and a woman walks in. “Let’s go now. They’re probably waiting for us.”

7

JAMES

“Okay, baby... I will,”Preston says, a tender smile glowing over his face.

He ends their conversation, his smitten grin still on his lip as he sets his phone on the table, sunk in thought.

“Rain is brewing up a storm, isn’t she?” he asks, lifting his gaze to me.

“She is,” I say quietly.

He studies my face.

“She’ll understand that it’s only for a short while,” I mutter.

“I don’t want to create any trouble.”

“There’s no trouble. I knew this moment would come. I, too, stepped down and took some time off when I got married. I know how these things work. I’ve been there. The time I spent with Rain was fantastic, but now I have these business plans I need to implement before considering another sabbatical. The growth we’ve incurred is phenomenal, and that’s why I want to expand this business fast. I talked to Lex about this too. I want to push it as far as I can and have a big payday for all of us when the time is right. That’s why I wanted you here, but the company will thrive no matter what. It has to. The whole idea was to be able to step away from it if we needed to. You are in that kind of situation right now. I’d do it too if I were you. Rain will understand,” I say, trying to convince myself that that's the case as much as I want to convince him. “Besides, we’re too young to stay home,” I joke, grinning and winking at him. “She’s busy with her writing and her company.”

“Did she ever talk about kids?”

“We talked about it in the beginning, but we have nothing planned right now.”

“I didn’t plan it either.”

“I know. But I wouldn’t worry about that before getting to that point,” I say, swinging my gaze across the room as Eve and Rain return to the table.

“They’re coming?” he asks, his back turned to them.

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