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My phone rang. I grabbed it as I headed to take a shower so I would be clean when Avril got home. Roman greeted me. His tone of voice worried me.
I closed my bedroom door. “Roman, what’s going on?”
“Did you jump out of a plane?”
I unbuttoned the shirt and tossed it into the hamper. I’d been nervous and unsure how to act, but I only said, “I needed to clear my head.”
“I thought you were settling down.”
Bernadette’s words echoed in my mind. “I am. Why?”
“Endangering yourself isn’t living. I thought you and Avril were cute together.”
Bernadette must have been reaching. I stripped. “I need to be happy on the inside for anything to work. I’ve got to go.”
Then I shook a shower and shaved. That night, I wanted to show Avril how relaxed and comfortable I was without conspiring about anything. As I finished, my phone buzzed.
I saw a text from Avril: Where are you?
I typed back, Home.
Three dots appeared, so I waited. Then her text appeared: We need to talk.
I agreed. We were good together. I typed back, I’ll get dinner started.
I dressed in a simple blue T-shirt and jeans, as that night was meant to be low-key.
As I came out, Fuller was still arranging coconuts. I went and joined him in creating a display. “Michael, we need to finish fast.”
Michael stopped. “My sister didn’t stay outside your door, did she?”
I met his gaze. “No, she found me a block up, on Fifth.”
We continued building the mountain of coconuts as he said, “Okay, I’ll make sure I have a car waiting for me.”
“At some point, you’ll have to take responsibility and go home.”
“Some point but not today.”
We finished with the display as fast as we could. We had to get the dinner started next. And soon, I’d see Avril again.
Chapter Twenty-One
Avril
* * *
At my desk for most of the day, I worked and daydreamed about going home. Kir was great. I was a mess, but throughout the day, his admission of love replayed like the most important moment of my life. He’d told me how he felt, and I'd stood there without saying a word.
In every book I read or movie I watched on repeat, love fixed everything. Spreadsheets of numbers were numbing my brain as I imagined a life in which I never sat in my cubicle. Soon, I’d leave for the day, go home to Kir, and definitely bite the bullet and tell him that he had my heart. All my arguments with myself stemmed from not bringing up that in conversation. My sister’s warning had been because she wanted me to be safe, but if I did that, I wouldn’t live. And the word love played in my mind. But I wasn’t even sure how to change enough to be in Kir’s world.
I was working on the analysis when Lauglin came in and knocked on the wall. “Ziff needs to see you in his office.”
The smirk on his face sent a chill through me. “On my way.”
I turned off my screen and grabbed my pocketbook just in case. As I passed him, he said, “You almost had us all fooled.”
I narrowed my eyes, and my lips opened, but then a chill rushed through me. “Wh…? Never mind, Lauglin.”
