Page 75 of Petals and Plot Twists
When the newness of our relationship wears off, and she’s tired of my idiosyncrasies or my exacting ways, I don’t want her wondering if she could have had a better relationship with someone else.
With David.
The bathroom door squeaks open, and I quickly stand, shoving my phone into my pocket.
Sophie emerges, her body wrapped in a fluffy white bathrobe. Her hair is damp, brushed back from her face, and her cheeks are flushed from the heat of her bath. She looks beautiful, but the weariness in her expression makes my gut tighten.
“Feel better?” I ask as she moves into the living room, and she nods.
“Yeah. I can feel my toes again.” She sits down on the far side of the couch, so I sit on the opposite side, body turned sideways so I can face her. She keeps her eyes down, but I know she’s thinking because she keeps tugging on her bottom lip with her teeth, like she’s afraid to look up, afraid to talk to me.
“Peter,” she finally says, “can we pretend for a minute that you’re just my best friend again?” She lifts her gaze to mine. “Because you give really good advice, and I could use some good advice right now.”
“Give me just one sec.” I reach up and tap my fingers against the side of my head, like I’m adjusting my programming. Then, in the most robotic voice I can muster, I say, “Recalibrating, recalibrating, recalibrating…best friend mode activated.”
Sophie breathes out a chuckle. “Are you serious right now?”
I grin and drop my hand. “Sorry. Just wanted to do something dorky enough to wipe all memories of sexy Peter from your mind.”
“Oh, got it,” she says. “He’s like your alter ego, then. There’s Best Friend Peter, then Sexy Peter?”
“Indeed,” I say, “and right now, I’m fully Best Friend Peter. Hit me. Let’s talk this out.”
Sophie’s expression softens, her shoulders relaxing, and I know I’ve made the right call. We’ve been friends a lot longer than we’ve been anything else, so I can do this. I can be objective.
Mostly.
Hopefully?
“So there’s this guy,” Sophie says. “And I really like him.”
“Tell me about him,” I say, and Sophie shoots me an amused expression. “Average height, lean build. Good muscles though. Built like a swimmer, which is exactly what I like.”
“Sounds handsome,” I say.
“Oh, he definitely is,” Sophie says. “Big brown eyes, and these glasses that add just the right amount of sexy professor energy.”
This entire conversation is absolutely ridiculous, but it’s doing an excellent job of lightening the mood, and that’s something I think we both need.
“He owns a few too many hoodies, but I’m willing to overlook it because on the rare occasions when he wears a suit, hereallyknows how to wear it.” Sophie smirks, shooting me a teasing look. “But more importantly, he’s kind and considerate and he works hard, and he’s really good at taking care of me.”
Warmth spreads through my chest at her words. I enjoy nothing more than taking care of Sophie, so it feels good to hear the compliment.
“So what’s the problem, then?” I say. “This guy sounds really great, and you sound like you really like him.”
She bites her lip. “Yeah. I do. But I think he might be keeping something from me. Something with his work? And that’s not anything he’s ever done before.” She swallows and looks at me, expression searching. “Kept secrets.”
I take a deep breath. This isn’t at all how I expected our conversation to go. How does Sophie know about the promotion?
“What makes you think he’s keeping secrets?”
She shrugs. “I saw an email on his laptop, which was weirdly not password protected.”
I frown. My laptop usuallyispassword protected, but I just reconfigured my security settings and had to turn off the facial recognition component to do it. I must have forgotten to turn it back on.
“I didn’t read it,” she says. “Or even click on it. But the subject line made me think there’s something he’s not telling me. Which only matters because our relationship has recently shifted, and I feel like I deserve to know if something is going on. Do you think that’s fair?” she asks. “If you were me, would you want to know?”
“It’s definitely fair,” I say, kicking myself for keeping the secret for this long. “I’m guessing he probably has reasons for keeping you in the dark, even if those reasons aren’t justified.”
