Page 51 of Thanks for the Memories
She turns to Gabby and lets out a dramatic sigh.
“Fine. I will attend Theo’s birthday party. But only for you.”
Gabby squeals in delight while I do the golf clap.
“On another note, Reagan ran into her hotco-workerJeremy on the boat yesterday,” Lila says, giving a coy smile.
Gabby turns to me and asks for more details.
I take a sip of Lila’s green smoothie, which isn’t half bad, and then I launch into my story.
“So, he kissed you and then apologized,” Gabby scoffs.
“Yep. He said he was sorry because I’m his friend.”
Gabby cringes. “Oh.”
“He’s just saying that,” Lila says knowingly. “He’s protecting himself because you’ve never made it a secret that you’re interested in Chef Dante.”
“It wasn’t like he was the only one doing the kissing,” I say. “I was definitely into it.”
“So, you enjoyed the kiss?” Gabby asks.
“Yes, very much.” I pause. “All of a sudden I see Jeremy differently. We get along so well, and we make a great team, but I never considered being anything more than work friends.”
“Because you were laser focused on someone else,” Lila says, rinsing her glass in the sink.
She’s absolutely right. I can’t even begin to count the number of times I’ve talked about Dante or the restaurant while at work.
“In the meantime, don’t let your guard down,” Lila says, motioning toward the guest room.
Gabby looks confused, so Lila starts whispering in her ear, making her eyes grow wide.
“It’s not totally her fault. She doesn’t know about what happened with me and Dante,” I add.
“It doesn’t matter. You still need to be careful, especially if she moves here.”
“She’s moving here?” Gabby exclaims. “I thought she was totally against the idea when you came.”
“She was.”
“Then Lila’s right. Don’t let your guard down.”
I sigh loudly. “Okay.”
After Gabby and Lila leave for work, I take a long hot shower. Bethany must still be passed out because I haven’t heard a peep from her.
We had plans to parasail today, but I’m hammered. It is her vacation though, so if she still wants to go, I’ll take one for the team. Even though I’m supposed to be off, I open my laptop to check emails. I have a hard time completely disconnecting, and this way it’ll be much easier to catch up when I return. When I finally log in, there are two emails from Jeremy waiting for me. The first one has a message that saysFYIalong with some marketing tips. The second is a message from him that says:
I’m sorry. Enjoy the rest of your vacation.
There he goes apologizing again. I’m just not sure if he’s apologizing for kissing me or for stopping it?
Just as I go to hit reply, my phone rings. A jolt shoots through my body when I see Dante’s number on the screen. Bethany still hasn’t surfaced from the guest room.
I clear my throat before answering it. “Hello.”
“Good morning,” he says.
