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“That’s what I thought. Thanks for looking at it.” Blaze dipped his chin with appreciation, a knowing smirk washing over him.
“What’s that look for?”
He shook his head and stood, reaching for the file. “I just think it’s funny how you just said all that about people wanting to talk about themselves, and you couldn’t steer the conversation away from you and Iris fast enough.”
I shrugged. “What can I say? I like a little mystery.”
Jax picked up the cookies and held the container out. “Are you sure you don’t want another one? I imagine you’ll be able to work it off at the gym tomorrow morning.”
I glared at him. “Don’t you have work to do?”
Chuckling, he turned and walked out, with Blaze following behind him.
For the first few minutes after I was left alone in my office, I replayed the conversation I’d had with my friends. I’d already been struggling to focus on my work when all the thoughts of Iris were positive ones. The last thing Ineeded was to add the fear of anything happening to her to the mix.
Shaking my head to clear the thoughts, I got back to work. But it was no surprise that by the time I got to the end of the day, I was ready to head home to relax.
All I’d need was a couple of hours working on the project car in my garage, and I’d likely get so caught up in it, worrisome thoughts about Iris would vanish.
Sure enough, they did.
But that didn’t mean they weren’t replaced by thoughts of having that woman naked on the hood and moaning in my ear.
THIRTEEN
Iris
“This is not how I imagined things would be.”
No truer words had ever been spoken.
Although she hadn’t fully explained her reasons for making such a statement, one look at Flora’s face told me everything I needed to know. The weight of where we were in our personal lives—my sisters and me—was crushing.
It was Saturday evening, and I was out on the town with Eleni and Flora. They’d arrived in Steel Ridge last night, so I’d prepared a late dinner for the three of us to catch up over. Since we’d rescheduled getting together previously due to Eleni’s newest client at work, I steered the conversation in that direction from the start yesterday.
“Have things settled down a bit at work now that you took the extra time to catch up with the new client?” I asked, the three of us seated around my table. The sametable I’d sat at just two nights before to have dinner with Landen.
Eleni twirled the fettuccini around on her fork. “Yeah. I desperately needed that time the other weekend to get caught up on their account, but it’s all good now.”
“That’s great to hear. Congratulations, again.” I smiled at her. “I’m so glad we were able to reschedule reasonably soon afterward.”
Her eyes dropped to her plate. “Me, too.”
It took some effort not to roll my eyes. I loved her dearly, but Eleni’s frequently miserable mood made it difficult to be around her sometimes. If I didn’t think it might cause an argument or unnecessary tension, I might have taken this time to talk to her about what was going on. It was far better to do it when it was just the three of us and not the entire family.
But I didn’t want to get into any of that. Instead, I shifted my attention to Flora. “How have things been going for you since I was last in Grouse?”
Unsurprisingly, Flora wore a sweet smile, her cheeks tinged pink against her flawless skin. “Excellent, actually. I think there must be something about the Gibson sisters and the timing of their professional success, because I picked up a few new editing clients this past week. I’m so excited.”
“That’s awesome, Flora. I’m so happy for you.”
“Thanks, Iris.”
After hearing all about how things had been going for my younger sisters, I was merely grateful it hadn’t been that long ago when I’d visited with my family for my birthday. At least I’d been able to tell them then about myrecent luck at work and the promotion that was on the horizon.
No matter how much I loved and trusted Eleni and Flora, I couldn’t bring myself to confess to them just how awful things had been going for me at work lately. I was so embarrassed by what had happened, and admitting that I’d screwed up so badly without even trying was something I didn’t want to add to my plate.
Not this weekend, anyway.
