Page 32 of All the Right Words
Seriously, what did Gina do?
A big pause.
She said she just listened.
I know it’s more than that. I’m going to get it out of her.
Hey, how’s your cat?
She decided to keep it vague.She’s cat-like.
Harper wondered if maybe it was time to make up an excuse for why she needed to stop texting. Because telling this lie was making her feel nauseous. She didn’t want to do this, play games. She wanted to be honest. But she didn’t know what to say.
And then, Olivia fixed everything.
Look, it’s OK if you didn’t have to feed the cat. If you felt I was moving a bit fast. I would understand that.
Harper sat with that text for a minute. She would have thought she would feel embarrassed to get caught out like this, but the main feeling was overwhelming relief.
You’re right. I lied. I’m sorry. It was a little too fast, I think. I need a bit more time. I don’t even have a cat.
As she typed, her words felt true. Maybe itwasjust too fast.
That’s OK. You don’t need to apologise. You didn’t want to hurt my feelings. You were being kind. I hope I didn’t blow things by rushing.
God damn, the woman was intuitive. Harper would have been lying to say it hadn’t raised Olivia’s stock. Emotional maturity was such a rarity, she couldn’t help but find it attractive. It was absurd, but Olivia had just gotten a lot sexier to her. Maybe that hot kiss was still in their future.
You didn’t blow anything.
That’s a relief because I had a great time with you last night.
Me too. I’d like to see you again.
I’d love that. When are you free?
Twenty-One
Delete, delete, delete. Olivia could never see the second half of that conversation. She’d see that Olivia had asked her out, and Harper had said yes. Job done.
It wasn’t the way she’d wanted to do it. But she felt that hesitation from the other end, and she knew if she didn’t address the problem (or rather, ifOliviadidn’t handle it, Gina had to remind herself), then there wasn’t going to be another date. So she did what she never did for herself. Came at the problem head-on. It had worked like a charm. Harper was a fan of honesty.
After Gina deleted the problematic stuff, she began to see a slight flaw in her plan. What if Harper felt the conversation wasn’t over, and she brought it up again? That could fuck the whole thing.
Not for the first time, Gina didn’t understand why she was in this situation. It was nothing to do with her. Why had she worked so damn hard on Harper?
The easy answer was that she was doing what she’d been asked to do. That was her assignment. And Gina liked to do things properly. Even if no one ever knew. That was how she’d ended up in this. Following her greatest flaw/biggest strength. Being quietly,secretly, good at things.
As she sat there pondering this, there was a knock at the door. No one ever knocked at her office door. They just barged in regularly and with far too much drama.
‘Come in?’ Gina said uncertainly.
The door opened, and a massive bunch of flowers appeared, big enough to obscure their bearer completely.
‘Oh, is that for Olivia?’ Gina said disinterestedly to the flowers. ‘You can leave them on my desk. I’ll make sure she gets them.’
The bouquet moved to the side, and Gina almost fell off her chair when a large set of green eyes popped out from behind them.
‘They’re not for Olivia. They’re for you,’ declared a grinning Harper. ‘To say thank you for fixing a broken author.’ She walked into the office and laid the flowers down before Gina’s shocked face. ‘Do people not often give you flowers?’ Harper asked. ‘Because you’re looking at me like I walked in with a live grenade and pulled the pin.’
