Page 58 of Kiss Me Forever

Luke: I miss you.

My heart sighed. Wow, I hadn't been expecting that. He missed me,andhe openly admitted it? I was so thrown that I wasn't sure what to write back. I just stared at the message, feeling my heart grow in size and my stomach fill with emotion.

I began to type back but saw he was still typing, so I waited.

Luke: I’d intended to wait until after your interview to ambush you, but my best intentions never work when it comes to you.

Megan: It’s the thought that counts.

Luke: Good luck. We’ll catch up later.

I only had a few minutes left until the call started, so I clicked the Zoom link in my email. I could see there were already some other participants in the chat room. I groaned when I noticed Carson. I was used to this because both our last names started with P. We’d been grouped together often in college as well.

The head of the committee, Jenkins, appeared onscreen. "Welcome, everyone. Let's keep this short. I'm going to invite you separately to chat rooms so we can have our one-on-one, and then we'll have a bit of a virtual get-together."

No one had their camera on, so I couldn't see them, only Jenkins, but that was for the best. I didn't want any distractions.

Several chat rooms popped up. We each had a five-minute slot. I wondered why they hadn't simply invited us all separately at a different timeframe, but maybe it was easier for them if we just waited our turn. I went nervously through my pitch while Danielle Pattinson was in her interview. I was next.

To my surprise, Jenkins appeared one minute earlier than my scheduled time. Okay, so it seemed it didn'thaveto last five minutes.

"Megan, go ahead. We can make chitchat later in the group. This is a straightforward pitch."

I took a deep breath, rolling my shoulders. "I will design a modern luxury mansion. The theme is integrating it into nature, not only because it's surrounded by a beautiful piece of land with old trees that will be preserved, but also because I plan to incorporate as many natural materials as possible into the construction." I went on to give him a more detailed explanation. He cut me off abruptly after four minutes.

"This was great. I think you're onto something good. Now I will ask you to wait for about fifteen minutes while I chat with the rest, and then we'll catch up."

"Thank you, Mr. Jenkins." I tapped my pen against my desk. This was so nerve-racking.

I couldn't even tell if he’d really liked my pitch or was just being polite. However, I suppose he would have tried to dissuade me from doing this if he thought it was a terrible idea.

While I waited, I checked my messages. Luke had texted me.

Luke: How did it go?

Megan: I just finished the pitching part. Now I've got to wait 15 minutes for the get-together. That only lasts 10 minutes. I'm starving.

Luke: I've already taken care of that. Pay attention to the door.

I smiled from ear to ear. That touched me deeply. Now I had something to look forward to besides the get-together, which ended up happening only ten minutes later. Clearly Jenkins was trying to be quick and efficient today.

"Thank you, everyone," he said, appearing on the screen. "This was a good start. I enjoyed catching up with all of you. Now I'm going to ask everyone to turn on their cameras and just say a few words about themselves, where you studied, and why you want to enter the competition."

Grudgingly, I turned on my camera. I quickly realized everyone had shielded their background, but I didn't. They could see my office.

Almost involuntarily, I looked at Carson. He was flashing his trademark smirk. He'd always been overconfident, even in high school. We each said two sentences, and if I hadn't had my camera on, I would have full-on snorted when he presented himself.

"I've always been the best: in school and in college. My company is going places. I'm here to win."

Jenkins’s face was unreadable. I couldn’t look away from Carson. There was no longing for him, or regret that we weren’t a couple anymore. I wasn’t even sure what I’d ever seen in him. Had I really wanted a life with him? Truth be told, even while we’d been dating, I never really could picture our life together. I loved to “visualize” all things in my life, but I hadn’t been able to when it came to us.

I couldn't see the purpose of this get-together. It wasn't like we would develop friendships among us or even meet. We were competitors, after all.

"All right, everyone. It was a great day. I'm going to log off. You can, of course, stay in the chat longer and get to know each other if you’d like."

The second he disconnected, everyone else disappeared, except Carson. I was about to close my connection when he said, "Megan, I wasn't expecting to see you on the list of participants.”

“I wasn't expecting to see you either."

---