Page 33 of Mine to Love

I stand and hold out my hand. “Thank you for your help.”

Warren shakes it, the confusion clear in his eyes. There was no need for me to come out to Ellsworth. This could have all been done through an email or video conference. He doesn’t question me on it, and I walk out the door feeling hopeful and nervous about my plan.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“I got the interview!” I throw myself at Emerson and hug her as she walks through my front door. “Sorry. I meant, welcome home, newlyweds!”

“Oh, Reese! I’m so happy for you!” Emerson, tanned and wearing a smile made permanent the moment she fell in love with Holden, hugs me back.

“I want to hear all about the honeymoon.” I lock my arm through Emerson’s and walk with her to the back deck where we sip wine and talk about the past few weeks apart.

I wait until she’s shown me over two hundred pictures of their trek across country, before I spill the news about my father and Mariah.

“No way!” Emerson giggles. “I’m so sad I wasn’t here to see your reaction.”

“You’re wishing you were here instead of in an RV boinking your husband?”

“Okay, scratch that. There’s no place I’d rather be, but you should have called me. Or at least texted.”

“It was kinda too big for that. I went to The Beer Garden and drowned the porno out of my mind with tequila. Ran into Logan Pierce there and spilled it all on him.”

“The tequila?”

“Almost.” My cheeks warm. Must be from the wine, definitely not from thinking about Logan. He had been really sweet listening to me go on and on about my father, and not once had he been condescending or had he hit on me.

I wouldn’t have resisted the latter.

“Logan is a nice guy. I’m glad he was there for you.”

Guilt weighs heavily on my chest. I should tell my best friend about my brief affair with Logan. He’s Emerson’s brother-in-law, after all, which is one of the reasons I haven’t said anything.

The other reason I’m not ready to admit to yet. That I may kinda-sort-of-not-really like him.

***

“TEXAS?” I PUT THE CALL on speaker and set my phone on the counter so I can rub my temples. “Can I do the interview remotely?”

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