Page 70 of My Lucky Charm

Chapter Seventeen

Eloise

The next day, a loud, incessant knocking wakes me up.

The smell of blueberry muffins and freshly baked bread lingers in the room—and I hear my sisters call my name from the other side of the door.

“Don’t you have a key?” I hear Raya ask Poppy.

“No, but I bet she keeps one out here,” Poppy replies. “I’m sure she has a backup in case she locks herself out.”

“How many times a week do you bet she has to use it?” Raya asks.

If I were more awake, I’d be more offended. As it is, I don’t move—just blink. I hear them shuffling around and wonder how long it will take for them to locate the spare key on top of the door jamb.

When I hear the lock rattling, I think, Wow, I need a better hiding place.

From my bed, I have a clear shot of the door, and when they push it open and burst inside, I sit up. “Is someone dead?”

“Someone is about to be,” Raya says, striding in my loft like a principal bursting into a classroom of unruly kids.

“I told you not to get involved with your boss, Eloise! When are you going to learn this little lesson? How many times do you have to make this same mistake?”

At that, my heart drops and I pull my knees up to my chest. “So, you do know. About Jay.”

“Yes, I know about Jay. I got you that job, remember?” she says. “I’m friends with his girlfriend.”

“You are?” I can still see Jay and Amber together in Sully’s. The way she claimed him, the way he let her—that was never our story. In hindsight, I realize I was more of a dirty, little secret.

Raya lifts a brow, and I get the answer to the question I’ve been too afraid to ask.

Jay was with Amber long before our little fling. My stomach roils. I drop my head into my hands. “Oh my gosh. I was the other woman.” And then, back to Raya: “I swear I didn’t know he had a girlfriend.”

“But he was your boss, Eloise,” Raya says. “What were you thinking?”

I wish I was a snail and could retract my entire body into a cozy shell. I see Poppy reach out and put a hand on Raya’s shoulder, giving her a hey, lighten up look.

“Jay is a creep,” Raya says, straightening a bit. “It’s not all on you.”

Poppy drops onto the end of my bed and hands over a paper bag. “I brought you an apple fritter.”

I open the bag, tear off a piece and stuff it in my mouth. “What are you guys doing here at this hour?” I look at Raya. “And were you flirting with Finn Holbrook last night?” I swear I saw her flirting with Finn Holbrook.

“No.” Raya is dressed in a slick black pantsuit, ready to go be corporate and do whatever she does with numbers all day. “And we aren’t here to talk about me. Or about Jay.”

“Can we talk about Finn?” Poppy asks, shooting me a conspiratorial grin.

I grin back.

Raya does not. “No.”

“Fine, so why are you here?” I tear off another piece of the fritter and pop it in my mouth. “What time is it? Gray has a photoshoot today and—”

“Eloise.”

Uh oh. Raya is using her Big Sister voice. Do they know?

“We talked about this.”

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