Why was he asking me about this? Why in the world would he want to know?
I prayed he hadn’t held out hope for us. Because that was never going to happen. Even if I wanted to make myself go there, I knew it wasn’t right. I couldn’t flirt and lead him on when I knew that Cole would always be there in the back of my mind.
And now that the L word had been thrown into the mix, I was even more of a lost cause.
“Couldn’t really say,” I said caustically, wishing he’d drop it. I was at work. I couldn’t fixate on Cole. I couldn’t think about how things were going for him in New York. I couldn’t allow myself to wonder whether he would call when he was finished.
“Because, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the gala with me. And I didn’t want to ask if the two of you were together.”
“Um. . .” I began, not sure what to say.
Hadn’t I stomped all over him enough for one lifetime?
Theo chuckled at my horrified expression. “As friends, Viv. I just want to escort the amazing person responsible for all of this. Just a night of fun, and dancing, and hanging out with someone I enjoy being with. Just don’t get high on antihistamines beforehand and we’ll be good,” he teased and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Well, I’m supposed to go with my friends.”
Theo shrugged. “I rented a limo. The company always springs for them. We could all go together,” he offered and that seemed to take some of the pressure off.
“Sure, that sounds great,” I agreed. I was relieved that Theo didn’t seem to be holding my idiotic behavior against me. He was such a nice guy and I really needed more nice in my life.
“Great! I’ll pick you and your friends up at your place around eight on Saturday!” Theo gave me a wave and headed over to several of his co-workers that had come in to see the progress.
My phone beeped in my pocket and I pulled it out to find a text from Cole.
In New York. Wish me luck.
Six words. That was it. But it lifted my mood instantly.
Not even hesitating I quickly typed out a response.
Good luck, Cole.
I didn’t get a reply. I hadn’t expected one. But my day felt a whole lot brighter.
By the evening, however, I was on pins and needles wanting to know what had happened in the meeting with the label. After receiving the text from Cole earlier, I had honestly thought he’d call afterwards. But there had been nothing but radio silence.
I tried calling Maysie several times but her phone went straight to voicemail.
“Have you heard from Maysie?” I asked Gracie after she got home from her last day at the coffee shop. She had gotten the job with the garden magazine and was set to start on Monday.
Though, she seemed less than thrilled about it. I didn’t exactly understand what her problem was. It was a hell of a lot better than making espressos every day.
“Nope, were we supposed to?” she asked, kicking off her shoes and padding into the kitchen to make herself something to eat.
I followed on her heels. “Today was the meeting with the record label,” I told her.
“Oh, that’s right,” Gracie mused; pulling out the leftover lasagna I had made the other night.
“I just thought we’d hear something by now, but Maysie’s phone is off when I tried to call her,” I said, annoyed by how unbothered Gracie seemed by the situation.
“Why don’t you call Cole, then,” she suggested. I grit my teeth together.
“Why in the world would I call Cole?” I asked defensively.
Gracie looked over her shoulder as she put the pasta in the microwave and turned it on.
“I don’t know. Maybe because he was over here the other night and I could hear exactly what you were doing through our super thin walls,” she explained, giving me a wry look.
“You were here?” I squeaked, mortified that Gracie had heard us. Not that it was the first time and it wasn’t as though I hadn’t been subjected to all manner of noises from within her bedroom.
But I hadn’t wanted anyone to know that he had been here. I wasn’t ready to talk about what it meant because he had spent the night. I wasn’t ready to talk about what we were to each other now.
“I do live here, you know,” Gracie responded dryly, taking her pasta out of the microwave and dumping it into a bowl. She grabbed a fork and passed by me on her way into the living room.
“I didn’t hear you come in. I just thought you stayed out,” I excused lamely.
“I’m sure you didn’t hear me. I don’t think you could hear much of anything with all the racket you two were making.”
“Oh whatever! Like you’re any quieter,” I huffed.
Gracie stirred her pasta with her fork and ate a mouthful as she regarded me.
“I was surprised when I recognized Cole’s voice moaning your name. I hadn’t expected to find him here. Especially not now.”
“Yeah, well he showed up and we hung out and. . .”
“You decided to get naked?” Gracie supplied.
“It wasn’t like that!” I maintained.
“When is it ever not like that?” Gracie asked.
“I didn’t plan for us to sleep together.”
“Well, from the sounds of it, there wasn’t a whole lot of sleeping going on,” Gracie laughed.
“I’m glad you think it’s so damn funny. Should we spend some time talking about your trip on the bone train with Mitch? Maybe we can dissect that for my amusement,” I snipped, irritated.
Gracie cleared her throat and covered her smile with a cough.
“Enough said. I get it. Sorry. You just made it clear you were done with all of that. And by all of that I mean Cole and his magic penis.”
“It was different this time.” I sounded like such a girl. Ugh!
“Of course it was.” Gracie rolled her eyes and I had to wonder when she became so cynical. That was normally Riley’s MO. Gracie was the peppy optimist. Something had changed in her and I found it disturbing at how hostile she sounded.
Gracie got up and looked down at me, her expression softening, her pinched mouth relaxing. “I just don’t want you to get hurt, Viv. And Cole always seems to hurt you.”
“I won’t let him. I’m not even sure he’ll have an opportunity to get close enough to hurt me.”
Gracie’s eyes were troubled. “He’s always that close, Viv. Even when you pushed him away.”
I chewed on my bottom lip stared down at my hands. “He told me he loved me,” I admitted in a whisper.