Chapter 8

chapter

eight

Chelsea

"He's still ignoring your calls and texts?" Charlie asks.

"And my emails," I say.

Two weeks ago, I'd started with an email. First, a more casually toned one since I thought we were friends, followed by a more formal one.

Maybe I'd imagined our friendship. No, we hadn't hung out every weekend, but we'd had a few Terminator movie marathons at his house. I'd picked him up from the airport a few times. We ate lunch together, in our shared office, nearly every weekday for three years. Then he'd made his big announcement about moving back home to the entire company. He hadn't texted me that weekend, when he'd obviously put the plan into motion, to give me a heads-up.

I'd gone into work that morning ready to come clean. To tell him everything I'd kept from him for our entire relationship. I was going to shoot my shot, as it were. Tell him about Mike and my lie and how that lie got out of hand and in the process of all of that, I'd fallen in love with him.

I still didn't want to be that girl—the one who slept with her boss. But now I know the truth, JD is more important than this job. I'd even pay back all of the money the company spent on my MBA tuition. I just knew that it was all over now. I didn't want to work for H & J Funds when I couldn't do the work with JD. Without him, I could find a job at another finance firm.

"Who ignores a letter of resignation?"

"Evidently JD does."

I eye my sister as she does a little happy wiggle while eating her snack. "Enjoying that?"

She looks up mid-chew, then glances back down at her pickles and popcorn, shrugs and goes back to chewing. "Baby likes it," she says.

"Baby is gross."

"Chelsea, I love you like my own sister, but do not talk trash about my son," Max says as he comes into the kitchen. He gives my sister a brief kiss on her lips, then drops one on her very pregnant belly.

Did I mention that my older sister's baby-daddy and soon-to-be-husband is a twenty-two-year-old professional hockey player and hotter than hell? And he's so head over ass in love with Charlie, it's sickening to watch.

Still, if anyone deserved a happy ending, it's my sister. She is the absolute greatest human.

"Max," I say, in greeting, to my future brother-in-law.

I glance at Mike, sitting patiently at my feet. "Can he stay here with y'all?" I ask Charlie.

"Of course. We love Mike."

Max bends to the floor and starts rubbing Mike's furry belly. My pup's head lolls back and his tongue flops to one side of his mouth.

"Such a good boy," Max coos.

I jump to my feet. "Because it's obvious that I'm just going to have to drive there and see him in person. Since he's behaving like a child. Talk some sense into him."

"Where are you going?" Max asks.

"Saddle Creek. Because evidently everyone who doesn't live in Austin lives there. Y'all are like an infestation," I say.

Max laughs. "Saddle Creek is the best. You're gonna love it. Oh, make sure you stop at Ruthie's and get a slice of chocolate pie. It's amazing."

"Chocolate pie," I repeat. "Got it."

"Oh, will get you get some stuff from Sugar Bakers?" Charlie asks.

I blow out a breath. "Just text me what you want."

"I'll do you better than that. I'll call the bakery myself and just order from them," Charlie says. "They'll box it up and you can just grab it on your way out of town. They had these melt-in-your-mouth miniature cinnamon rolls. Seriously, I think maybe they infuse them with angel tears or some illegal substance."

I laugh. "Sure. What baby wants, baby gets."

"Why are you going to Saddle Creek?" Max asks. He sneers at my sister's snack, and shakes his head a little.

"To quit. I've been trying to resign and JD has been ignoring all of my efforts. I even considered a singing telegram, but I don't think they have those anymore."

Max laughs. "Go give him hell."