I pull up to the drop-off for American Airlines, glad to see there aren’t a ton of cars vying to get in and out. I turn off the engine.
“Thanks for the ride,” Chloe says.
“Call me when you get in, okay?”
“I will.”
“Hey.” I take her hand. “In case I haven’t told you enough, you’re incredible and I appreciate everything you’ve done for me.” Her gaze moves out the windshield. “I talked to Rena yesterday and she’s very happy that my number of followers is up, way more than Mike and Giancarlo’s, which you know, I had no doubt would happen. I mean, look at them and then look at me,” I say to lighten the mood and hopefully get her eyes to meet mine again.
She twists her mouth into a wry smile and looks at me. Hard. I wish I knew what she was thinking. “You are pretty easy on the eyes.”
“Right back at you.”
“Grab my bag for me?”
“Absolutely.” I hop out of the car, meeting her at the trunk. When she wraps her arms around me in goodbye, I hold on for an extra few seconds. Her body molds to mine like it was made for me, and me only.
“See ya,” she says, turning and rolling her suitcase behind her.
I wave and watch her walk away until she’s out of sight. There’s so much I want to say to her when she gets back. Climbing into the driver’s seat, I hope waiting was the right move.
And I hope the sudden surge of unease in the pit of my stomach is nothing to worry about.
Chapter Twenty-One
#TheHeartWantsWhatTheHeartWants
Chloe
The definition of‘hard and fast’ is: fixed, definite, strict, rigid, inflexible, ironclad, binding, and a few other similar words. The term originally applied to a ship that had come out of the water either by dry-docking or running aground, and therefore was unable to move.
I used to agree with this description. After Leo broke up with me, I made the hard and fast rule of no more dating. No more men.
Then Finn came along. And now when I think ‘hard and fast’ I think about sex. With him. When he’s so desperate to come inside me that he can’t control himself.Ido that to him. I hold power over him I’ve not held over my previous boyfriends.
It’s part of the reason why it was easy to look Leo right in the eye and say “no” when he practically begged me to get back together.
The entire time I was in New Jersey I thought about what it meant for that strange turn of events. Was I no longer cursed? Was the curse something I made up to make myself feel better? Because the universal truth still applied—my boyfriends dumped me to be with someone else. How many times can a person try at love before courage and hope are dismantled to dust?
Sitting against my headboard, I roll my head to the side and look out my bedroom window. It’s bright out, but raindrops trickle down the glass. It’s the second passing shower in as many hours, which is not unusual for December in SoCal. Dad and I have come home a day early. Aunt Becky is doing well and we both wanted to sleep in our own beds. Dad especially, after so many weeks away. I didn’t tell anyone I was back. I walked into the house, straight to my bedroom, plopped a green coconut bath bomb into the tub and soaked until I turned into a prune. Then I put on jammies and climbed into bed with my laptop. The great thing about my job is I can be online from anywhere without anyone knowing my location unless I want them to.
There’s something else I can’t get off my mind. Finn’s last words when he dropped me off at the airport. He had to have overheard my conversation with Leo. Our house is small. Yet he didn’t say anything. Not that I wanted to talk about it, but still. He could have acknowledged it, right? Instead, he complimented me on our working relationship. It caught me completely off guard. Have I read all of his signals wrong? Is it only sex for him? I didn’t think so, but I’ve been wrong before. Multiple times.
And if I’m right and we have something special? Then there’s a part of my brain that is waiting for him to drop the breakup bomb on me. Tell me he met the real love of his life. More than any of my other boyfriends, Finn’s betrayal would devastate me the worst because…because I love him the hardest. I didn’t mean to fall for him. I didn’t even try. Everything is just so easy with him. My heart reached for him the moment he said, “Small world, huh?” in the Landsharks conference room at our official first-meet.
Which brings me to the other part of my brain that says—no,knows—Finn is first and foremost a baseball player. He’s dedicated to his career above all else, which is something I greatly admire. I feel the same. I love my job. I’m great at it. Social Media Manager Chloe is effortless. It’s off-the-clock Chloe that is harder for me to trust.
Can I trust off-the-field Finn?
“Chloe?” my dad says through the closed bedroom door.
“Come in,” I call out.
He peeks his head around the door before fully entering. Since I hit puberty after my mom passed away and needed his help with my period, he’s always been careful about barging in on me. “This package just arrived for you. It’s from Finn.”
I put my laptop to the side and accept the box. “Thanks.”
“I thought our early return was top secret,” he says.