Page 45 of How to Get Lucky
“I have a verdict,” she says, and I can’t tell from her tone if she’s deep in thought or deeply disappointed. She relieves me with her next words. “I love it, Teddy. It’s exactly what I’m looking for. The pop lyrics are familiar enough to get a club pumped up, but the rock jamming underneath makes it a totally unique sound. You’re soooo good.”
My body tingles at her words. I could listen to her compliment me all night long. And hell, I’d like to earn praise from her, in all different ways.
She mentions other artists she wants to hear, like P!nk and Ed Sheeran, so I make some notes to work on it and send her another round tomorrow.
We listen to a few other tunes I have cued up, soaking in the surround-sound vibe of the speakers, the way music bathes the studio. Archer’s right—it does feel like the club in here.
When we’ve made real progress, I declare our work done for the evening and head to the mini-fridge, grabbing two cans of seltzer and handing her one. “Celebratory toast?”
After we pop them open, we clink aluminum and say, “Cheers.” I slide next to her on the couch.
“That was hard work,” she says. “You do seem like you need a break.”
“Hey, it’s been a long day,” I say, a hint of fatigue coming through. “Tennis with Sam, lunch with my parents, radio show, thinking about the situation with you all day.” I probably shouldn’t admit that last bit, but when I’m next to her like this, the truth wants to come out.
“Ah, yes. It is a situation.”
“It didn’t help either when my mom asked if I was seeing anyone.” The guilt and confusion from lunch comes rushing back, like a sharp, stabbing pain.
She takes a sip of her bubbles, her brow knitting, like she’s mulling this over. “And what did you say?”
“Honestly? I lied. Or at least I kinda didn’t answer. And I don’t know why exactly. Because I love my folks and I’ve always been up-front with them about my relationships, and I wanted to tell them about you. But I don’t know . . .” I trail off, not sure exactly what I’m trying to say. Not sure where we should go from here.
How to be careful and also be present tonight. Or if I can.
“But this isn’t a relationship.” It comes out a little sad, and that note in her voice stops me for a moment.
But then, I can’t argue with her.
It’s not.
I’m the one who made it clear that we couldn’t have one.
I laid down the law.
“Right,” I say, a little heavily. “For all the reasons we talked about.”
“Exactly,” she says, adjusting her tone, speaking brightly now. Maybe too brightly? Hard to say, but I swear for a second it sounds like she’s convincing herself.
Like maybe she wishes we could have something more.
Or is that wishful thinking on my part?
Likely so, and with that in mind, I let the next words make landfall. “Except we aren’t going to be working together that long . . .”
It sounds like an invitation, one that spells out how I’m potentially up for more in the future.
Trouble is, even though she won’t be working for the club much longer, she’ll always be my boss’s sister.
And I don’t want to mix business with pleasure.
Especially since leaving the club isn’t an option.
My deejay business has barely gotten off the ground. It’s like a hot-air balloon floating a few feet above earth, sandbags still very much attached.
“That’s true,” she says, perched on the edge of the couch like she’s waiting for me to say more.
But, fuuuuck, I can’t say what I want to say. Can’t do what I want to do.
I can say this much though.
“You’ve got to know, if I didn’t work for your brother, this would be different,” I say, gesturing from her to me and back. “It would. I swear.”
Her smile curves wickedly. “Good to hear.”
“But I do work for him. And more than that, I just can’t make the same mistakes I made last time. Everything was tangled up with Tracy’s dad, and when I got out of that relationship, I had to start over. Rebuild from scratch.”
“I don’t want you to be in that position. You need to know I don’t want to get in the way of your career. That’s the last thing I want.”
Damn. Why does she have to be so understanding? Oh right, because she’s awesome. Thanks, universe, for dangling a fantastic woman in my path—a woman I can’t have.
“And I need the job. I need the raise I’m up for too, since it’ll help me with my own business.” I emphasize the word need because, well, it deserves emphasis. “My event business isn’t ready to fly on its own just now. Maybe someday. But not yet. So I need to keep building that. I said as much to Sam when I told him about you.”
