Page 71 of Always You (A Lilac Bay Novel)

“Ah, there she is,” he said. “I was wondering where you went.”

“You’re the worst.”

“I know, I know. But at least you don’t feel like a statue anymore.”

I did feel a little better now that he was giving me a hard time. It was more…normal.

“Fine. Thank you very much for your service.”

“My pleasure. So. Are you happy with how it turned out?”

“I am! Oh, I was going to tell you what Gina said.” I filled him in on our conversation and he listened attentively, smiling down at me.

“That’s great, Riley!”

“I know, right? She said she saw on my resume that I had taken a lot of broadcasting classes and she could tell I would have been good at it.”

“Well?” he asked.

“Well what?”

“Are you going to take her up on it? Are you going to ask for a reference?”

“Oh.” My heart sank a little, though I wasn’t exactly sure why. Maybe it was just more fun to dream about it than to actually think about it in practical terms. “I don’t know.”

“You should! It’s what you always wanted to do.”

“Yeah, but things changed.”

“Riley.” I looked up into his familiar blue eyes, intent on mine. For some reason, my heart started that strong thudding again. “Things could change again, you know.”

Something about the tone of his voice, about the way he was looking at me, made me think that he was talking about more than just the job opportunity.

I didn’t know why, but his words had me feeling a little nauseous. I pulled my hands away, feeling like a coward when his face fell.

“I’m hungry,” I said quickly. “You wanna grab a plate before it’s all gone?”

His eyes searched my face for a long moment, and I found that I was hardly breathing. But whatever it was he was looking for, he must not have found it, because his face relaxed and he smiled. “Sure. Let’s go eat.”