Page 82 of Chasing the Sun

“I’ve made such a mess of things.”

“What are you talking about? I thought everything was going good.”

“It was until I…until we…Bryce and I…”

Elle’s blue eyes went wide as dawning struck. “You and Bryce?”

Chloe nodded while a tear escaped and rolled down her cheek.

“Oh, sweetie.” Elle immediately leaned over and pulled her into a hug.

A few more tears fell as Chloe let herself be consoled, and then she sat back and swatted them away. “I shouldn’t be crying about this. It was my fault for getting involved.”

“Tell me what happened.”

So, Chloe did. She relayed their encounter in the hot tub, the golf outing, and their first kiss in his kitchen. She squirmed a little when she mentioned them making love, and then she moved on to the run-in with Rachel and how she’d told Bryce they should just be friends.

“Friends?” Elle said incredulously. “How can you go back to being friends after all that?”

“People do it.”

“Who? I don’t know of anyone. Do you?”

She shrugged. “Not really.”

“Besides, that would only work if you actually wanted to be friends, but it sounds like you have deeper feelings for him than that.”

“I do.”

“I bet he does too.”

“I don’t know.”

“Oh, come on. Bryce has never been involved with one of his employees until now. The fact that he let down his guard with you speaks volumes.”

“Maybe he was just lonely.”

“Ha! He has plenty of options if that’s all it was.”

“Yeah, like Dr. Johnson.”

Elle flapped her hand dismissively. “Forget about her. What are you going to do now?”

“What can I do? I’m the one who said we should be friends.”

Elle was quiet for a minute or two, and then she said, “I have an idea. Did you know Bryce’s birthday is coming up?”

“No. When?”

“Next Saturday.”

“So?”

“So, you should do something special for him. Whisk him away for the weekend.”

“Molly will be with us next weekend, and I’m sure she’ll want to be with her dad on his birthday.”

“You could celebrate with her during the day and then ask Victoria to take her overnight.”