Page 55 of The Meeting
Abi smiled and bumped her shoulder against Kailynn’s. “Aw shucks.”
“Have fun and drive safe.”
“Thank you.”
They said good night to each other, and Kailynn slipped into her bedroom. She looked around at all of her stuff and sighed. Despite feeling completely relieved about the verdict of her business, she now felt the impending pressure of finding a place to stay that was reasonably priced and that could accommodate her business.
She sank onto her bed, a blow-up mattress, and rolled right off of it onto the floor. Not to mention she needed to find an employee to do the marketing.
“One thing at a time,” she muttered to herself when she pushed herself up onto her knees. “One thing at a time.”
15
Kailynn had spent most of the week checking out various apartments. Despite knowing that she would make more money when Drew wasn’t shelling her income to someone else, she still had a hard time spending money on an expensive place—no matter how nice. Two-bedroom apartments were pricey, and she wouldn’t have a roommate. She tried to remind herself that the company would technically pay rent for the other room, but she didn’t want to rely on that in case the company stopped doing so well.
As soon as Drew no long had his hand in the company, Kailynn worked at listing several new items on the site. He had agreed during the mediation that he would cease his operations of the company and let Kailynn take over from there. They still waited on the paperwork from the state showing that the company had been dissolved so Kailynn could begin working on her own as a single-member LLC.
It took some trial and error to figure out how to post the products, but once they were up, it was a relief. Somehow, having Drew involved made it less daunting since she was going through it with another person. And if their company had tanked, at least she had someone to commiserate with. Now that the company would be solely hers, it was up to her and her alone to be successful.
She didn’t doubt her abilities. Honestly, she knew she was the only person to provide input to keep the company running anyway. Drew was strictly business and didn’t do the best job at it. So why was she getting down on herself? She knew she had the talent and the drive.
She walked into the last apartment building on her list and crossed her fingers while she looked around. It was decently sized, certainly big enough for her and the company. It was reasonably priced and something she could afford. And she was hesitating. But why? Wasn’t this what she wanted?
No. No, it wasn’t.
Deep down, she knew she wanted to be near Chase, but with no vacancy at his apartment complex, her options were limited. Thinking back on the last week since she had won the case, she hadn’t heard from Chase much. She tried sending a few messages his way, which he replied to, but she felt like she was carrying the conversation, so she quit trying. Her phone had remained silent since. He had made comments about being busy with other clients, but somehow it didn’t feel like that was the only reason he wasn’t replying much. Something didn’t feel right.
She was bummed he didn’t seem interested, but she couldn’t help still wanting to try with him. She thought they had had fun at breakfast, and the sex...
Man, was the sex good. She wouldn’t mind having that all the time, even if it was just as a friend with benefits. Although she knew her heart didn’t want that. She wanted him—all of him.
That was another thing that puzzled her. She thought he had been interested in her, too. And now that she wasn’t even sure that he was, she was still trying to get an apartment near him. It didn’t make any sense to her. A normal person would have moved on. But the heart wants what the heart wants.
She wouldn’t go groveling at his feet. She wanted to try, but she wasn’t about to go about trying to make things work if the other person wasn’t willing to put forth the effort. If Drew had taught her anything, it was that she needed to cut her losses and move on.
She sighed heavily as she pushed the door open to Abi’s apartment and dropped her purse on the table.
“Kailynn, is that you?” Abi called from her room.
“Yes, just me. You’re home a day early! How’d your show go?”
Abi came out of the room and dropped on the couch in the living room, with Kailynn following. “It went great! I sold everything, so I left.”
“Everything?”
She nodded.
“Wow! That’s incredible. I’m so happy for you!”
“I still can’t believe it.”
“I knew you could do it. Seriously, that’s amazing.”
Abi blushed. “Thank you. What have you been up to this last week?”
Kailynn dropped her head back on the couch. “Apartment hunting.”
“It’s going that well, huh?”
