“But you’re my prick.” I smiled.
Tim’s chin dropped to his chest while Brent’s brows shot up. Even Jake snorted with laughter in the back. It dawned on me then what I’d said. “Wait. No. That came out wrong.”
The guys laughed so hard Brent had to smack Tim on the back when he started coughing. “You should look into having that filter installed on your mouth.”
Tim’s words were sputtered between choked breaths. It was a running joke around the store that I needed a filter. I spoke my mind too bluntly and too often for more sensitive listeners.
I snorted. “No way. I call it like I see it. You and I have an understanding. I don’t think that guy understands a thing outside of his silver-spoon world. He can shove the damn thing up his ass as far as I’m concerned. He’s a bastard.”
“I don’t even want to know.” Brent laughed at my colorful description and picked his clipboard up from the counter. “Glad you’ll be sticking around for a while though. Things are more interesting when you’re around. See you guys.”
“See you.” Tim and I waved them off, then Tim swept his arm in the direction of the storage room. “Want to get to it? The authors of those books are coming in to do a reading and signing this weekend.”
“Oh, the excitement.” I rolled my eyes, winking at Tim when we both started laughing. The owner of the store always got overly excited when authors came.
“I know. I don’t know how I’ll sleep until then.” We walked into the back and started hauling out the boxes, setting up two separate displays for the two authors who would be coming in.
The shift went by fast. Tim and I stayed busy, but we had both displays completely set up and all the ads in the windows by the time we were done. Tiana was waiting for me at home, two glasses of red wine sitting on the coffee table in front of her.
She grabbed the remote when I walked in, muting one of her reality dating shows. Sitting up on her knees, she reached for the glasses and took one for herself and passed one off to me. “How was the interview? What’s the Jeremiah Williams like in person?”
“The Jeremiah Williams is a complete and total dickwad. I didn’t even stay for the interview. Met the man over lunch and decided my integrity was more important to me than being his secretary.”
Tiana frowned, the corners of her mouth turning down. “You didn’t even do the interview?”
“I didn’t.”
I watched as a shadow crept into her olive green eyes. She was less than happy with me. “Why the hell not? You would’ve been great!”
“No, the guy’s a dick. Dicks aren’t worthy of greatness.” The words slipped out before I thought them through. Again. The corners of Tiana’s mouth quirked up. “You know what I mean.”
“Sure, but seriously. So what if he’s a dick? You’re not applying to for a position as his wife, you’re applying for a job. Go back, like tomorrow. It’s still a great opportunity.”
“Seriously?” I sipped my wine, looking at her over the rim. “He’s a giant ass.”
My phone beeped with an incoming text. I reached over to where I’d plopped it down on the floor beside the couch I was on and fished around until my fingers closed around my plastic case. About to silence it and convince Tiana why it would be a bad idea for me to go back to Williams Towers, I glanced down to check who it was. My eyes widened in surprise.
The text was illuminated on my lock screen. It came from a number I didn’t have, but the name of the sender was right there at the end of the message. Neil Colman.
Stephanie, please come back and talk to me. Tomorrow morning, 9 a.m. Kind regards, Neil Colman.
“What the fuck?” I muttered. He said to come back and talk to him if Jeremiah wasn’t interested, but he heard and saw what happened between us. Why was he still contacting me?
“What?” Tiana asked, leaning over to take a peek at my phone. “Who’s Neil Colman?”
I thought back to our conversation and how easy Neil was to talk to. Maybe I could get a position as his secretary instead. Fine, I would go. On the off chance I would be interested in what he had to say. “I guess he’s the reason I’m going back to Doucheville tomorrow morning.”