“Careful, your chivalry is showing again.” I liked teasing him, enjoying the lightness that came with being away from Williams Tower.
Tipping his head back, he laughed. “You’ve seen a lot more than my chivalry by now. No use trying to act modestly by covering it up.”
“You? Modest? Never,” I said. He rolled his eyes and kept driving. Anywhere, it seemed, would work for him. As long as it was nowhere near Williams Inc.
An idea took shape in my head. Obviously, he needed a break from anything Williams related. I thought back to my life before I met him, how much simpler it seemed.
“Would you like to see where I used to work?”
Darkness replaced the light in his eyes as he slid them to my side. “Do you want to go ask them for your old job back?”
“No, don’t be silly,” I responded quickly, seeing his brevity slipping away at an alarming rate. “I just thought you might like to see how the other half live. I guarantee there will be nothing that will even remotely remind you of Williams Inc. or your family there.”
He gave me a long look, while still somehow managing to navigate the traffic. “Okay, as long as you don’t throw yourself at your old boss and beg him to give you your job back.”
“Never,” I said, mildly surprised to find I meant it. Those days might’ve been simpler, but I couldn’t see myself going back there.
Being at Williams Inc. and working for Jeremiah, despite the dad drama, had really opened up my eyes about where I wanted to go professionally. Who I wanted to be. In the short time I’d been there, I already started seeing some things I had a hand in take shape, and it was inspiring.
For the first time, the years I spent at college, the late nights in the library and the long, difficult road I took to get there didn’t feel like a waste. “I’m all yours.”
He shot me a glance, then grinned. “Good to know.”
I flushed when I realized what that must’ve sounded like to him, but given his response, I didn’t feel the need to clarify. While I meant I was all his professionally, it sure felt like it was personally as well. And he didn’t seem to mind.
What is happening to my life?
“Should I just keep driving until I see a bookstore, or are you going to tell me where we’re going?” he asked, a smile pulling at the corners of his lips.
I nudged him with my elbow but then pointed at the next intersection. “Make a left over there.”
We talked all the way to the store. It might’ve been my imagination, but when Tim gave me a big hug and told me how happy he was to see me, I could’ve sworn Jeremiah looked jealous. Which was absurd, so I let it go.
Jenny came out from behind the counter where she served coffee and pastries to customers, enveloping me in a warm hug. She smelled like butter and chocolate and coffee. I breathed in her familiar scent and let it wash over me. I wouldn’t come back to work here, but I did miss my friends.
“Who’s the hottie?” she whispered against my ear, eyes sparkling when I pulled away from her.
“Jenny, meet Jeremiah,” I said. “Jeremiah’s my—”
“Friend,” he interjected. Clearly, we were leaving all sense of formality and anything about Williams Inc. so far behind that he didn’t even want me to introduce him as my boss. “It’s so nice to meet you.”
“Likewise,” Jenny said, shaking his hand. “Although I must be honest, I haven’t heard a thing about you. Where did you come from?”
“We met a couple of weeks ago,” I replied vaguely, steering the conversation away from the topic of us for now. “How’re are things going here? And who let Tim start doing the displays?”
She laughed, and Tim cursed under his breath, muttering about how someone had to do it. There was a new post-apocalyptic young adult series out that was taking the world by storm. I still kept an eye on these things, even though it wasn’t my job to know anymore. Old habits die hard.
Some of the shops I walked past the last week or so had huge, elaborate displays advertising the series while others had it front and center, with all the past hits of the same genre arranged around them.
Tim, on the other hand, had a poster stuck to the wall above an uncovered metal table where he’d stacked the books.
Jenny cracked up, throwing Tim an I-told-you-so look. “I offered to help, but he wouldn’t let me.”
“Go figure.” I smiled at Tim, then narrowed my eyes at Jeremiah. “How would you like to be part of the premier display building team on this side of the… block?”
Curiosity sparked in his eyes, and he nodded. I enjoyed this side of him, the one where I saw flashes of the man he really was. All the riches one could hope for, but he still had a curious exploring adventurer somewhere in his soul.
He rolled up his sleeves and headed over to the table. “Where do we start? I have no idea what I’m supposed to be doing.”