Chloe
“Youlookterrible,”Julia said, pushing open the door of Crowley Lake Realty, a coffee cup clutched in each of her hands.
Chloe let out a groan and thumped her head down onto her desk.
“Right,” Julia said. “I see. I take it the party was fun, then.”
Chloe raised her head. “Kind of,” she said. “And kind of terrible.”
“Terrible?” Julia sank down into a chair opposite the desk. “Why terrible?”
“I don’t know!” Chloe let out a despairing wail. “It was all going really well; I was talking to people, Maxwell was being sweet and then…” She slumped back down. “He disappeared.”
“Disappeared?” Julia frowned. “What, like, vanished?”
“Pretty much,” Chloe said, raising her head once more. “Just left without saying goodbye. I got a text saying he was sick. But vampires don’t get sick, do they?”
“I don’t think so,” Julia said. “Speaking of sick, why haven’t you taken that potion Jesse gave you? Because girl, you need it. You smell like a brewery.”
“The potion!” Chloe had forgotten all about the potion in her fridge. Her fridge. Which was upstairs. She turned her head to look at the stairs and moaned at the thought of climbing them.
“I’ll get it,” Julia said, shaking her head. “Drink your coffee.”
Chloe attempted a small sip as she watched Julia bound up the stairs with all the energy of someone who had not drowned her problems in tequila shots. Julia was smart. She, Chloe, was not.
“Drink this,” Julia reappeared, uncorking the little bottle and handing it to Chloe.
Chloe’s nose wrinkled at the smell, and she coughed. “I can’t,” she complained, but Julia gave her the stern look that she usually reserved for Jude’s behaviour in public places. Gritting her teeth, she downed it in one, swearing and spluttering at the acrid taste. “That’s fucking horrible!”
“I’m sure it is,” Julia said. “But you’ll feel better.”
It happened almost instantly. The fog in her head lifted, the grainy, sandy feeling in her eyes disappeared, the lethargy drained from her limbs. Chloe sat up straighter and picked up her coffee, draining half the cup to wash away the taste. “Jesse’s a genius,” she said after a moment. “It really works.”
“Didn’t you think it would?”
“I mean, I guess…” Chloe shook her head. “I guess I didn’t think it would work that well.”
“He knows his stuff, your brother. I mean, I know that you wish he’d do something with a regular paycheck, but—”
“I take it back!” Chloe said dramatically. “He should be making this stuff full time; he’ll be a millionaire.”
Julia laughed. “Okay, so you’re kind of human again. Tell me what the hell happened last night.”
“It was like I said. Everything was going well. We were all drinking a lot, but it was nice, you know? Things had been a bit tense with Maxwell after the dress thing, and last night was so good. I felt like…” Chloe trailed off. She didn’t want to say she had felt like she could have stayed in Maxwell’s arms forever. Not when she had clearly been so spectacularly wrong.
“Like what?” Julia asked, looking at her intently.
“Like, things were good,” Chloe said quickly. “And then Maxwell told me he was going to talk to Charles, and then next thing I knew, he was gone, and I got some stupid text about feeling sick.”
“That’s…weird,” Julia said. “Really weird.”
“I know!” Chloe said. “I think maybe…”
“Maybe what?” Julia pressed.
“Maybe he’s distancing himself from me,” Chloe admitted. “On purpose. Because he doesn’t want me to get too attached and be sad when…well, whenever he moves on.”
“Oh, Chloe,” Julia looked like she wanted to hug her. “You don’t really think that.”
“It’s the most logical explanation,” Chloe said, shrugging as though it wasn’t intensely painful to think, let alone admit. “He’s a good guy, but he doesn’t do relationships. Not really. And I knew that, but I let myself fall for him. Just a bit.” The “just a bit” part was abundantly untrue, but she hoped Julia wouldn’t press her on it.
“Of course you did,” Julia said. “But I don’t know why you think he’s not falling equally hard. I mean, I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”
“He likes me, I know that,” Chloe said quickly, her cheeks colouring. “And yeah, we’ve got great chemistry. But he’s not the settle down kind of guy. What would that even look like? I mean, would he move into my flat and wait for me to finish work with the blinds drawn all day? It would never work.”
“It wouldn’t have to be like that,” Julia argued. “It could be—”
“It doesn’t matter,” Chloe said, finishing off her coffee and tossing the cardboard cup into the bin. “I’m not the first woman to fall too hard for a guy who wants to keep things casual, and I’m sure I won’t be the last. I guess I just have to enjoy it while I can. I’ll get over it.”
“Chloe, I really don’t think—” Julia began, but she stopped. “I should go,” she said. “Not because I don’t want to talk about it, but because I can tell that all you want to do is get stuck into your work and not think about this.”
“Am I that predictable?” Chloe made a face.
“Yep,” Julia said. “And that’s what I love about you. But you’re not off the hook from talking about this, okay? Call me later.”
“I will,” Chloe promised, booting up her computer. She’d get onto the printer about the new flyers for an architectural monstrosity that claimed to be eco-friendly; it was sure to be popular with Sydney buyers. She’d get ready for what she hoped would be the last inspection of the cottage with the green-painted door on Golden Dawn Avenue. The young woman from Sydney – Ruby, was it? – had sounded keen. Then she’d do her quarterly projections.
And she wouldn’t call Maxwell.
Even if she couldn’t stop thinking about him.