It was early autumn in the street of Chicago. Although winter is months away, the chilly night air was an excuse enough to shift closer to my date.
While we waited for our order to ring up, we had a brief idle conversation about work. Although I knew some things about Reed from the secretarial office gossip, there wasn't much we could talk about to last our attention. Therefore, I had to address the one person present when we formally met one way or another.
And that was Steve Crawford.
"How long have you known Steve? He mentioned you were in law school together," I asked.
"We did, which was where we met. But I've known Julian's younger brother longer."
"Jensen?"
"Yes. We were in the same college when I was doing my pre-law diploma. We joined the same fraternity, which we created by ourselves with our other friend, Grant. Did you remember him over the weekend? He was the blonde-haired guy who was prancing around with a brunette," he said with a smug grin.
"I think I remembered Steve and I talked about a guy like that over at the bar," I replied with a chuckle.
For a moment, he was quiet. And then, something crossed his expression. It made my stomach churn restlessly.
Had I said something to sour his mood?
Fortunately, he couldn't ask when our order came up. After that, we walked across the street to a small park with a view of the river. Even though there was a rusted tang scent in the air, the smell of the burger and fries was enough to put my stomach at ease. For a while, we both ate in silence. And then, he took his turn to ask the same question.
"So, how did you know Steve?"
"Oh! That's a long story which involved my sister's private life."
He arched an eyebrow. "Did he use to date your sister?"
I scoffed. "He wishes, but no." I weighed my option whether or not to tell him. Instead, I decided to tread lightly. "My sister was dating his best friend."
"His best friend? Do you mean Flynn Stanton?"
"Don't tell me you know him as well?" I held up my hand, promptly stopping him from interjecting. "Of course you would know him. If you knew Steve in law school, you would have heard of Flynn. Those two had been friends long before that."
"If we knew these people most of our lives, how come I've only crossed paths with you over the weekend?" He lightly jested.
"True. I've worked for your family's firm for almost two years now. But when I was hired, you were already on your way to New York, weren't you? Maybe it wasn't our time to meet." I cheekily quipped.
"Maybe." He laughed. "So, other than Steve, is there any common acquaintance we have? I'd rather not be surprised any more than this."
"Depends," I replied with a sly grin. "Who else do you think I may have connections with?"
"Well, since you're best friends with Julian Hawksley's wife, which is the most surprising thing, maybe there is..." he trailed off in thought.
"My sister's currently dating an FBI agent. Do you know anyone working in law enforcement?"
"Well, I think one of Jensen's wife's friend is a police detective."
"Oh, yeah. I think I remember her."
"You met Marie? Did you have a run-in with the law?" he asked playfully.
I stiffened at his question, being reminded that I had the first-hand experience visiting a police precinct. But then, I quickly recovered and playfully chuckled and shook my head.
Luckily, he hadn't noticed my brief slip.
We continued comparing notes of people we knew in our lives. When we finished eating, it was nearly past ten in the evening. Therefore, we decided to end the night. As we walked back in the office building's direction, Reed offered to give me a ride home.
I wasn't one to refuse a free commute home, so I agreed.
Upon driving closer to Zoey and Julian's penthouse, I remembered with guilt clarity about plans I made this evening with my sister.
Reed parked his car in front of the lobby. The glossy silver Lexus caught the attention of the lobby receptionist and security. But my attention was direct to a familiar silhouette sitting by the waiting area with a take-away bag from our favorite restaurant.
Ashamed, I hastily got out of the car and said a short goodbye to Reed. He stared agape and unresponsive as I closed the door.
At that moment, I couldn't care less what he thought. My sister's wrath had more punch than making a good impression on one of the best dates I had in the year.
I sprinted inside without glancing back to check if Reed left or not, which was another misstep on my part.
"Amy, oh god, I'm so sorry." I swiftly said before she could say a word to reprimand me. "I don't want to lie and say I didn't forget because you know that I did. Why didn't you call?"
She regarded me for a moment. "Were you on a date?" She nodded towards the door just in time for Reed to enter the lobby.
I froze mid-stride and peered back to the door like a deer in headlights. "Mr. Seymour, what are you doing here?"
Reed met my gaze and then turned to where Amy sat. "Ms. Nolan," he addressed her, "I apologize for keeping your sister for most of the evening. I see you two had plans," he said and gestured towards the brown paper bag takeaway food.
Amy's eyes darted from Reed and me with curiosity. Whatever she was thinking, it couldn't be pleasant from the unchanging expression on her stoic face. Knowing my sister, especially what happened four months ago, she wouldn't keenly jump to the idea of me dating again. Given her own experience with jerk ex-lovers, it took her nearly five years to let go.
This could go bad, depending on how I play it out.
However, before I got to say anything, Amy walked up to him with an outstretched hand.
"Mr. Seymour, it's a pleasure to meet you properly. I know we've previously met at the wedding party, but we've merely spoken a few words with each other," she said.
Reed briefly shook it with a charming smile. "True, we've hardly said much indeed. And the pleasure is mine, Ms. Nolan," he replied and chuckled. "But please, call me Reed."
She nodded. "Then call me Amy, as most of those close to my friends do."
"I heard from April you are friends with Steve?" Reed asked conversely like he was there to stay for a lot longer than intended.
Amy's eyes light up. "She did, did she?" She met my stare with a knowing smile.
I interjected in fear of what my sister will ask later. "Yes, well, since Steve was our mutual acquaintance, it's expected we'd talked about him." I then cleared my throat to change the tone of the conversation. "Anyways, Reed, it was a lovely night. As you can see, my sister and I have plans as well. I appreciate the lift, by the way."
"Actually, I came in here to give you this," he said and then handed over my phone. "I presume you'd want this now rather than I hand it over to you tomorrow."
I patted my blazer pocket in alarm even though my phone was right in front of me.
"Oh, god, thank you. I—ah—thank you so much," I stuttered in relief as I took it off his hands.
"No worries, April." He smiled. "Well, then, I shall see you tomorrow." He then turned to Amy, keeping his charming smile. "Have a lovely evening, ladies."
Amy and I stood idly and watched him exited the lobby. Without a moment's notice, Amy was quick to reprimand me.
"Why haven't you told me you have a date today? You could have saved me the energy of worrying. When the receptionist told me you hadn't arrived yet, I decided to wait for at least an hour before calling Dean, you know."
"I'm sorry. I may have forgotten and got a bit distracted, as well. I didn't mean to worry you," I sincerely reasoned.
Her piercing gaze started to make me shiver in fear, and then she turned away and sighed.
"Good that you understand. Since you've arrived late, I expect you already had dinner. So, you can have this for breakfast or lunch tomorrow." She held up the brown paper bag toward me. "There's a piece of fudge cake, as promised."
I beamed and nearly tackled her for a hug. "Thank you! Thank you!"
Amy steadied both of us, holding me tight and close to her. "Now, get some rest. Dean texted he's picking me up from work."
"Really?" I smirked. "You both are such workaholics. How'd you manage even to meet and go on dates these days?"
Amy bashfully looked away. "We've been spending time mostly at his place...actually. It's closer to both of our offices," she muttered in admission.
I gaped at her. "Sister, don't tell me you've moved in with him. Is this your way of telling me?"
She brazenly shook her head. "No! God, no. We're not yet living together—"
"Yet?"
"Well, we talked about it once, but we've yet made any substantial decision."
"This is great news!" I cheered. "Ams, if you're moving in with Dean, will you let me have your apartment? You know, I've meant to tell you that I want to look for an apartment. I can't stay with Zoey and Julian, and now those two are married."
"Why have you told me this now? But I'm not too sure about taking this next step in our relationship. I mean, we've only been dating for five months—" Amy abruptly stopped when Dean entered the lobby without warning.
Half a year ago, Dean Garcia got hired for Julian and Zoey's extra security after the mess with the paparazzi trespassing in their old office. Yet that wasn't the first time they met.
Looking back on my sister's thirtieth birthday, I could laugh at the memory of her sitting through all the men I had her meet (sort of a speed dating thing). I was surprised she agreed to it. Although, I'd admit there were some manipulation and slight extortion on my part. But I couldn't continue to watch my own beloved sister still pent-up on her ex-fiancé after they broke their engagement.
When I heard the news nearly six-year ago, with Amy getting the job at the London branch of Hawksley Holdings, I thought her fiancé would haven't been supportive. Instead, our family got one good news and a hell of bad news.
Since I was in-between jobs at that time with complicated financial history, I couldn't drop everything and go there with her (I hadn't told Amy or my parents I've considered the idea).
Mercifully, Amy kept in contact with the family. She didn't ultimately succumb to the heartbreak that took years to heal.
Thus, when she returned to Chicago, I tried to be positive and helped her out in the dating scene. However, I didn't expect she'd started putting up a wall in her heart.
Thankfully, by the time she met Dean, it hadn't completely frozen from the possibility of finding love again.
Watching her eyes light up and an unknowing smile plastered on her face, you'd be a fool not to see she was in love. And Dean was the same. His expression mirrored hers for the briefest second before turning back to his brooding, rugged look.
Even if I wasn't the one who personally set-up the match, I knew—deep down—I had a hand at my sister's happiness. With that egoistic conclusion, I'm able to overlook the times she'll pester me in the future.
Nevertheless, I hoped her newfound love would make her less of a nagging sister.
When Dean approached, I tried not to seem giddy. After the conversation with Amy about her moving in with Dean, I couldn't hold back the joy I felt in their relationship's progress.
"Evening, ladies," Dean greeted as he reached us by the waiting area.
"Dean, great timing, as always," I said and peered back at Amy. "Do think about it, okay?" I asked her, trying and failing not to smile.
She nodded. "I'll let you know if we've made a decision."
With that, I merrily said goodnight and waved goodbye as I headed toward the elevator. Although I was a bit further, I could faintly hear their conversation.
"What were you two talking about? She seemed happy." Dean asked with interest.
"I'll tell you when we head back to your place. Or are we staying at my apartment this time?" Amy offered.
"My place is closer."
****
When I entered my temporary living space, I was halfway to my room when I decided to camp in the living room with the fudge cake Amy bought for me.
I sat down in the middle of the leather couch, took out the packed cake, and started digging in. After three bites, I pulled out my phone and saw two recent missed calls from Zoey. There were multiple calls from Amy from earlier as well, plus a stack of unread messages. Now, I felt guilty for telling her off.
Not to feed on the guilt, I opted to delete them instead then read it since it was no longer relevant. After clearing my message from my sister's angry text, I returned Zoey's call.
She answered on the second ring.
"Hey, how's the first day of your honeymoon? Tell Julian not to curse at me just yet because I need you, especially how my day had gone," I said dejectedly.
"Julian's in the shower. We can talk for a few minutes," she said. "What happened? I was just gone this morning. It can't be too bad, right?"
I groaned.
"Oh god, how bad is it?" she whispered in worry.
"I saw both Crawford and Seymour today," I informed. "And get this, I had some sort of lunch date with Steve, but then Reed ambushed me this morning, asking me out for coffee, which then turned into a dinner date at the park. It was very romantic."
"All of this happened in a day—today?"
"Uh, huh. It did. Here I thought my chance of getting roped into a romantic love triangle has passed. Oh, boy, I'm so wrong." I chuckled darkly.
"A love triangle? Wait, does that insinuate you have feelings for one of them?"
"It doesn't... I mean, I don't know. I kind of like Reed, but we just started getting to know each other. We do have a few common people in our life, which makes for good conversation. But after that, I don't really know. And then, well, Steve isn't even an option. Why did I even suggest it?" I groaned and lay down on the leather couch. "Also, did I say who the mystery man was from your wedding night?"
"No. You haven't. Who was it?"
"No one. But Reed told me I stripped myself naked and seduced him in bed. However, he confessed he'd refused my tempting offer and actually be a decent human being. Somehow, after the gossip I heard about him, I never considered it the first thing I thought of him. And he's such a gentleman." I swooned.
"Oh, god! Did he tell you that? I would have guessed it wasn't a comfortable situation."
"Argh! No. It truly wasn't. I wanted to run out of there and pretend it never happen... like everything in my life," I muttered the last part begrudgingly.
"I hope you won't disappear on me without saying anything. I would be sad and worried."
"I won't, Zoe. I won't abscond like Amy, uprooting her life and moving to a different country," I remarked without thinking. "Don't tell my sister I said that," I added guiltily.
Zoey chortled. "I thought you'd forgiven your sister for it, especially what happened to her around that time. It was her life, April."
I sighed. "I know. And I don't feel bitter about it. I was just shocked at how easily she dropped her life and just moved far away. But I love Amy. I'm happy everything in her life is all flowers and butterflies. And oh! She just told me earlier that they might be moving in together. In another life, I would have found that surprising. Don't you?"
"Oh, wow. Really? I'm so happy for them. They are so cute." She chuckled.
"Although I'm glad my sister finally met her prince in a suit, I think I'm paying for it. I think I'm sucking all the karma in her dating life, praying for her to find the perfect man." I paused and sighed deeply. "How had I fallen this far, Zoe? Why did that happen to me?"
"Be patient and allow yourself to heal. And don't you say you have karma with love. You don't, okay?" She strongly argued. "With these new turns of event, I would have thought Cupid had put you at the top of his list."
"I hope so." I lightly chuckled. "Can I be suddenly this lucky? I mean after..."
"No. Don't you dare be gloomy and twisted on me. We are no longer those bitter ladies anymore, okay?"
"I'm sorry." I sighed. "I promise I won't succumb turning into the wicked witch."
"Good." She chuckled. "Now, tell me every detail that happened on your date earlier. Leave no detail out, got it?"
I smiled. Whatever cumbersome feeling buried within me was gone. Nothing beats a good chat with your best friend to turn the tides of your mind and heart.
*****
Thank you for reading. This chapter might be the longest one I've written so far for this novel. And we're still in chapter six. Hehehe! Well, I hope you enjoyed the read so far.
Updates are every Wednesday and Saturday.