Tinsel (Lark Cove #4)(52)

It’s over now.

As much as I wanted to dial his number, I kept scrolling through names, up and down in a mindless motion. The loneliness closed in on me, like it had in quiet moments like this for the past two days.

My finger paused over my sister’s name. Without second-guessing myself, I pushed her number.

“Hi,” she answered on the second ring. Her usual typing in the background was missing. “Are you back?”

“Yes. I’m certain you’re at work, but I was wondering if you’d like to have dinner with me tonight?” Another split-second decision that felt surprisingly easy.

“Where?”

“Would you want to come over here? I was thinking pizza.” With extra cheese because it made me think of Dakota.

“I could eat pizza. My trainer won’t be happy though.”

“Screw the trainers,” I muttered.

She laughed. “I tried that once, remember? It didn’t end well.”

“Oh, yeah.” I giggled, remembering one of Aubrey’s few relationships. She’d fallen for her trainer during her junior year of college, and they’d hooked up a few times. They’d gotten adventurous one quiet Saturday night, and he’d met her in the empty weight room. Her one and only failure had been getting caught on her knees by a custodian.

She’d sworn off men for the rest of college.

“I have a meeting until seven,” she said. “Then I’ll be over.”

“I’ll be here. Bye.” I hung up the phone, surprised at how well that had gone. I’d honestly expected to be blown off.

I stood from the couch, wanting to stop Carrie before she left so she knew I didn’t need her to make dinner. Just as I was about to walk out of the living room, I paused and took stock of the decor.

With my latest redesign, I’d gone for a classic, contemporary look. My couches were beige. I had an upholstered black and cream striped settee and matching ottoman. The enormous black cube that served as my coffee table had a tasteful arrangement of white roses and gardenias.

Collectively, it was gorgeous, my favorite of all the designs I’d done for this penthouse. But it was missing something.

What was it missing? I frowned as I glanced around the room. Maybe some color? I scrunched my nose at the idea. Textures? With the stripes, the jacquard pillows and my faux fur throw, any other textures would be overkill.

So what was it? I’d never second-guessed my design decisions before. But I couldn’t shake this feeling that it was wrong. What was this home lacking?

I sighed, hating the funk I’d been in for the last two days, knowing it was because I was missing a man.

But it had been worth it.

My Dakota hangover had been so completely worth it.




“You’re different.” Aubrey gave me a weird look before taking a bite of our cheese pizza. We’d gotten the best brick oven crust in SoHo, according to my doorman.

I shrugged. “I’m in a funk.”

“Because of the magazine?”

“Yes and no. It’s made me do some soul-searching. But my funk is mostly because I met a guy in Montana.”

“What? But I thought you were ‘working.’”

“Don’t do that.” I scowled. “Don’t use air quotes. Just because I don’t have an important job like you doesn’t mean I wasn’t working.”

“You’re right. Sorry.” She tossed down her slice onto her plate. “I’ve been a bitch lately, haven’t I?”

“You said it first,” I muttered.

“I’m in a funk too.”

“Why?” I took a huge bite, savoring the cheesiness. It was a good pizza. But it wasn’t nearly as good as the ones Dakota made in the bar.

“I got dumped.”

I choked on my bite and sauce dribbled out of my lips. “What?”

“Swallow.” Aubrey rolled her eyes. “That’s gross.”

I chewed as fast as humanly possible, chased the bite down with some water and wiped my mouth. “You got dumped? By who?”

“My boyfriend. We were together for about five months.”

“Five months?” I’d brought Kevin to a family function five days after we’d started dating. “Who is he? Why didn’t we meet him?”

Her face twisted in nothing but misery. “He’s a lawyer at the firm where Logan used to work when he lived here. We met a few years ago and bumped into each other this summer at a work function and started dating. I couldn’t tell anyone because I signed a contract.”

“Like Fifty Shades of Grey? Because if so, stop right now. There are things I really don’t need to know about my sister.”

“No.” She laughed, swatting me away. “Like a nondisclosure contract with his firm. Technically, I was a client. So we kept it secret. And that was the reason we never worked. He wanted me to make an announcement. I knew it would cause a lot of trouble with the company, so I told him we needed to keep it secret for a while longer. He got upset and decided we’d just end it altogether.”

“Oh.” I reached across the table in my dining room and took her hand. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” She gave me a sad smile. “He wasn’t the one. I just . . . I really liked him.”