Ten Days of Perfect (November Blue #1)(29)

“Holy shit! What the hell?” Monica said in the loudest whisper known to man.

“Did you have any idea?” I was breathless, my eyes darted around the room.

I knew Monica was friends with Adrian on Facebook, but she never spoke of him. I also knew she’d tell me if he mentioned he was working with someone and referring us to them, but I was grasping for any explanation.

“Get a grip, Em. You know I’d say something to you if I knew.” Monica rolled her eyes, annoyed.

“I guess it’s totally possible he was just doing the fellow-graduate good deed thing by showing us preference in the search process.” That really was the most likely explanation, had we not cried during break-up sex.

“Yea, let’s go with that for now. At least until we have a chance to talk with him.”

“Agreed, I guess we will have to talk to him. I suppose I should be the one to call him; he’d know I was avoiding him if you called.” Uneasiness regained its footing in my gut.

“Smart. OK, I’ll get his contact info, email Carrie about our meeting, and then stay here until you’ve finished talking with Bo,” Monica said, motioning to the door.

“Oh shit!” I had completely forgotten he was waiting for me.

In the meeting room, Bo was leaning against the window with his hands in his pockets. The light sought out and illuminated his deep blue eyes as he turned to me.

“Hey, sorry about that. Today has been ridiculous.” I shut the door behind me.

“It’s OK.” He smiled so sincerely I instantly felt my throat tighten. “How’s Monica?”

“Ugh,” I sat down in the closest chair and rested my elbows on the table while my hands held my head, “my heart is actually breaking for her, Bo.”

I wanted him to tell me that I would never feel what Monica felt. I certainly didn’t intend to make him ever feel that way. He, however, didn’t know how I felt about him. I was at an unfair advantage with the information Monica had given me.

He left the window and sat in the chair next to me. “What happened?”

Leave out the thousand lifetime’s thing, whatever you do. My eyes met his as I rested my chin on closed fists.

“He just…he told her that if there was a soul-shifting, core-quaking love for everyone…” my breath caught for a split second, “he wasn’t sure she was his.”

I broke his gaze and glanced out the window.

“He didn’t even look her in the eyes when he told her, Bo. He couldn’t even give her the respect of a little eye contact as he shredded her soul.” My cheeks burned, fighting the tears working their way to the surface of my eyes.

“Damn,” he said, closing his eyes briefly. I wondered if he was relieved that I didn’t seem to know his part in that conversation. I wondered if he felt bad at all, even though it wasn’t his fault.

“Do you believe him? Josh, I mean, about the soul-core thing?” he asked. I nodded and rubbed my forehead.

“I really do.” I opened my eyes and found him studying my face.

“Does Adrian Turner have anything to do with that look on your face?” It was barely a question.

Well, that didn’t take long.

“Yes, but not in the way you might think,” I said softly.

This wasn’t the place I wanted to talk about Adrian. I didn’t really want to talk about Adrian at all, but my hand was forced in more ways than one.

“I saw the look in your eyes, Ember, when David said his name. It was like you saw a ghost.” His concerned eyes teetered on hurt. Yea, the Ghost of Sexcapades Past.

“I haven’t talked to Adrian in like three years. When he was at Harvard Law he Facebooked me a few times, but I was tired of seeing the pictures he posted with girls who were nothing like me. I know that sounds bad, and I don’t mean it to. We haven’t meant anything to each other in five years, Bo. And, even then - look, I want to talk to you about this, but not here and not now. Monica’s coming over tonight so we can emotionally process what happened with Josh. Can we get together tomorrow night?” I wanted to tell Bo about Adrian, about my feelings for him, everything, but I couldn’t do it at work.

“I have to head back to New Hampshire today for a quick meeting, but I should be back by tomorrow late afternoon. I’ll call you when I get back to town, OK?” The distance in his voice sent tension searing through me.

“Bo,” I reached out and gripped the top of his hand, not wanting him to slip away. Thankfully, he turned it over and interlaced his fingers with mine, “what happened with Adrian is ancient history.”

“November, you don’t owe me an explanation.” He kissed my hand, “But, it can’t be that ancient to Adrian if he used work to get in contact with you, without giving you some sort of heads up or ‘how’s it going’ first…”

Gut punch.

He was right about Adrian, but he was oh-so-wrong about me owing him an explanation. You owe one to Bo because you love him; he just doesn’t know that yet.





Chapter Ten

“Do you think Bo was right, about Adrian not being over you?” Monica asked as she plunked on my couch with an over-full glass of wine.

Before Bo headed back to New Hampshire, he kissed me with complete disregard for the workplace, and told me he’d text me later. The second Bo left our office, I told her about our conversation.