Jesus, Natalia. Get a hold of yourself.
I clean the kitchen after I finish eating, and then I make his bed. I change into my clothes from last night and then I gather up his clothes and do a load of laundry, trying to halt the intrusive thoughts. We’ve known each other for a few weeks—and yet I am perfectly at home here. It’s hard not to be when his style and his space make my heart sing. I’m about to call an Uber and leave when Samantha texts me, asking to meet up and talk business. I feel guilty that we didn’t discuss it at all last night, and I can tell she’s eager because she’s unemployed. I give her Anderson’s address. She doesn’t live far, and by the time I have a chance to make us some coffee, I hear a knock on the door.
“Hi,” I say as I swing the door open, but it’s not Samantha on the other side.
“Hi?” the woman asks, grinning. “Oh, my god. You must be Natalia!”
It takes me a second to realize she’s Anderson’s sister, Annika. Tall and slender, drop dead gorgeous, and white-blonde hair. I smile. “It’s good to know he’s talking about me.”
She winks. “Is he here? My husband has this new endeavor growing lettuce, and now we have a year’s worth of romaine, so I thought I’d drop some off.” She holds up a large paper bag bursting with green leaves.
“He left on a business trip this morning, actually,” I answer, gesturing to the empty house behind me.
She smirks. “That’s fine. Can I leave this with you? I should get back to my kids.”
“Sure. I’ll pop them in the fridge.”
She smiles ruefully, handing me the bag. “Thank you.”
“It’s Annika, right?”
“Yep.” She pauses and tilts her head. “I like you, Natalia. I hope my brother isn’t dumb enough to let you go.” She waves and walks away, and I close the door, leaning against it. I want to fight it—the way this house makes me feel at home, the way his sister was so warm and inviting, the way he makes me feel, even though he does drive me insane most of the time…
I want to walk away. It would make things easier. In the light of the day, committing to my life of solitude sounds a hell of a lot more appealing than it did last night when I was buzzed and exuberant. How many ways could this possibly end, and how many of those outcomes would affect my future at Gather? Do I want tostayat Gather?
My answer comes in the form of a knock, and I jump back, completely forgetting about Samantha.
I open the door and before I can say anything, she pushes through, two burritos and Cokes in her hand. I open my mouth to say hi, but she cuts me off.
“I know you like your new job, but I’ve just gotten an email from afourthauthor that they would like to stick with me instead of go to Silas.”
“Afourth?”
She nods excitedly. “I need you, Natalia.” Looking around, she stops walking. “Is this your house? I vaguely remember dropping you off here last night, but I was shitfaced—”
“No. It’s…” He’s not my boyfriend, but what is he? “It’s Anderson’s house. He’s gone for the day.”
“Oh, right. I remember now. The boss with the big D.” She looks around, her arched eyebrows raised. “He lives here? Damn. Snatch him up and never let him go. Marc complains if I eventhinkabout getting throw pillows.”
I laugh, and we sit to eat. I’m not that hungry seeing as I had a late breakfast, but I let her say her part. I nibble at my burrito as she pulls out papers and figures to show how we would make money and how we could sustain this. As she puts on a pair of glasses, planning out our future business plan, I can’t contain my excitement. Working with Samantha—starting up our own company—would be an incredible opportunity. She knows how the industry works, she has the authors to back her up, and she has funding figured out to get us started. It’s a risk, and I know that, but what isn’t a risk? Great things come when people take great risks.
“I am very interested,” I say, leaning back. “I’ll talk to Luca. He’ll be back tonight, and maybe I can somehow convince him to let me keep helping him part-time or something.”
Samantha grins. “That’s like the best of both worlds!” She stands. “Oh, my god. I found the most darling shared workspace. Do you have a computer so that I can show you?”
I look around, biting my lower lip. “Hmm. Let me see if Anderson has one lying around.” I walk into his bedroom and find a laptop on his nightstand. I open it and the screen pops open, so I walk it back to the dining room. “He doesn’t have a passcode,” I sing victoriously.
I set it down, and she gives me the URL. I pull up the browser and start to type when an email comes through, the notification popping up on the upper right of the screen. I almost don’t look, but then I see it’s from Kelvin at Whole Foods, and the subject catches my eye.
Let’s do this.
Below that, the first two lines of the email automatically show, and my heart races as I read them.
I don’t want to beat around the bush. Come to my office tomorrow. I have the paperwork ready for the purchase of Gather. This stays between us, right?
I let out a tiny gasp, and Samantha clears her throat. I swallow, typing the website address she gave me, and for the next ten minutes, I pretend that I’m not reeling about Anderson betraying Luca—betrayingus.I ooh and ahh at the workspace, because it is, in fact, darling. It’s quaint and charming, in an older part of Los Angeles made up of old craftsman houses. It’s the perfect place for a boutique startup.
I say goodbye to Samantha a minute later and walk over to the computer, pacing. The notification is just sitting on the top right—taunting me. But I’m not a snoop, and I refuse to be that person, even though the future of my brother’s company might be in jeopardy. Red, hot anger flares through me at the thought. The phone calls, the secret meetings—it all makes sense. I think back to the meeting with Kelvin. I was distracted, sure, but I did not hear any mention of selling Gather. Luca had worked too hard, for too long, to see it go like that. And now Anderson was going to sell it right out from under him? Did he have the authority to do so?
