He responded in a similarly hushed tone. “Writing a brief. What are you doing?”
She straightened up in her chair. “Um, hello, the donuts?”
“I thought a dozen would be enough for one woman, but Jesus, I guess I should’ve gone with twenty-four. Did you try the vanilla glaze? Highly recommend. They use real vanilla bean.”
She scoffed. “Carter. Are you kidding me? You can’t leave me gifts. People are starting to talk about us. You know, in the office.” She awaited his shocked response.
Carter chuckled. “Maybe people wouldn’t talk about us in the office if you’d let me take you somewhere else. Like, say, outside of this building?”
She leaned back in her chair, frowning. “I don’t understand what you want from me.”
“I like you,” he said plainly.
Her arms shot up in the air. “Ugh, you’re the most confusing person I’ve ever met.”
“Nobody at Joy and Schulz is going to care if we date. There’s more important stuff going on. We are two consenting adults. We can sign a contract with HR.”
“Correction. Nobody will care what you are doing at Joy and Schulz. You’re a partner, AKA a person in a position of power over me—”
“Thus a contract.”
“You think a contract fixes this?”
He laughed. “You don’t think a contract fixes things? Wait until I tell you about this fun job called being a lawyer...”
“That’s not how shit works for me. I’ve explained this to you before. I’m judged by a double standard. Besides, I thought you wanted to help not hurt my chances at making partner.”
At that, Carter sighed. “Okay, fine. You’re right. What do you want me to do?”
Perdie had been prepared for another round of jokes but found herself deflated at Carter’s quick agreement. But that’s what she wanted, wasn’t it?
There was a moment of silence while she drummed her knuckles on the smooth desk surface. Then she pushed out a big breath. “Act like there’s nothing. Like I said before. Colleagues. Okay?”
His voice was resigned. “Colleagues it is. But, Perdie?” He paused. “If you change your mind, I’m not going to be around forever, you know?”
A tiny twinge poked in her chest, but she ignored it. “Yeah, I know. Nobody is.” Then she gently placed the phone into its receiver.
She let her head fall back over her chair and groaned in frustration. Fuck. Why was it when she got what she wanted it still wasn’t what she wanted?
With a huff, she flipped opened the box of donuts, grabbed a vanilla glaze, and shoved a huge bite into her mouth. Instantly, she moaned. Who knew vanilla glaze could be so damned good?
Carter.
Annoying. How right he was. How easily he had agreed to drop things with her. She bit into the yeasty donut again, chewing with zeal until she stopped herself and tossed the remaining half in the box.
These would have to go out into the kitchen. But then she stood and faced the whiteboard behind her desk. With small upward brushes, she erased the three yellow stars.
Chapter Twelve
Perdie awoke in her bed, mouth dry, and a dull headache nudging her left eye. She pushed up on her elbows, grappling around on the nightstand for the two aspirin she’d left there the night before. Her hand bumped the glass containing last night’s wine.
She brought it to her nose and gave it a whiff. Malbec, still good. She popped the two pills, gulped down half the glass, and wiped her mouth with her hand. She needed all the courage she could drink before she lit up her phone screen to check her notifications.
The last few days might’ve had her in a spiral. That’s what Lucille called it, at least. They’d stayed up late Friday night recapping each other’s lives.
Perdie grabbed her phone and squinted at it. Zero messages.
Actually, that wasn’t accurate. There were twenty-seven work-related messages. Zero from Carter.
He’d behaved irritatingly professional with her the whole week after their phone conversation. She’d requested he treat her like nothing but a colleague, and well, by fuck he had been doing exactly as she requested.
And it was driving her out of her goddamn mind.
She clicked off her screen and rolled over in her bed, a wave of dizziness overtaking her vision.
Okay, well, maybe hair of the dog hadn’t been the wisest choice.
There was a quiet knock, and Lucille peeked her head through the crack of the doorway, her topknot poking into Perdie’s room before the rest of her. “Hello, my beautiful baby birdie. How are we doing this morning?”
Perdie’s body was a sweaty and tangled lump in her bedsheets, encased in nothing but an oversized T-shirt with the emblazoned movie title Earth Girls Are Easy. She stretched her arms out above her. “Aaaaaghhhhhhhhh. It’s been seven hours and four days since I told Carter to go away.”
Lucille tiptoed inside. “Okay, Sinead, I think it’s time to get out of bed. And if you’re going to drink wine at ten in the morning, at least let me know so I can join you, yes? Now, why don’t you say we make this thing official and go to brunch?”
Perdie groaned. “I can’t, I have all this work to do, and I have to get in touch with Noah about our discovery process.”
“Invite him along. He likes hanging out with us. Isn’t that basically why he agreed to be your client in the first place?”
Lucille’s words didn’t betray any extra emotion, but Perdie hadn’t forgotten the way she’d called Noah sexy a few weeks ago. And she’d been thriving without Hampton around.
