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Hankering
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Asking for a Friend Too Soon
LAYTONWhen I got back to the office, I found Marissa in hers. She stood up when I entered, a radiant smile on her lips. “You’re late today. You’re never late.”I held up the coffee and the pastries. “I brought you something.”“Yeah?” She rounded her desk and took the box first, opening it. Letting out an excited sound, she set it down on her desk and threw her arms around me from the side so as not to knock over the coffees. “Oh, Layton! Thank you. I’ve been meaning to try these, but the line is always so long.”“It’s a wait, all right. I hope they’re worth it,” I told her, putting the coffee down next to the box so I could hold her properly. “You’re definitely worth it.”Pink tinged her cheeks as she slid her eyes to her open office door. The blinds of her windows were already down, presumably she simply hadn’t opened them yet—because they were usually open. Reaching behind me, I felt for the door and swung it closed. “We’re alone now.”“Thank God,” she breathed just before I lowere
Asking for a Friend Let Annie Decide
MARISSAEarly the morning after Layton told me he wanted to meet Annie, I was still stressed about the answer—I hadn’t decided yet. He was right about one thing. If there was a future for us and we really wanted to see where things between us went, he would have to meet Annie at some point.Chewing on my lip, I wondered if it was too soon for her to meet him. A part of me thought it was, but another part of me wanted the meeting to take place.Annie was always going to be a part of my life. Layton might not be, but if he was serious about wanting to be part of my life for now, then I needed to know if he got along with Annie. I wouldn’t be able to make any decisions about him, and about what I wanted for us until I knew how that would go.A relationship where those two didn’t get along wasn’t a relationship I would be able to be in. Surely it was better to find out sooner rather than later. I already felt like I was in a bit too deep with Layton, without knowing whether he would even
Asking for a Friend Nothing to Worry About
MARISSAThe corners of my mouth turned up and my nose scrunched. “I realized I couldn’t stand blood.”Denise laughed, but Annie looked horrified. “I don’t like blood either.”“Then you probably wouldn’t like being a nurse,” I told her and she nodded her agreement before turning pensive again.“What does a counts manager do?” She asked finally between the last bites of her breakfast.“Accounts manager.” I corrected her gently. “I work with numbers. Basically, I look at how much money people have to build the buildings they want, and I try to see if we can get the building built with that much money.”It was a complete oversimplification, but the child was only six. She frowned, but nodded. “I think I understand.”“So, back to your boss.” Denise said, prompting us back to the actual conversation we needed to have. “What did he want to do with the two of you tomorrow?”I shrugged. “I’m not sure. I’ll have to talk to him about it today if Annie’s sure she wants to meet him.”“I’m sure,” s
Asking for a Friend Meeting Her
LAYTONMarissa’s house was a small, single family home in the suburbs. It was exactly what I might have expected from her, with bay windows and colorful flower pots on the front porch. There were wind chimes hanging from the roof over three steps leading up to the front door.The front yard was small, but well cared for. The weather was getting warmer and some of her plants were starting to come alive again after the miserable winter.I parked in her driveway, gravel crunching beneath my tires. Before I got out of my car, I took a deep breath and gripped my steering wheel so hard my knuckles went white. I was more nervous than I expected to be.Meeting Marissa’s daughter was a big step for us to take, even if we weren’t telling her exactly what was going on between us. It was a step I wanted to take with her, and I didn’t regret asking, but it was dawning on me that this was the biggest step I’d taken in any relationship. Ever.Sweat broke out on my brow and I wiped it off, willing my
Asking for a Friend Perspective
LAYTONMarissa stepped aside and motioned me into her house while Annie yelled something about getting different shoes and zoomed away, disappearing to her room. Marissa gave me a sheepish smile. “She’s really energetic, I know.”“I like it,” I admitted, surprising myself when I realized it was true. “It’s charming. Kinda makes me miss being a kid, back when everything was that exciting.”Marissa looked taken aback for a second before she started nodding. “That’s exactly how I think and feel about it. It’s incredible to experience things through a child’s eyes again. It makes me realize how desensitized we’ve become to how amazing life really is.”“That’s an interesting perspective.” I could see it being true, though. If Annie was already reminding me about how exciting going fishing really was, I imagined the more time I spent with her, the more I would start noticing other things I’d forgotten over the years. “I’m looking forward to seeing things that way again.”“You’re going to be
Asking for a Friend Catching Trevor
MARISSAIt turned out that all my worrying had been for nothing. Annie loved Layton already, it was clear as day to me. It didn’t hurt that he brought her a gift that I knew she would absolutely treasure for years to come, but she also seemed to just be having fun with him.I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen her laughing and smiling so much. She was captivated by what Layton was explaining to her, completely taken in by all things fishing.Somehow, I had a feeling that even if Layton never wanted to see either of us ever again, there was going to be some fishing in my future. She was definitely going to want to use that rod again, and if the smiles she kept giving to and getting from Layton were any indication, she was going to have plenty of opportunities.It was strange seeing them together. About two hours before Layton was set to arrive at our house, I was this close to calling the whole day off. I even considered calling Denise and asking her to come have lunch with Annie
Asking for a Friend Boring Ice Cream
MARISSAThe respect he’d been showing me all day, as well as his insight into small things—like not making a promise to her when I would be the one who had to keep it—astounded me. It was impressive that he was so intuitive about what was and wasn’t okay with me.Annie turned to me and I answered her question before she repeated it. “Sure, we’ll come back sometime. It’s too pretty here to know about it and not come back.”Satisfied with my answer, Annie helped Layton pack up. Or rather, she followed his instructions about holding things while he packed everything back into its designated place in his toolbox thing.On our way home, Annie babbled on and on about fishing and told me everything she learned. We passed an ice cream parlor she loved and when she saw it, she tapped me on the shoulder. “Please can we get ice cream, Mommy? Please. Please. Please.”“It’s cold out, honey. Are you sure you want ice cream?”Layton scoffed, winking at me. “What kind of question is that? It’s never
Asking for a Friend More Money
LAYTONSunday morning arrived hours before I was ready for it to. I woke up to my phone ringing and groaned, hoping it wasn’t Clayton Reeve with another annoying surprise. Rolling over on my bed to grab my phone on the nightstand, I frowned when I saw it was Craig.“This better be urgent if you’re calling at seven-thirty on a Sunday.” I greeted, falling back onto the bed. “What’s up?”“You have to get down to the site,” Craig said, his voice strained and tense. “I’m sorry to be bothering you this early, but we need to talk and we need to do it now.”I sat up, immediately getting moving. Craig wasn’t the kind of guy to make a call like this lightly. If he was calling this early to tell me we had to talk, there had to be a problem. “What’s wrong?”He exhaled a deep breath. “It’s not good, but we’ll talk when you get here.”We ended the call on that note and I hurried to get showered and ready, arriving at the site less than thirty minutes after he called. It was a cool morning, crisp an
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