“Right. It’s never fun when the shoe is on the other foot,” she says with a grin.
“Could you enjoy this more?”
“I can try. Let me ask you this, what are you afraid of?” Petunia peers at me over the rim of her mug.
“This ending badly. We know mixing business with pleasure is a fool’s errand. What happens if we have a falling out and I’m stuck working in an obnoxious environment, or he gives me a bad review?”
“What if it doesn’t?” Petunia asks.
“Oh, come on, It’s not that simple.”
“Look, we’re in the middle of March. The wedding is in May. What’s the worst that can happen between now and then? It’s worth the risk. The alternative is spending the rest of your life wondering what-if. That’s never been your style.”
“Yeah and look at where it landed me.”
>
“We all know you have to kiss a few frogs before you find your prince.”
“You believe that?”
“I think I’m proof of it,” she says.
I sigh. She’s right. I hate having regrets. “I have to bite the bullet on this one, don’t I?”
“Yeah, babe. You do.”
“I hate coming across as an asshole.”
She laughs. “Well once you apologize you won’t.”
“Laugh it up, chuckles,” I grumble as I nurse my mocha coffee.
“Cheer up, I got a good feeling about this, O,” she says.
I wish I could say the same.
Luka
“What was with you and Olive last night?” Asher asks.
“Is that the reason why you came by today?” I ask as I set the newspaper down on the patio table.
“Can’t a man visit his older brother?”
“He can, but we both know you like to be nosey,” I say.
“Are you actually going to answer me?”
I sigh. Just two years younger than me, Asher has always been my closest confidant. “It would appear nothing is happening.”
“But not because you didn’t want it to?” he says.
I scrub my face with my hands. What man likes to admit rejection? “No. We kissed. It was good. At least I thought so. Then next thing I know, I turn around, and she’s slipped away.”
“Well you are her boss, perhaps she feared it was inappropriate?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t had the pleasure of a conversation with any sort of clarification.” I shake my head.