In Full Bloom (Second Chances 1)

Taryn saw Cora’s eyebrows raise at the nickname, but thankfully, she didn’t say anything until they were halfway up the stairs.

“Princess? Do you call him Evvy-Pooh?” Cora said, snickering.

Taryn laughed and said, “Oh god. I would love to see the look on his face if I did. I’ve managed to restrain myself so far.”

Cora snorted and said, “Just barely.”

Taryn rolled her eyes and said, “Okay, Ms. We Were Getting Pizza.”

Cora flushed slightly and said, “He’s cute.”

“The way he was staring, I think we could have talked him into any kind of food you wanted.”

Taryn opened the door to her apartment and walked through. Cora said, “Wow. New couch and table! I like them. I’m impressed. When did this happen?”

Grinning, Taryn said, “Saturday. When you left, I got bored. I realized I had a job now and didn’t need to keep my shitty furniture anymore, so I went out and bought it.”

“Nice! And you got them delivered incredibly early in the morning. Am I right?” Cora asked.

Clearing her throat, she said, “I might have.”

Changing topics, Cora said, “So clearly things have escalated a little bit between you guys. You’ve got a nickname.”

“When I went into the hallway to yell at him Saturday morning the tiara was tangled in my hair still. I didn’t even realize but he pointed it out. He says it to annoy me,” Taryn said.

“I’m a little torn here. I don’t really want to encourage you to have sex with your landlord, because there are some obvious issues there. At the same time, I can’t remember the last time I saw you even remotely interested in a guy.”

Taryn gave a deep sigh. Deciding to put it all out there, she said, “I don’t want the potential complications. He’s sexy though. The more I talk to him, the less that I remember the complications. I wish he’d just be an irredeemable dick already so I could just dismiss him.”

Her voice a little sad, Cora asked, “Is that what happens? You just wait for people to let you down?”

“Enough with the psych major stuff. Can we please change the subject? Nothing is going to come from picking this stuff apart, anyway.”

Shrugging, she said, “Job. Let’s talk about work.”

Taryn couldn’t help but grin. The last few days had been so exciting. She rattled on about the baby elephant and work for the next twenty minutes. To her credit, Cora didn’t even look remotely bored.

Finally, stopping herself because she was just babbling, she asked, “What’s going on in Cora’s universe? How’s school? Your parents?”

“My mom’s sixtieth birthday is on Saturday. They’re doing a big thing at the country club for her. You should come with me,” Cora said, hesitantly.

Cora was almost constantly trying to include her in her family life. To be fair, her parents did their fair share of the inviting, too. They were persistent, even though Taryn almost always refused. This wasn’t really a holiday, per se. Maybe she would go.

Tilting her head, she asked, “What time?”

Cora perked up and said, “From six to ten. It’s a dinner and dancing thing. You can be my date.”

Snorting, Taryn said, “I can do that. Just so long as you don’t expect me to put out just cause you bought me dinner.”

“It’s a free steak dinner, baby. But you’re right. Let’s just let the evening go where

it may,” Cora said, laughing and shooting her with finger guns.

“Fine. I’ll go with you. Weirdo. I’m assuming semi-formal dress?”

“That white and red striped dress you have is good,” Cora said.

“That makes my wardrobe choice easy then. And what kind of gift? I don’t really know what she’s into.”