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“I guess we’ll see.”
Miles and I talk every night for a week. It’s nice to know that our dinner wasn’t a fluke, and our conversations don’t lose momentum. One of us usually ends up falling asleep on the other, but we pick up where we left off in the mornings. Every time he responds to me is a bit of a surprise, going against my insecurities that try hard to convince me he won’t.
I have him on speaker as I put my clean laundry away. He laughs every time I have to tell Elaine to stop eating my socks. He thought that was only something that dogs do, just like I did before I found her. I had to give him the entire list of traits she has that make me think she was a dog in a past life.
“So being an author is your only job?” he asks me. “That must be nice, getting to choose your schedule every day.”
I hold back a sigh. That’s what I thought too, before I realized I wasn’t destined to become a bestseller after publishing my first book. It’s an expensive path to take.
“Itshouldn’tbe my only job, to be honest. I’ve been looking for something, but I’m being picky,” I admit.
“What are you being picky about?”
“I just want something that isn’t going to get in the way of my writing too much. With hours, or with how much brain power it takes. The type of jobs I’m used to doing typically do.”
“What are you used to?”
“Mostly administrative stuff, but…” I trail off, thinking about how much my last job sucked the life out of me. I can’t go back to something like that.
“Unless you’re about to say that it’s the worst job in the world and you’ll never do it again, I might have an idea.”
Despite the fact that it justmightbe the worst job in the world, my interest is piqued.
“Okay, what do you got?”
“My mom is looking for an extra person around her office right now,” he says. “Part-time.”
If I could physically deflate like a balloon, that’s what I’d be doing right now.
“Oh. Um…” Words fail me for a few seconds. “Thanks for throwing that out there, but that’s probably not the best idea.”
Before he can respond, Elaine leaps from the floor and lands right onto my phone. I watch it happen in slow motion and reach out to catch her a second too late. Her toe beans manage to land right on the big, red button that ends the phone call. I sigh as I pick her up, and hope Miles didn’t think I ended the call over his suggestion.
I wouldn’t want him to think I’m upset and overreacting over something so small. I still don’t know what Justin told his family about me back then, but I know how emotional I was. I know what they saw.
I cradle Elaine in one arm, surprisingly easily, and pick up my phone with my free hand. It’s around her dinnertime so I switch my multitasking to calling Miles back, and scooping some food into her bowl. Hopefully that distracts her for a while.
“Why not?” he asks instead of a greeting. His question sounds genuine, like he can’t think of a single reason.
“Hello to you, too. Sorry, my cat hung up on you.”
“No hard feelings. She’ll have to meet me in person. Won’t happen again after that.”
“Is that so?”
“It is so. She’s going to love me so much, she’ll start fighting you over who gets to talk to me. We might even have to start video calling for her sake.”
I laugh at that, but I definitely don’t agree to anything. I’m nervous enough about phone calls, I don’t need to add my face into the mix. “Confident with cats, are you?”
“I’ve never met a pet that didn’t love me.”
I don’t doubt it for a second.
“So, why don’t you think it’s a good idea to work for my mom?” he persists.
I groan at his inability to let it drop.
“So. Many. Reasons.” I wish after all this time, I wasn’t so awkward whenever the past got brought up.
