Page 11 of Not Mine To Love

“Oh yeah, he’ll do it.”

I squealed and went to hug her again. I grabbed around her neck while saying “Thank you, thank you,” over and over, and she pried at my arms.

“I can’t breathe,” she hissed.

“Oh, sorry.” I promptly put my arms down.

“So when will he be done?”

“Like an hour.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, and he’s going to build you a website too. It’s going to be awesome.”

“All that in an hour?”

“The dude doesn’t have a life.”

“I’m surprised you’re not trying to convince me to date him.”

“I want you to date someone fun. I love Mac, but he’s like the opposite of fun.”

“At least you have standards for me.”

“Yeah, anyone who is not a loser and not Tom.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

“Literally, an hour later we were sitting in front of the computer looking at my “portfolio.”

“He did a great job. Tell Mac I said thank you.”

“Will do.” She gave a big yawn and stood up. “I’m heading home. I’m exhausted.”

“It’s eight-thirty.”

“Oh good. I can sleep for ten hours at least before I have to pick Carter up from the airport. See you later. Tell me if you need anything.”

When she was gone, I sent an email to Julius.

I sat in front of the TV and continued checking my email. I had one from my mom accusing me of avoiding her calls. I was surprised until she mentioned that she had a new number. I screened all my calls, so I didn’t pick up numbers I didn’t recognize. I knew she wanted me to feel guilty, but I refused. Whatever. She should have told me earlier that she had a new number. But I couldn’t stay hard-hearted for more than a few minutes. I emailed her back. To my credit, I didn’t apologize. I just told her that I hadn’t known she’d changed her number.

I called my dad to check on him. He promptly informed me that mom had texted him and accused him of turning me against her. Typical Mom.

I reassured him that I had reached out to her, and then I checked my email again. To my surprise, I had a reply from Julius.

Nervously, I clicked on it. It was a short message:

Portfolio looks great. You’re hired. We’ll be in touch.

J-

I called Claire, and she promptly picked up. “Call me from the burner phone,” she said and then hung up.

“Burner phone?” What was she, a spy or something? And what was the burner phone? Then I remembered the phone she had left on the table. Claire was something else, that’s for sure.