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Chapter twenty-seven

Sam sipped the steaming cup of coffee before setting it down on the small table in her living room.

“So,” Tiana started, tossing the last of her clothes messily into her black duffel bag, “you gonna miss me?”

Sam smirked, quirking an eyebrow at her. “Yeah, but it’ll be nice having my couch back.”

It’d been one week since she officially turned down the offer.

And although she’d expected a new onslaught of worries and stress to hit, it hadn’t.

Actually, for the first time in as long as she could remember, things felt—calm.

Sure, it brought up an endless string of new questions and problems they needed to solve. But it wasn’t the same as before. For the first time, it felt like she actually knew what she really, truly wanted. And with that clarity came a new vision for how she wanted to run the company. A vision for how they should move forward.

Tiana hummed, pulling the zipper across the top of the bag. “So you can finally stop having an excuse to not ask Jess to come over?”

Sam frowned down at the cup on the table. They hadn’t spoken since the run in at the coffee shop a week before. And every time she’d thought about texting or calling, she came up with some excuse as to why it was a bad idea.

But she’d be lying if she said it wasn’t absolutely killing her every day that passed by.

“She wouldn’t want me to ask her to come over,” Sam muttered.

“Well, maybe that would change if you told her you weren’t leaving anymore.”

Sam let out a deep sigh, rolling her head back to lean against the couch cushion. “You didn’t see how she was last week. I think it’ll take a long time before she’s ready to talk to me again.”

Tiana rolled her eyes, shooting her an irritated look. “That woman is hopelessly in love with you. She doesn’t want time. She wantsyou.”

Sam swallowed, feeling just slightly better at hearing those words. “Even if that were true, it’s not the right time to talk about it. Things need to settle more.”

Tiana groaned exaggeratedly, standing from where she’d been crouched beside the bag on the ground.

She crossed the living room in two easy strides, then dropped onto the couch beside her.

Tiana grabbed the coffee cup Sam had been sipping on, taking a large gulp.Then she set it back down before turning to Sam with an intense gaze.

“What?” Sam asked with a sigh.

Tiana opened her mouth to speak, then paused, closing it again as if rethinking the words. “Every time Jess changed hermind when you first met and walked away from what you guys had, did you want to have to keep chasing after her?”

Sam’s brows pulled together. “Of course not.”

“And even after things were good between you guys, did you just instantly trust that they’d stay that way?”

Sam pursed her lips, glancing away.

“No, you didn’t,” Tiana continued. “You needed her to prove it. You needed her to show up and prove to you that it would work. That shewantedit to work.”

Sam loosed a breath, about to argue, but Tiana continued.

“So why the hell are you still sitting here?”

Sam’s eyes flicked up to her. “Fine. I’ll call her tomorrow.”

Tiana let out a disgusted scoff. “Please, Sam. You’re so much better than that. Go see her. Now.”

“I have to give you a ride, remember?”