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“Touché. How about seventy-two? I’ve got a huge load of work tomorrow with appointments and showings, but Thursday and Friday I’m just prepping for the coming week.”

“Get to it. Rachelle needs to be back in our life, yesterday.” She twirls her pasta around her fork and says, “Make a list of all her favorite things and start giving them to her.”

“I thought you were giving me time to come up with a plan. Let me take care of this and if I need backup, I’ll let you know.”

She sighs and says, “Okay, but you can’t just bulldoze through it like you do with work. You can’t even turn on the charm too high or you’ll cause her to tuck tail and run.”

I have to laugh at her examples. “So you’re telling me not to be myself.”

“Pretty much.”

“But isn’t that what worked the first time?”

“You’ve burned that bridge, buddy. You’re going to have to cross a completely different one now.”

If only it were that easy. As if going up to my ex-fiancée and saying I’m sorry will fix everything.

Too bad we can’t just start over.

CHAPTER3

Rachelle

Today has been a doozy with a capital D.

Ike, my manager, got mad at me for not forcing my team to hit the call quota, even though our conversions for the products and services we promote are fifteen percent higher than other departments.

Then paintball.

And Landon.

I can’t do much about Landon, but I need to get his handsome face out of my head. So I’m drowning my sorrows in one of those itty-bitty Ben & Jerry’s ice cream tubs. It was the last one I’d hid behind the “healthier” version I’ve bought several times but don’t hit the spot.

Yeah, not ideal, but some ice cream is better than none.

I’m listening to music and also job searching, something I do about every three or four months but never follow through on, ending up back at the call center day in and day out.

“What’s wrong?” Evie asks, walking into the office at the front of the house.

“It’s been a day.”

“Looking for jobs again, huh?” Evie glances down at the ice cream and her expression softens. In true Evie fashion, she leans forward and wraps her arms around me.

“Thanks, girl. How are things for you?”

She gives me a small smile and says, “I’ve been on the job-search websites today, too.”

“Oh no! Things aren’t going well at work?”

“It’s a long story, but I’m kind of ready for something different. The chance to actually have something to do that stretches me. I feel like I can do data entry in my sleep.”

I cringe. “Yeah, that’s as bad as having a long list of phone numbers to call.”

“Do I hear the breakup playlist?” Kenzie asks, poking her head into the room.

I purse my lips and nod. “Maybe.”

Evie stands and leans over my shoulders to look at my screen. “You haven’t listened to it in weeks. What happened?”