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“M orning,” Asher said.

“Hi,” Linden replied, looking up from her desk. “I assume you want to come in?”

“Do you have a meeting?”

“No,” she replied.

Asher closed the door behind her and said, “I didn’t tell you because I hadn’t yet processed the information myself, and then I had a date. I didn’t know Carolyn would tell everyone before I got a chance to talk to you.”

“She didn’t tell everyone . She thought I knew,” Linden said and closed her computer. “I usually know what’s going on with you. We were grabbing coffee in the break room, and she asked what I thought you would do. I had no clue what she was talking about.”

“I’m sorry,” Asher told her before she sat down in one of Linden’s chairs that matched the ones in her own office.

“You’re moving?”

“I think so,” Asher replied.

“So, you’ve decided.” Linden nodded, leaning back and crossing her arms over her chest.

“I don’t know. It’s a huge opportunity, and Carolyn only gave me until the end of today to tell her. It’s not exactly a ton of time, but she needs the person in charge to be there and to hire the rest of the staff, so I need to give her an answer today, or I miss out on the chance to run my own office.”

“I didn’t know that you wanted to run an office. And it wouldn’t be your own, Ash. It would be Carolyn’s. You’d still answer to her.”

“I know. It’s not what I thought I’d be doing, but it’s a step up and a new city. The Dallas wedding scene is crazier than it is here, so I’m thinking I might enjoy the new challenge.”

“You’re just… leaving?” Linden asked, knowing she sounded sad when she should’ve sounded happy for Asher.

“Not immediately. She needs the answer now, but I’d still have to plan the move and everything. You could come with me. We could make a weekend out of finding me a new place to live by the office or something.”

“You want me to help you pick out a place to live in another city?”

“You don’t have to,” Asher said, looking disappointed. “I thought it could be fun. Besides, it’s not like I wouldn’t be back. I’m sure I’ll be in this office at least once a quarter, and the flight’s not exactly long. I can come back for long weekends, maybe.”

“Long weekends? Ash, you’re a wedding planner…” she replied, shaking her head. “You’ll be at weddings.”

“Not all the time. I’ll be running the office more, so I’ll handle fewer accounts directly. I’ll actually have some weekends free for once.”

Linden sat forward again and asked, “And this is what you want? What you really want?”

While Asher stared at her for a long moment, Linden couldn’t tell what she was thinking, and she wasn’t a fan of it.

“I think so,” Asher told her finally. “I need a change.”

“That’s a whole lot of changes all at once,” she noted. “You just came out, and suddenly, you want to move away?”

“It’s not suddenly that I want to move, Linden. It’s that this is the opportunity I’ve been presented with, and I think I should take it.”

“And we’ll just see each other on those long weekends,” Linden commented, knowing it sounded petty.

“You’re not happy for me, are you?”

“I am. I… I want you to have everything you want.”

“Me too,” Asher said.

“And if this is what you want, then I am happy for you. I just wasn’t expecting it.”

“Neither was I. Honestly, I thought she’d hire outside for the role. I figured she might offer me a planner role there, but I would’ve turned that down because I can do that from here.”

“So, you want to run the business there?”

“I want my own business one day. This is good practice, right?”

“I guess. But you said you wanted one or two planners at most.”

“Yeah, but this is still good, Linden. It will give me big-picture practice, and if I decide to break out on my own, I’ll be prepared for pretty much anything.”

“You’d be in Dallas.”

“What’s wrong with Dallas?” Asher asked with a laugh.

“Nothing. But it’s not here.”

“I know,” Asher said.

“Would you build your business there later?”

“I don’t know, Linden. I’m just trying to deal with one thing at a time here. I thought you’d be at least a little excited for me, but you look pissed off more than anything, so I think I’m going to get to work. I came in here first to talk to you about this, but–”

“I’m sorry,” Linden interrupted. Then, she sighed and added, “Really. I am happy for you. I’m just in shock, I think.”

“Okay. Well, I need to get to work, anyway.”

“What about your date?”

“What?” Asher asked as she stood.

“You had a date with a famous person last night, right?”

“Yes,” Asher said. “And she’s nice. We might hang out again before she heads back to LA.”

“So, it went well, then?”

“Yes. She’s funny and sweet.”

“Good,” Linden said, looking away from her. “Good.”

“You don’t want any more details about my date with a supermodel?”

“Maybe later. I have to call a cake vendor.”

Asher nodded and turned to leave her office.

◆◆◆

“Carolyn, can I talk to you?”

“Sure. What’s up?” her boss asked, motioning for Linden to walk into her office. “Have a seat.”

“Thanks,” Linden replied. “And I was hoping we could talk about Dallas.”

“Dallas?” Carolyn looked up at her from her computer as Linden sat down.

“Yes. I was wondering if there was maybe a spot for me there.”

“For you?”

“Yes.”

“You want to move to Dallas?”

“Yes,” Linden replied.

“Since when? You didn’t say anything yesterday when we were talking about it.”

“I know. I thought about it last night.”

“Did you talk to Asher?”

“Yes.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“Well, she hasn’t confirmed with me yet,” Carolyn said.

“Oh. I don’t know what she’s doing,” she lied.

“But you talked to her?”

“Can we talk about me maybe for a second?”

“Sorry, of course,” Carolyn said.

“Is there a spot for me?”

“In Dallas?”

“Yes,” she said, repeating herself.

“Linden, you’re a senior planner here and one of my best.”

“I know.”

“I can’t lose you and Asher at the same time. Besides, you’ve never expressed an interest in Dallas, even when we brought it up in meetings. Asher did.”

“Not really. She was just interested in what her next step could be. She’s been doing this job for a while. It wasn’t Dallas that she wanted.”

“Well, this is the next step up for her, so it would have to be Dallas.”

“And there’s nothing I can do to get there, too?”

“Of course, there is. But not now. I was going to give you any of Asher’s accounts that need to be transferred if she said yes, and I’d need you here for at least another year or so while she sets things up. In the meantime, we’ll get another planner trained up to replace you here. A few of the assistants are promising, but you know how hard your job is. We would need time.”

“A year…” Linden said.

“Yes. But if this is something that’s important to you, we can talk and work on a plan. It just can’t happen right now. If Asher says no, I was going to go outside, but if you’re interested in running the office, we can talk about that. I’d need to know that you really want to do that, though, and it would mean giving up most of what you’re doing now.”

“But Asher would be here,” she said mostly to herself.

“Yes. It would only be if she declines.”

“Right.”

“Linden, you’d make really good money this year if you handle Asher’s accounts and end up getting referrals for next year. You’d easily be my top earner, and there are bonuses and things like that as well that Asher’s been winning every year for which you’d be eligible with her gone. I viewed this as a step up for both of you.”

“Yeah, thanks,” she said as she stood. “I’ll give everything you said some thought.”

The truth was that she hadn’t thought about Dallas at all before walking into her boss’s office. She’d heard Asher say that she was going to leave, and Linden had waited only until Asher was back in her own office before she’d marched into Carolyn’s and asked about it. She hadn’t ever wanted to leave New Orleans or run her own office. She liked what she did. As she headed back to her office, she realized that part of what she liked about her job was that Asher was there every day. Linden had joined the company after her, and she had sat across from Asher for years before they got their own offices. Even that change was hard. Linden had spent more time in Asher’s office than her own most days of the week, like she had separation anxiety, until finally, she got used to working next door instead of across desks. If Asher wasn’t here on the days when they weren’t out visiting venues, meeting with vendors, or at the weddings they’d planned, this job wouldn’t be as much fun for her.

Linden sat back down at her desk and thought about what she wanted. She had been to Dallas a handful of times, and it was a city like most others, she thought, but it wasn’t home. She’d grown up here and had gone to school in Baton Rouge, but she had returned to New Orleans after, planning on living the rest of her days in her hometown. Nowhere else felt as special as this place did to her, so while she knew she could make it work somewhere else, it wouldn’t feel like home to her.

As Asher walked by her open door, someone stopped her to talk. Linden watched the exchange and took in Asher’s perfect auburn hair that was falling in waves today and the pencil skirt and tucked-in silk blouse she was wearing with her heels that matched, accentuating her long legs that were toned from all that healthy eating and time in the gym. She was beautiful.

“She’s leaving,” she said to herself.

Linden knew then, the real reason she wasn’t happy. It had nothing to do with her best friend possibly moving. That would be hard enough, but it was more than that. She watched Asher laugh at whatever their co-worker was talking about, and she smiled because she loved Asher’s laugh. It was always genuine, even when it didn’t need to be because someone at work was telling her something that probably wasn’t all that funny.

“She’s dating a supermodel now,” Linden told herself. “She’s leaving and dating someone who can offer her way more than you can.”

Asher turned then, as if she’d heard her, and she gave her an inquisitive smile. Linden gave her a forced one back and watched Asher finish her conversation and head toward Carolyn’s office. This was it. Asher was about to tell Carolyn that she wanted to move to Dallas. Everything in Linden’s life was about to change, and none of it was in a good way. She picked up her phone.

“Hey,” Bryce said, answering her call.

“Hey. I know you’re here for Sophie, but any chance you can grab lunch with me?”

“Sure. Soph is working anyway. I was just working on the script. When?”

“Whenever,” she replied.

“Hour?”

“Yeah. Meet me here?”

“Okay. Is everything all right, Linden?”

“Not really, no,” she answered honestly.

“Do you want to talk about it now or at lunch?”

“Lunch. I can’t really talk about it now anyway.”

“Okay. I’ll swing by in an hour.”

“Just you, right?”

“Just me,” Bryce promised.

“Thanks, Bryce.”

Linden hung up and got back to work, but it was difficult to focus on anything, knowing what she knew now.

“Do you want to grab lunch?” Asher asked her minutes later.

Linden looked up and replied, “Can’t. I have plans.”

“Oh,” Asher said and walked into her office. “Are we going to talk about it or keep pretending like we’re okay?”

“Did you tell her?”

“Yes,” Asher confirmed.

“So, it’s official?”

“I still have an offer letter to sign and details to work out, but it’s official other than that.”

Linden bit her lip and asked, “What about supermodel Stephania?”

“What about her?”

“Is she excited you’d be a little closer to LA?”

Asher laughed and said, “We had one dinner, and you think she’d care if I move?”

“You’re having another date.”

“It’s not a date, Linden.” Asher put her hands on the back of the guest chair. “We liked each other enough to maybe have another dinner or coffee, but we’re not dating. I just might make an interesting friend out of it. That’s all.”

“Did something happen?”

“No. We got along really well, but it’s not romantic,” Asher explained. “Besides, she lives in LA and travels the world. She told me her upcoming schedule last night, and the woman won’t stop for a break until Christmas. When would we even be able to explore what this could be? Better off as friends.”

“Well, I’m happy for you about Dallas,” Linden told her with little emotion.

“No, you’re not. But I understand,” Asher said. “You struggled when we moved into our offices.” She smiled at her. “It’ll be an adjustment.”

“You’ve always been here, Ash.”

“I know. But maybe it’s time for us both to start thinking about new challenges, Linden. When I leave, you’ll get my office. It’s bigger than yours. Plus, you’ll get my accounts, and you’ll be the top planner here.”

“Confident you’d take me again this year?” she teased.

“I’ve beaten you every year since you got promoted,” Asher replied with a lifted eyebrow.

“I was going to finally beat you this year, and you’re leaving. What does that say about you, Ash?” she joked.

“No way you would’ve beaten me. And it says I’m smart for taking this opportunity.”

“Even though it takes you away from… here?”

Asher looked around Linden’s office and said, “I will miss… here more than you know.”

Linden knew what she meant, but they didn’t say anything else. Asher gave her a quick smile and left her alone to wonder how it was only now that she was realizing that she might just be in love with her best friend.