Page 32
Story: April (New Orleans #4)
L inden was lying naked in Asher’s bed. She was in that bed because they’d stayed up all night making love. Linden hadn’t ever made love before. Sex, yes. She’d had that with a few boyfriends over the years and with several women recently, but she’d never made love. With her hands behind her head and her eyes aimed at the ceiling, she thought about that sure thing, which was really only a few days ago, and how the woman had been standing there naked in front of her, ready for her to do whatever she wanted, and Linden tried to compare that and her other experiences with women to what she and Asher had done last night. She couldn’t. There was no comparison. She smiled and wished Asher was still here.
Asher had been squirrely all morning, and Linden was hoping she wasn’t running away. If Asher needed space after what they’d shared, she would have understood. Hell, Asher could’ve just told her, and Linden would’ve left to give her that space in her own apartment. As it was, though, she had no idea where Asher was and what had been so important that she had to run out on her and leave her naked in bed, waiting for her to bring back a lunch they could’ve had delivered.
Linden knew she should get dressed. They wouldn’t be having sex right when Asher got back anyway. They would eat lunch and maybe talk about how to spend the rest of their day off. She decided to pull out her phone, which she needed to charge, and went to look up events in the city to see if there was anything fun they could do tonight for their date. She was confident that she and Asher would be going out again tonight, even though Asher had left her naked in her bed for some undisclosed errand.
“We’re fine,” she said to herself. “We’re definitely fine.”
Linden opened the browser on her phone and started searching, checking the time as well to see how long Asher had been gone already. Then, a text came through from her boss, which was strange because Carolyn seldom, if ever, messaged them on their days off. The woman respected their life away from work, and nothing had gone wrong from Linden’s wedding last night that she knew of, at least.
Carolyn Hardy : Can you meet me?
Linden was already done with Asher’s cloak-and-dagger, so she wasn’t putting up with Carolyn’s. She typed back.
Linden Washington : Today?
Carolyn Hardy : Yes, if you’re free. I know it’s your day off, but it’s important.
Linden Washington : Is everything okay?
Carolyn Hardy : I’ll tell you more when you get to the office, but it’s not bad. It’s good, actually.
Carolyn wanted her to come into the office. She’d never asked Linden to come in randomly like this unless it was a regular workday.
Linden Washington : When? Now?
Carolyn Hardy : As soon as possible would be great. I’m already here. Can you get here within the hour?
Within the hour? Linden checked the clock on her phone again. Asher should be back by then. She could ask Carolyn for more time. She had her wedding clothes from last night here and her overnight bag, but those clothes were wrinkled and on the floor, and her overnight bag didn’t have anything work-appropriate in it.
Linden Washington : I can stop by, but I’m not exactly dressed for it. I’m out and about. Can I run home and change?
Carolyn Hardy : I don’t care what you’re wearing, Linden. I just need to talk to you.
Linden looked around Asher’s bedroom and decided she better get to the office because she could tell Carolyn’s tone from a mile away, even in a text message. Her boss was irritated about something, so despite the fact that she’d said it wasn’t bad, Linden was worried. She messaged Carolyn that she was on her way and got out of bed. A very quick shower later, she was dressed and ready to go. Grateful she’d driven and could take her own car to the office, she climbed inside and only just remembered to message Asher.
Linden Washington : Hey. Had to step out real quick if you come back before I get there. I shouldn’t be long. Don’t eat my sandwich.
The office wasn’t a long drive, but Linden was surprised that she hadn’t heard back from Asher by the time she arrived. It only made her more worried that something was up that Asher wasn’t telling her, but she’d have to worry about that later because her boss needed to talk to her about something important enough to call Linden on her day off.
“Hey, I’m here,” she said.
“Hi. Come in. Thanks for coming so fast,” Carolyn said, motioning for her to head into the office.
“Yeah. Is everything okay? You said it was good, but you’ve never needed me immediately on my day off for good news.”
Linden sat down across from Carolyn.
“Well, it’s been an interesting day so far, so bear with me.” The woman closed her laptop. “And I am sorry. I try to leave all of you alone when it’s your day off. I know how grueling this job can be. We work most, if not all, weekends, and we still have to work during the rest of the week, meeting with vendors, clients, and everything else. So, know that I appreciate this.”
“I know.” She smiled. “Is something wrong, Carolyn? You look like you’ve been through the wringer today.”
“Gee. Thanks, Linden.” The woman chuckled.
“I didn’t mean like that,” she replied with a small laugh.
“Look, it’s your day off, so I’ll keep this brief and hope you say yes.”
“Okay,” she said, wondering what in the hell was going on.
“I want you to run the Dallas office,” Carolyn stated.
Linden wasn’t sure she’d heard her right.
“The Dallas office?”
“Yes.”
“Are you opening two Dallas offices?”
“No,” Carolyn replied.
“Okay. Then, I’m confused.” Linden leaned forward. “Asher is running the Dallas office.”
“Not anymore. Change of plans. I came in here so that I could rewrite the offer letter and print it out, hopefully for you to sign.”
“I’m sorry. What do you mean not anymore ?”
“Asher isn’t going to Dallas anymore. I can’t say anything other than that, Linden. It wouldn’t be fair to Asher. You’re peers.”
“So, you’re offering the job to me?”
“Yes. You wanted to move to Dallas. You told me so this week. You asked to go as a planner, and I’m ready to send you as more. You’d run the office, and you can bring whomever you want from here. We would talk about that, obviously. I have an offer letter for you that I think you’ll find to be very generous, and I’ll pay for you to relocate, of course. I’ve been on the phone since I got here, talking to a few possible vendors to help you handle the move from start to finish to make it as easy as possible on you. Plus, you’ll have a raise, a bonus, and I’ve added in a nice office decoration stipend for you, too, so you can make your new office your own space.”
“Carolyn, I can’t go to Dallas,” she said, and she pulled her phone out of her pocket, still finding no messages from Asher.
“Of course, you can. You told me you wanted to.”
“That was more on impulse than anything else.”
“Is this because you were my second choice?”
“What? No. Asher deserves the job. She’s been here longer, and she’s the best planner you have. It made perfect sense to me that you’d offer it to her.”
“Well, that didn’t work out. Now, I’m offering it to you , Linden.” Carolyn picked up a piece of paper and put it on the desk closer to Linden, facing her. “Here’s the number. Take a look and tell me that’s not more than you’re making now by a large margin. And I know you’re from here, so you’d be able to fly back at least once a quarter to see friends and family. Plus, you’d only plan a few big weddings a year, so you’d have your weekends back. If you want to be out of planning entirely, I can make that work. We’d just need to get everyone staffed up and trained in Dallas first.”
“This is how much you offered Asher?” Linden asked, staring down at the large number on the paper.
It was almost double what she made now and would really help her start to save some money, which she’d been meaning to do for years, but she’d never been the best at saving and probably spent way too much on drinks when she went out. This amount would allow her to buy a house within a couple of years; it was that life-changing. There was one moment when she thought about accepting the offer, but it was only one small millisecond that passed by because something had happened with Asher, and she wasn’t going to Dallas, which meant that neither was Linden because this kind of life-changing money only mattered if it was for the life she wanted with the love of it.
“Yes, but I added the office stipend for you as an added incentive,” Carolyn replied.
“Jesus. It’s no wonder she said yes,” Linden said. “But I can’t go to Dallas.”
“Why not?” her boss asked, sighing loudly. “How do you go from asking me to go to Dallas and me turning you down to me offering you the job and you turning me down, all within the same week?”
“I never wanted Dallas specifically, Carolyn. Asher is my best friend,” she said without offering further explanation. “She’s always been in this office with me. I was trying to figure out a way for us to still see each other all the time, and I impulsively went into your office to ask about Dallas because I thought that if she was there, I wanted to be there, too. But even if Asher was going, I don’t think I want to leave New Orleans.”
“Well, you don’t have to worry about that now.” Carolyn picked up the piece of paper. “Damn it.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. I’ll just have to open an external search now, and I wasn’t prepared for that. I don’t have anyone else I can or want to offer it to who’s here, and I never pictured both of you saying no to me.”
“What do you mean? Asher said yes to you.”
“She did, yes.” Carolyn sighed and leaned back in her chair again. “Well, you two are best friends… She’s going to tell you anyway, right?”
“Tell me what?”
“I saw her a little while ago, and she rescinded her acceptance. She wants to stay here and continue being a planner out of this office,” Carolyn said.
“She did what ?” Linden asked, surprised.
“Just about an hour ago, actually. Took me by surprise, too. All she had to do was sign the offer letter tomorrow, and it would’ve been all wrapped up with a nice red bow. Now, you’re turning me down, too.” Carolyn looked skeptically at her. “She really didn’t tell you?”
“No,” Linden replied. “Last I talked to her, she was still moving in a few months.”
“She’s, apparently, changed her mind. I would’ve taken another run at her or given her more time to consider everything, but she seemed sure, and I need to get someone hired in this role to help me get the office ready to launch.”
Asher’s mysterious errand today, it turned out, had been to talk to Carolyn in person about not going to Dallas. Asher wasn’t moving. Not only that, but Linden had expected her boss to tell her that she’d been the one to change her mind about asking Asher to run the office, and that was why this offer was now in her lap. She hadn’t expected Carolyn to tell her that Asher had changed her mind. It was Asher’s choice. She wanted to stay. Linden smiled.
“Why are you smiling? Are you changing your mind?”
“Oh, no. Sorry, no. I’m staying here.”
“Well, I guess it’s good that I still have my top two planners here to keep things going because I’m going to be spending a lot of time on this other office,” Carolyn said. “You can go, obviously. I’d just ask that you keep this between you and me for now. I don’t want the rest of the staff to know that I’m going external until I’m ready to announce it later this week.”
“Of course,” Linden said and stood. “Sorry, again.”
“You don’t have to apologize. If you see Asher, can you maybe not tell her that I told you?”
“Sure,” she replied, knowing that wouldn’t be an issue.
She left Carolyn sitting behind her desk, with her laptop back open, and walked over to Asher’s office. Linden smiled at it, knowing that Asher would be occupying it beyond the next few months and wondering why Asher hadn’t just told her about what she’d been planning to do. Linden would’ve been so happy. They probably would’ve made love again to celebrate the fact that they could really be together now with no threat of distance and new, busy jobs to keep them apart. When she got to her car, she pulled her phone back out and smiled again when she saw a text from Asher.
Asher Hahn : Hey, I’m home. Is everything okay? Your message was ambiguous, at best. I have Henry’s for you, and I got those chips you love. Two bags. I might even steal some since I burned a lot of calories last night. Can you message me and let me know when you’ll be back?
Linden’s smile widened, and she typed a response.
Linden Washington : Like you weren’t ambiguous this morning with your little errand.
The three dots appeared immediately.
Asher Hahn : Please tell me that you didn’t run out to buy a sex toy. I see you’ve arranged the ones I have on the bed. Does that mean you thought my collection was lacking, and you wanted to get a different one for us to try?
Linden laughed and typed.
Linden Washington : I’ll tell you when I get home. I’m on my way now. I only laid those out because I was looking at them. They’re in no particular order. Feel free to let your mild OCD put them back in the bin just like you had them before.
Then, she messaged again.
Linden Washington : Do you need anything while I’m out? I can stop at the store or something.
Asher Hahn : No. Just get here. I miss you.
Linden’s smile couldn’t be measured as she typed back that she was on her way.