Page 23 of Meet Me In The Dark

“Hmm.” She reaches calmly for her coffee while I spiral. “He has other talents.”

Farmer Jim, the man who brings us peaches in July and hugs me like I’m his long-lost niece every time he visits the office.

I don’t know what to do with myself anymore.

“Sex isn’t always about theatrics, Celeste. Sometimes it’s about trust. Presence. Stamina.”

My entire soul exits my body.

“Oh my God.” I slap both hands over my ears. “Do not say stamina and Farmer Jim in the same sentence.”

A small, amused smile quirks her lips. “You’d be surprised what people are capable of when no one’s watching.”

I drop my hands and gape at her. “You and Jim aremembers?”

“Wewere,” she corrects. “But yes, we were frequent visitors.”

Frequent visitors.

What the fuck is happening?

I’ll need someone to wheel me out of here on a gurney.

“You are ruining everything,” I whisper-shriek.

“I’m expanding your worldview.”

“You’re traumatizing my worldview.”

“I’m gifting you a broader perspective.”

“You’re gifting me Farmer Jim in leather. That’s what you’re gifting me.”

Her expression is now positively serene. “You’ll learn that the people who seem the most conventional often have the richest inner lives.”

He milks cows, Lilian.But I don’t say that out loud.

“I’m not married,” I say dumbly, as if that will get me out of it.

“That doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to rediscover yourself and figure out what you want outside of work.”

“Lilian—”

“You don’t have to go,” she cuts in gently. “But if you decline, another invitation won’t come. It’s a one-time offer. That’s how it works.”

No second chances.

Dropping my hands to my lap, I fidget with the seam of my blouse.

This is insane.

Yet, that envelope remains in front of me, and I feel a pull toward it that I can’t quite understand.

“Think about it.” There’s a long pause before Lilian clears her throat and casually says, “Also, can you sendme the updated files for the Blackwood & Calloway project by three?”

“What?”

“Blackwood & Calloway,” she repeats, looking perfectly calm. “The meeting next week? You wanted me to look at them?”