Yup! Exactly what I needed to hear. That was a wake up call.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Athena, you\u2019re his sister.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I\u2019m sure he won\u2019t.\u201d She nodded her head.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou guys should talk it out when he comes\u201d I stared at her with a smile.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will don\u2019t worry. Hope Kiara didn\u2019t miss me too much\u201d I joked trying to get the conversation off me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course she did. You\u2019ll come around soon, right?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYea I would\u201d we both walked into my office catching out on the day before that I wasn\u2019t present.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We walked together toward my office, catching up on the work I\u2019d missed the day before. Leah filled me in on customer calls, parts orders, and the general chaos of running a busy garage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2014\u00a0<\/p>\n
maybe because I was technically her boss, or maybe\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was grateful she didn\u2019t ask why I\u2019d been absent because she could see I wasn\u2019t ready to talk about it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What would I have said anyway? Sorry I missed work because I\u2019d nearly overdosed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I threw myself into paperwork, using the familiar routine as a shield against my racing thoughts. Invoice reviews, schedule adjustments, inventory reports, anything to keep my mind occupied and away from memories of soft lips and frozen shock.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The morning crawled by at a snail\u2019s pace. Every footstep in the hallway made me look up, expecting to see Tristan\u2019s tall frame filling my doorway \u2013 demanding why I left without a single word.\u00a0<\/p>\n
By noon, I\u2019d almost convinced myself he wasn\u2019t going to show up at all. Maybe he was avoiding coming here, to give us both space to pretend last night never happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then I heard a soft knock on my office door.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I looked up from my computer screen, expecting to see Leah with lunch plans or work questions. Instead, Tristan stood in the doorway, one hand gripping the frame, his eyes fixed directly on me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My heart skipped several beats and then started racing to make up for lost time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
20:38 Sat, Jan 3\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 67\u00a0<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t say anything at first, just stood there looking at me with an expression I couldn\u2019t quite read. His dark hair was slightly messy, like he\u2019d been running his fingers through it. His work clothes were clean but rumpled, suggesting he\u2019d been busy all morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I raised my eyebrows when the silence stretched past comfortable and into something awkward.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWould you like to go to lunch together?\u201d he asked finally.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The question caught me completely off guard. This wasn\u2019t the first time Tristan had ever asked me out to lunch but it felt somehow, intimate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My first instinct was to panic. Lunch meant sitting across from each other at a restaurant, making conversation, pretending everything was normal when we both knew it wasn\u2019t. Lunch meant being alone together, which felt dangerous after what had happened last night.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Say yes, Claire whispered urgently in my mind.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2026 I\u2019d love to,\u201d I started, and I\u00a0<\/p>\n
it was my imagination.\u00a0<\/p>\n
d see something\u2019s that\u2019s looked like hope flicker in his eyes, but I knew\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s my girl, Claire whispered with satisfaction.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut\u2026\u201d I continued, and I felt her immediately tense with frustration.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t you dare. Don\u2019t you dare say no to him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of work to catch up on. I\u2019m sorry, maybe tomorrow?\u201d I finished with what I hoped was an apologetic look.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I watched his face fall slightly, the hope dimming like someone had turned down a light switch. The sight made my heart twist painfully in my chest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Why did you say no to him? You want to go on a date with him. That\u2019s what we\u2019ve always wanted since we were kids, so why are you refusing now?\u00a0<\/p>\n
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