“Sort of.” He grimaces. “We didn’t go out very long.”
“She’s really beautiful.”
He says nothing.
“You bought her jewelry.”
“That was a mistake. She thought things were serious.”
“But you don’t do relationships.”
“Right.” He bites out the word. Then he sighs. “Sorry. That was awkward.”
“No need to apologize. I bet there are lots of women out there you dated.” And they’re probably all unhappy and bitter.
Is that going to be me? Ugh.
“A few, I guess. Are you ready to go?”
“Sure.” Clearly he doesn’t want to run into Parminder again. To be honest, I’m with him on that. I don’t need to be reminded that Trace doesn’t want a relationship… with anyone.
21
Trace
“You did what?”
I’m in Joe’s office.
“I offered Romy a job.”
I blink. “Doing what?”
“Working on our website and our branding.”
“You didn’t even think we needed a website.”
“I guess I’ve realized that we need to get with the times.” He grimaces. “We can’t stay stuck in the past.”
“Huh.” When I told him that a few years ago, he didn’t seem convinced.
“She’s thinking about it. But it makes sense.”
“I guess. Sure.”
I’m not sure how I feel about this. I wasn’t happy about the family rule that I had to work five years somewhere else, but now I can see how valuable the experience is and how it opened my mind to different ways of doing things.
But Romy arrives, and he offers her a job after two minutes.
Okay, it’s been longer than that. And I guess she’s put in her time elsewhere, although working for an insurance company is a little different than a construction company, and the work she does there is a far cry from what she’d do here.
And… it would be great for her. Never mind my stupid self-doubts. She’d love working here.
We move on to talking about an issue with a remodel. “We’re going to end up behind schedule,” I tell Joe. “We’ve got everything framed in, but the clients are saying that’s not what they wanted. We showed them the blueprints, and they were good with it.”
Joe sighs. “People have a hard time imagining what it will look like from the blueprints.”
“Exactly! That’s what I’ve been telling you. We need to start using 3D modeling. It’s expensive, but it saves money when it comes to situations like this where we now have to tear things down and start again.”
“Yeah, yeah. Okay, let me think about that.”
Back in my own office, I sit down and stare at my dark computer screen.
I don’t have a problem with Romy working here. Okay, I do. Fuck. I love the idea of seeing her every day, but what happens when this all goes to shit? That’s going to be even more awkward than we thought.
Running into Parminder that night at the street fair only reinforced how this could turn out. I’ve never been able to stay friends with the women I date; when I end things, they seem to hate me. I’m sure that’ll be true with Romy too.
Jesus fuck. What a mess.
I lean my head into my hands for a moment. The biggest problem with this whole scenario? I actually care about Romy. She’s a sweetheart with a fun, dirty side. She’s smart and kind. I admire her strong sense of justice and fairness. She’s beautiful. Already the whole family loves her. She lacks confidence in her witch abilities, but that will come with time.
But she’s going to end up hating me like every other woman I’ve been with.
Later, she comes over to my place for dinner, which we make together, and I use a little witchcraft in the kitchen to make sure our meal is delicious. I consider it a learning opportunity for Romy, who takes in everything I do with earnest attention. I even let her conjure up the garlic-rosemary butter that will go on the pan-seared steaks. We produce perfect creamy mashed potatoes and steamed asparagus.
“This is fun,” she says, tasting the potatoes.
It… actually is. I forgot the fun of magic. Teaching Romy has rekindled that in me. I needed this in my life.
We sit down to eat at the island.
“Did Joe tell you about offering me a job?” Romy asks as she cuts into her medium-rare steak.
“Yeah.”
“I don’t know what to do.”
“Quitting your job is a big decision.”
“It is. Even though I’m not entirely happy anymore, it’s tough. I’ve learned a lot there. My life is easy and predictable. I have good friends at work.” She sighs. “It’s so funny, all the times I’ve wished I