“Greg . . .” A jolt of electricity zapped through me either from the sweet way he was looking at me, the excitement from Jenna’s approval, or both. Whatever the reason, something came over me and I hurled myself up into his arms.
He held me tight and elation flowed through me—as if a crack in my life had just been filled. I felt
whole
. There was no other way to explain the emotions buzzing through me. And there was definitely no way to explain why, when Greg pulled back and gazed down at me, I lifted up onto my tippy-toes and pressed my lips against his.
He was still for a moment as if I’d surprised him. I’d definitely shocked myself. Then his fingers speared through my hair and his lips captured mine. Tingles radiated across my chest, making me feel like I was floating. When his mouth opened, I didn’t hesitate, pressing my tongue against his. We tasted each other hungrily, savoring, as if we’d been waiting a long time for this. And we had.
I’d wanted to kiss Greg that very first night we’d met. Dancing with him, laughing with him, and talking together at the diner had felt easy. Natural. And right. Locked in his embrace right now, his mouth devouring mine completely, only one question plagued me. Why hadn’t we been doing this the whole time?
Emergency room doctor. Big family. The reminders flashed in my head like giant warning signs. A jolt zapped through me, putting me on red alert.
Quickly, I pulled away, and stepped back. Fighting to catch my breath, my hand covered my mouth, and I stared up into Greg’s heavy-lidded eyes. What. Had. I. Done?
He moved toward me. “Ginger . . .”
“I’m sorry.” I shook my head, still stunned, and spoke through numb fingers. “I don’t know what came over me.”
A line formed between his brows. “I’m not sorry.”
No matter how amazing it felt with Greg—and amazing didn’t begin to describe the way the guy kisses,
wowzers
—a relationship between us would never work out. Pursuing anything with him would be completely impractical. I needed to be rational. For both of our sakes.
Regretfully, I lifted my handbag off of his coffee table, then slipped it over my shoulder. “I should get back to work.”
Standing in front of me, he slipped his hands into his pockets. “Talk to me.”
My heart pounded against my ribcage. “My lunch break’s over. I need to go.”
A flicker of hurt washed across his face, but he walked me to the door. Once I slipped outside, I spun around to face him, and he leaned against the doorjamb. His jaw muscles twitched, but he didn’t say anything.
Oh, the awkwardness.
I sucked in a breath, wanting to depart on a friendlier note. “I’m relieved Jenna’s happy with the den. I hope the rest of the project goes just as well.”
He peered down at me, his expression serious. “Go out with me tonight.”
My stomach fluttered, while a dull ache rocked through my chest. A huge part of me begged to give in and say yes. . . .
“I already have a date,” I said, lamely. A date I wasn’t jazzed to go on, but still. No matter how much I wanted to, I couldn’t lose my head. It would only hurt more later. “Thanks for being here today. Your support means a lot to me. I’ll work on the living room this weekend.”
“You’re the boss.” His eyes darkened, then he closed the door.
My heart squeezed, but there was nothing I could do. There was no point in going out with Greg when it could never progress to anything more. I’d slipped by kissing him, which made me feel bad enough. I couldn’t let that happen again, no matter how tempting.
****
“Are you telling me I’m fired?” My jaw dropped open and my grip tightened on the armrests of the chair across from Kaitlin’s desk.
Kaitlin shook her head emphatically. “Getting laid off is
not
the same as being fired. You’ll receive glowing recommendations and we’re giving you two weeks of severance pay, plus all of the vacation and sick leave you’ve accumulated.”
My face went numb as I leaned forward. “But the bottom line is that I no longer work here. I need to clean out my office and go home. Right?”
She pressed her lips together. “I wouldn’t put it so harshly. But, yes.”
My brows furrowed. “How long have you known about this?”
She raised both palms in the air. “Rich just told me this morning. I didn’t want to say anything to you earlier because you had that interview with
Sacramento Living
at lunch.”
I crossed my arms. “That’s very considerate of you.”
“This wasn’t my decision, Ginger. You have to believe me.” She clasped her hands together. “Rich is cutting costs across the board. You’re not the only one we had to lay off today.”
That got my attention. “Who else?”
“We let Melinda Morgan go this morning. She’d been with the company for years.” Her expression crumpled and she rubbed her hands over her face. “This is the worst part of my job. I hate it.”
“At least you
have
a job.” I tossed back. How would I pay my bills? I didn’t have jack in savings. Mary Ann only paid her half of the rent when her mood struck. My sight blurred and I yanked the sides of my hair. I was so screwed. “How did Melinda take it?”
“Who knows?” She leaned back in her chair, shaking her head. “She acted just like always, perfectly put together and poised.”
Unlike me, who was pulling out wads of hair and copping an attitude with one of my good friends.
I sighed, dropping my hands in my lap. “I know this isn’t your fault. I’m just thrown, I guess. I’ve never been fired before.”
“Laid off.” Her voice was gentle. “I totally understand. Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”
I slumped back in my chair. “You can erase this day so it never happened. Well, not the entire day. Jenna loved how I designed Greg’s den. She said I have a unique flair and took a gazillion photos for her magazine article.”
And that kiss with Greg will be forever etched in my mind. . . .
“I don’t know if now is the right time to say this.” She bit her lip, then eyed me cautiously. “But maybe this will end up being a good thing. Maybe it will help you make the transition into decorating faster.”
“Except that I have no clients.” Then I remembered that Jenna had asked for my business cards. Guess I needed to have more printed than I thought. “I have a lot of thinking to do.”
She nodded, then handed me a white envelope. “Your final check.”
I picked up the envelope, gripping it between my fingers. “This was a nice place to work . . . for awhile, anyway.”
“It’s rapidly going downhill.” She curled her upper lip. “Who do you think is getting all of your job duties?”
“Better too much work than no income.” I gave her a meaningful look, then sighed. I suppose if I had to get canned, better that it come from a friend. Although Kaitlin’s sympathetic gaze made me want to make
her
feel better. What a mess. I inhaled deeply, slapped my hands on my thighs, then stood. “I wonder why Rich is making all of these changes. Not that it concerns me anymore.”
“No idea.” Kaitlin rose to her feet, then skirted around to the front of the desk, her delicate features downcast. She pulled me into a hug. “I’m really sorry.”
“Thanks.” With my chin on Kaitlin’s shoulder, my head began to spin. Greg’s kiss circled my mind. Jenna’s praise. Getting fired. I’d worked so hard to keep my life organized and practical. Then, in one day, a tornado had hit and everything was spinning out of control. My eyes burned. “I’ll be okay.”
“I know.” She patted my back, pulled away, then sniffled. “Do you want help collecting your things?”
“Sure.” Sucking in a deep breath, I dabbed the corners of my eyes. “That would be great. Thanks.”
My legs felt like bricks as I trudged to my soon-to-be former office. I’d been fired. Canned. Kicked to the curb. This totally threw me off guard. Suddenly, my nerve-racking decorating project had become a do or die situation. The pressure was on to make it more sensational than ever in order to acquire clients. Fast. If not, I’d be out on the street.
****
Although I’d had the strong urge to waste the rest of Friday afternoon in bed with the covers over my head—man, that sounded good right about now—I forced myself to drive to the office supply store and purchase blank business cards.
When I got home, I carried the framed pictures from my ex-office into my condo, and set them against the wall next to the couch. Then I popped two aspirin, hoping to get rid of the raging headache I’d acquired, and plodded to the corner of my bedroom where my tiny desk sat next to my easel.
Needing an original logo for my business cards, I picked up a piece of charcoal and sketched design after design, trying to come up with something I liked. After several hours, I’d drafted a bunch of squiggly lines that didn’t add up to anything remotely appealing. How could my muse desert me at a time like this?
Suddenly, I heard a quick
rap-rap-rap
on my door, before it burst open. Mary Ann sailed in, snapping bubble gum. “You’re home early.”
“Yep.” I set the charcoal down, rubbed my black fingertips together, then turned to face my sister.
She wore her honey-blonde hair pulled back in a bun, a pink blouse tucked into gray slacks, and looked business-casual—just like she dressed for the office every day. She held down a good job in property management, and it suddenly burned me up that she couldn’t be bothered to pay rent every month. I needed to check my tally to see how much she owed me by now, assuming I could count that high.
“What gives?” She plopped down across my bed, then propped her chin on her fists. “And what’s with all those pictures in the living room? Are you redecorating?”
“They’re from my office at work.” I stood, scuffled into my bathroom, and pulled the faucet on. “My
former
work. I got fired today.”
“What?” Her shout came from the other room, but seconds later she appeared right next to me, waving a stack of envelopes. “You can’t lose your job. We’ve got bills and I’m short on cash. Electricity, water, Internet . . .” She flipped through the envelopes, then smacked the top one. “This one is due by next week. Maybe you could apologize for whatever you screwed up on.”
“Great idea.” I place my hand on her shoulder, then tilted my head with a mocking grin. “I’ll just tell him we need high-speed Internet. That will get him to hire me back right away.”
“At least I’m trying to come up with ideas.” She brought her hands to her chest. “I don’t want to have to take cold showers in the dark because you blew something at work. What did you do wrong, anyway?”
Irritation washed over me. This was so typical of Mary Ann. All she could think about was how my sad situation affected her.
“Thanks for your faith in me, but I didn’t mess up.” I pumped liquid soap onto my fingers, then rubbed them together under the warm water. “The company’s cutting costs so they laid me off.”
She stared at me wide-eyed. “What are you going to do?”
Ah. The question I’d been worrying about since Kaitlin had given me the ax. “I have no idea,” I said, turning the water off and drying my hands on a towel.
“I’m sure you’ll think of something.” She followed me back to my bedroom, leaned back on my bed, then smiled. “At least you have a hot date tonight. That should be a nice distraction. Huh?”
I groaned. “I totally forgot about Trenton.”
But I definitely remembered Greg’s kiss. The feel of his arms around me, his mouth ravaging mine. Shiver. No matter how hard I’d fought my attraction, there was only one man who interested me. The thought of going out with another guy felt wrong. “I’m going to cancel my date.”
She gave me a knowing look. “Because you have the hots for Greg. He’s an even better distraction. Are you finally going to stop over-thinking everything and go for it?”
“No,” I said, but my heart rate kicked up a notch just thinking about it. “I need a paycheck, not a distraction. Must be fun to have your carefree life.”
She shrugged, then popped to her feet. “It’s Friday night. Liam’s taking me to this new club that just opened. Yes, he actually made it to date number two. I’ll admit it had something to do with how hot he looks with his goatee.”
“Have a good time.” I dropped down into the chair at my desk. Great. Mary Ann would be out rocking the dance floor, while I’d be struggling to invent a creative logo design. As always, I chose to act responsibly while she got to act on her whims. This didn’t exactly give me the warm fuzzies.
Mary Ann hesitated by my door, eyeing me up and down. “You look really depressed, Ginger.”
My brows furrowed. “Gee, you think?”
“I didn’t mean it like that.” She rolled her eyes, then propped a hand on her hip. “Come dancing with Liam and me tonight. That’s sure to snap you out of your funk.”
Great idea, in theory, but I had work to do. Besides, dancing would only remind me of Greg, anyway.
I gestured toward my drawings. “Thanks for the offer, but I have a project I’m working on. You have fun, though.”
“I’ll be around for a few more hours if you change your mind,” she said, then sauntered away. Her invitation actually touched me. She may be a flake, but she tried to take care of me in her own way, and I loved that about her.
I glanced at the clock. Five-thirty. Since Trenton was supposed to pick me up at seven, I needed to call him pronto. Taking a deep breath, I dialed his phone number. Canceling our date was all kinds of awkward, but I managed to stumble through it. He mentioned his ex again, which confirmed he probably thought about her as much as I thought of Greg. But he was trying to be rational about things. Just like I was.
Too bad we both seemed miserable.
Maybe I should listen to Mary Ann, stop thinking so much, and go for it with Greg. She threw caution to the wind all of the time and she was the epitome of happiness. The idea enticed me, but reason took over. I had no job. My livelihood rode on this magazine article generating clients for me. I needed to go upstairs and decorate, but that would be mega uncomfortable considering the debacle I’d created earlier by kissing Greg.
Then a terrible thought sliced through my brain. Greg was an incredibly hot doctor with an amazing personality to boot. What if he’d asked someone else out tonight? What if she showed up at his condo while I was painting?