Page 17 of Heart Like Yours
I’ve shoved my feelings for Paige aside for this long. How hard could it be to keep them tucked away?
PAIGE
“Sorry, I’m gonna need you to say that one more time. Because there’s no way I heard you correctly,” Eva chokes out, her eyes comically wide with shock. “You’re joking, right?”
“Pretty sure I said something very similar to Garrett.” I laugh but shake my head. “Much like him, I’m not joking. Although I get it, I do. It does kinda feel like I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
It’s almost like I’ve been expecting someone to pop out and shout “gotcha!” every day since I accepted the promotion last week. I texted Garrett the morning after we went to dinner, asking him to pinch me so I knew this was real. Instead of answering, he waited until he was strolling into my office, handing me a cup of my favorite coffee with a confident and breathtaking grin, to remind me it is.
He then also informed me that with the promotion, I get the big, vacant office beside his. Even now, I have to swallow thickly to fight off the tightness in my throat at the idea of being even closer to Garrett.
Shaking my thoughts from him, I focus on Eva.
“You have basically been doing my job already. Hell, most days I was wondering why I’m even still here when you handle everything so efficiently. You’re the perfect person to not just fill my shoes, but to wear them better than I did.”
Eva just stares at me, and for the briefest moment, I wonder if I was wrong about her wanting to do more than what she was. Not wanting to make her feel forced into a decision right now, I push on.
“We posted an opening this morning. The job description is broad enough that it could be for either mine or your position, so which position we interview for has yet to be determined. If you say no, then we’ll look at replacing me. If you say yes, then whoever we bring on will backfill you. We’d spend the next three weeks making sure you’re trained in everything you’ll need. I’ll still be here, though, so it’s not like you’d be thrown out of the nest and expected to fly on your own right away.”
That seems to snap her out of it. Sitting on the edge of her seat, she eagerly nods.
“Yes. My answer is yes, like without hesitation. Sorry, I was just surprised.” Her eyes line with tears as she glances down at the paperwork in her hand. It outlines the basics of the promotion, most of which she already knows, and a breakdown of her potential pay raise.
“I could stop working at the bar,” she whispers and her glassy brown eyes finally shine with excitement.
“Dammit, I didn’t think this through. You make the best Moscow mule,” I tease. I knew things have been tight for her ever since her mom passed away a few months ago. While I can understand the pain she’s been going through with that all too well, Evalyn had to do it all while also getting custody of her four-year-old sister. Which is why she opted to take over her mom’s lease for her townhouse and forced her to get a part-time job at the bar.
While SweetHeart Publishing pays its employees well, Eva hasn’t been able to catch a break. Paying for a funeral isn’t cheap, add in taking over a townhouse in the city, a toddler, and everything they need, as well as normal bills from just living?
Eva works her ass off to keep things above water, and given all that she has on her plate, you would never be able to tell how much she carries if you were to look at her work. She hasn’t missed a beat. She deserves this.
“Girl, I’ll make you as many mules as you want on girls’ night to make up for my not being behind the bar anymore.”
“Deal.” I smirk. “So, just to double-check, is that a yes?”
She nods enthusiastically, a wide smile stretching across her face. “Paige, it’s a hell yes.”
With that, she all but launches herself across my desk and awkwardly hugs me. I grimace but bite back the urge to push her away and awkwardly pat her back.
One would think that since my best friend is a hugger, I’d be used to people showing their affection like this. However, outside of Lilly, I have never been able to understand the need for hugs.
Except when Garrett hugged me in his office last week.
I shudder, politely detangling myself from Eva and trying not to think about what it felt like to be held in my boss’s arms.
Eva drops back into her seat, wiping the happy tears from her eyes with a huff.
“Goddammit. I’m not normally like this, you know that. I blame it on sleep deprivation thanks to having a four-year-old going through some seriously rough sleep regression.”
I wave a hand in dismissal but shift in my seat. Even if they’re happy tears, I’ll never know the correct way to respond to anyone crying. Silently, I push a box of tissues across the desk for her.
She laughs, snatching a tissue to dab under her eye.
“Thanks for not throwing this box at me.”
“It was one time!” I defend.
Eva playfully glares at me. “Yeah, the one other time I cried in front of you and you reacted by throwing a box of tissuesat my face!”