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Serious Potential Page 3


  “What’s up, gaylords?” Meg greeted them jovially. “How was the weekend?” she asked as she trailed them into the kitchen. “Anyone want a drink?”

  “No thanks, Meg,” Jesse said, clapping Meg on the shoulders and squeezing them a little as she breezed by Meg and took a seat at the kitchen table. It was an unusual gesture and Meg turned around to see Jesse had a bizarre smirk on her face as well.

  “What’s going on? Everything okay?”

  Lexi danced over to Meg, her left arm bent at the elbow, fingers spread wide, as she showcased the diamond solitaire on her ring finger. “We’re getting married!” she exclaimed, beaming ear to ear, practically hopping up and down as she spoke.

  Meg was momentarily stunned and looked back and forth between her two closest friends. Lexi’s smile was wide, her dimples taking turns popping out in each cheek. Jesse smiled too, slyly, a little shy even, but also brimming with happiness.

  “Oh my God, you guys.” Meg gave Lexi a long hug, holding out one arm so Jesse could join them. “I can’t believe it,” she said, as the three of them broke apart. “Actually, I can. But still, I’m surprised.” She threw a mock punch at Jesse, adding, “You jerk, I can’t believe you didn’t say anything.”

  “Sorry, kid.” But Jesse’s smile showed she wasn’t sorry at all, and Meg didn’t expect her to be. As close as they were, Meg knew in some ways Jesse would always be a lone wolf.

  Meg turned her attention to Lexi. “Did you tell your parents yet?”

  “Yep,” Lexi answered.

  “How’d it go?”

  Lexi blew out a deep breath. “It was okay.” She sounded more than uncertain and she flashed her eyes up at Jesse. “Right, babe? You think it went okay?”

  “It was fine.” Jesse rubbed Lexi’s back reassuringly. “It’s going to be good,” she added, but Meg couldn’t help but notice she didn’t sound convinced either.

  As good as Chris and Marnie had been to Meg since she’d moved to Bay West—welcoming her into their home, feeding her constantly—Lexi’s mothers had been equally lukewarm regarding their daughter’s relationship with Jesse. When it came to Lexi and Jesse, Meg knew they got it wrong. Sure there was an age gap, and yes, Jesse had a colorful past, but Meg honestly believed if Chris and Marnie could let all of that go for just a second and see Lexi without all of their preconceived disapproval, they would recognize how happy their daughter was, and Jesse too, for that matter. But it seemed Marnie barely tried. And while Chris had accepted them together at first, her support had waned as the relationship intensified.

  “Let me guess, Chris was okay, Marnie didn’t do any cartwheels?” Meg tried for light, but the irritation in her tone came through.

  Lexi looked down. “Actually even Chris looked kind of shocked. She didn’t say anything. At all.”

  “Lex, give them some time to digest it. They’ll come around. You know they will.” Meg rubbed Lexi’s forearm as Jesse leaned over and kissed her temple.

  “I told you Meg was the voice of reason.” Jesse looked over at Meg and gave her a small smile of thanks.

  “Anyway, I’m psyched for you guys. I think it’s awesome.” Meg nodded affirmatively. “I want to know everything. When? Where? How big is the wedding going to be?” She grabbed Lexi’s hand and brought it closer to her. “Let me see this rock.”

  “How was the open house?” Lexi asked over Meg’s obligatory ring inspection.

  Meg looked down giving a small shrug. “Fine. Good. Uneventful.”

  “Completely uneventful?” Lexi challenged with a smile, obviously picking up on Meg’s subtle body language.

  “Perhaps not completely,” Meg answered, playing along. “I hung out with Taylor Higgins a bit.”

  “Taylor, huh?” Jesse was less than enthusiastic. “I still don’t understand why you never gave it a chance with Reina. She’s a great girl.” There it was—Jesse’s continued critique of Meg’s decision to not pursue Reina Ramirez. Reina, who, by the way, hadn’t been into Meg either. The night Meg and Reina had been introduced over a year ago, neither of them had been interested in the other. Forced into meeting, they’d been cordial, conversing for a good while to appease Teddy, their mutual contact who’d orchestrated the setup. But truthfully, both she and Reina had other pursuits they were following that evening and they’d both recognized those signs immediately. In Meg’s estimation, it had all worked out, as neither of them had been interested and nobody’s feelings had been hurt. Meg saw no reason to revisit it, but Jesse brought it up a lot.

  “I’m not going over this again,” Meg said matter-of-factly.

  Jesse stood and crossed into the kitchen, helping herself to some cold water from Meg’s refrigerator. “But Taylor, again?” She huffed. “I don’t know, Meg. She doesn’t really seem stable.”

  Meg laughed, because it was kind of true. Taylor was sort of all over the place. “She is kind of crazy. Sometimes in a good way,” she added with a naughty smile.

  Lexi opened her mouth wide. “So you are hooking up with her again?”

  “I am. I’m not.” Meg shrugged playfully. “Who knows?”

  Jesse shook her head in the corner. “And what’s with this chick from your office building, the elevator operator? What’s that about?”

  Meg tilted her head toward Lexi and raised her eyebrows in faux disbelief at the obvious source of information. “Nothing,” Meg answered in a droll voice as she clenched her jaw and widened her eyes in a playful grimace at Lexi.

  “Don’t look at her,” Jesse teased. “She’s going to be my wife. No secrets.” She smiled into her drink. “This is stuff you should be telling me anyway.”

  “I would, but you get mad at me,” Meg responded, matching her tone.

  Jesse looked right at her, getting a little more serious. “I never get mad at you, Meg. I worry about you. There’s a difference.” Then she lightened her voice again. “So who was it this weekend? Elevator girl? Taylor? Someone else we don’t know about…”

  Meg chewed the inside of her cheek, fighting off a grin. “Taylor. Kind of.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  Meg looked back and forth between her two best friends, knowing it was useless to keep secrets from either of them. What’s more, she didn’t want to. “Well, I went home with Taylor, but, if you must know, she was pushing to have a threesome with one of her friends. I’m not into that, so I left.”

  “Good girl.” Jesse nodded her approval.

  Meg shot Jesse a look from under her eyebrows and was about to call her out. Jesse had about a decade on both her and Lexi, and she had been single, but rarely alone, for a long time before settling down. Meg was willing to bet at least some of Jesse’s past exploits had included something outside the scope of routine, so she was a little miffed that Jesse was being so openly judgmental of her love life. Normally, she wouldn’t hesitate to make that remark right to Jesse because they had that kind of relationship. But tonight, in front of Lexi, who’d just become her fiancée, Meg held her tongue. She reminded herself it was her friends’ special night. She didn’t want to ruin it by dredging up Jesse’s extensive sexual history, so she kept her comments to herself.

  “Wait. Was the other girl hot?” Lexi asked, filling the silence.

  Meg thought about it for a second. “Yeah, she was cute.”

  “And you’re really not into that, at all?” Lexi sounded surprised.

  Meg scrunched up her nose. “Not my thing. I don’t know, maybe I’m just too self-conscious.” She thumbed toward herself as she continued. “Plus, not a good sharer. Even as a kid.”

  Lexi laughed at Meg’s explanation, but Jesse rolled her eyes before adding, “Just promise me you are at least being careful with these girls.”

  Meg went right back at her. “What does that mean?”

  “You know what it means.”

  Meg stretched her neck back in disbelief. “You’re not giving me a lecture on safe sex right now, are you?” She curled her eyebrows. “You’re kidd
ing, right?”

  “I’m not kidding at all.”

  This time she couldn’t hold it in. She held both of her hands up, effectively halting the conversation. “Wait, you’re gonna tell me that before you became Mrs. Monogamous here, you like, busted out the dental dams?” Meg challenged through her laughter.

  Jesse smiled mischievously. “We’re not talking about me.”

  “Of course we’re not,” Meg countered, with more than a little sarcasm.

  “I did use my head,” Jesse responded assertively. “All I’m saying is”—she exhaled heavily—“just make good choices. Okay?” She barked out the order in her typical husky voice, and because it was paired with a shake of her head that acknowledged the lack of control she had over anything, it managed to come out full of concern rather than condescension.

  “Yes, Dad.” Meg mocked her, but the message was received loud and clear.

  The three of them switched back to talking about the engagement and the weekend past. A red-faced Lexi filled Meg in on how she had inadvertently flashed Jesse’s family, and they all laughed about it together.

  When her friends had gone, Meg loaded the dishwasher and thought about Jesse’s comments. Wiping the countertops clean, she took mental inventory over the last year. There had been a couple of different girls, that was true, but it wasn’t because she necessarily wanted it that way. She just hadn’t met anybody with potential, not serious potential, anyway.

  Chapter Four

  The management consulting firm of Sullivan & Son, Inc. was an interesting place to work. Corporate but relaxed, in both its philosophy and its design, Sullivan believed heartily in core values, hard work, and team building. The company practiced what it preached, expecting long hours rewarded with fair compensation, encouraging all employees to work together. This last bit was done with a bit of a forced hand, making all of the lower-level associates share office space.

  Being a junior associate, Meg cohabitated one of these offices. Most days she wished for her own cubicle rather than share the ten-by-ten room. Not that she didn’t like Carrie Buckthorn. Her roommate was friendly enough, even if they had absolutely nothing in common outside of their shared employment. But Carrie was kind of loud—on the phone, on the computer, even just sitting at her desk.

  Meg had gotten used to drowning her out. Sometimes she listened to music through earbuds if she was doing numbers work or something else she could half focus on. Other times, like right now, when she had to think hard, she simply mentally blocked out everything around her. Which is precisely why she didn’t notice Anne standing in her doorway until her boss’s shouted attempt at getting her attention.

  “Megan!”

  Meg heard her name at the exact moment that her officemate rolled back her chair and hit Meg’s arm to alert her.

  “Sorry, sorry, sorry.” Meg snapped her head up from her computer. She only remembered at that moment, when she saw Sasha Michaels standing alongside Anne, that today was Sasha’s first day in New York.

  Anne cleared her throat. “Sasha, this is Megan McTiernan. Megan, Sasha Michaels.”

  Meg looked over at Carrie, waiting for Anne to continue the introductions. Carrie returned her glance with a subtle shake of her head. “We just met. You missed it,” she said, not at all surprised at how zoned out Meg could get.

  Meg stood up and took the few steps to the door. “Sorry. Hi.” She smiled warmly as she shook Sasha’s hand.

  “Nice to meet you, Megan.” Sasha’s smile was shy but it went all the way up to her eyes and as the boss delved into Sullivan rhetoric, Meg took a second to assess her new colleague. Sasha was wearing a black skirt with a matching one-button jacket, a cream shell visible just beneath it. Her heels were professional, not too high, and she stood exactly even with Meg. She was dressed way too formally for Sullivan—both the New York and London offices had a relaxed dress code and smart casual was completely accepted. Meg immediately pegged Sasha as trying too hard and cattily wondered if this over-the-top tactic had been her success strategy in London. Meg knew firsthand Sasha’s stellar reputation was not the result of her work product. She had spent enough time revamping Sasha’s half-finished projects to know Sasha’s consulting skills were completely average.

  Meg squinted her eyes, boring in to search for signs of the scammer she suspected lay just beneath the expensive suit. What she noticed instead threw her. Sasha was a wreck. She was holding it together, but just barely. Shuffling back and forth on her feet, fiddling with the edge of her blazer, chewing her lower lip over and over. And she was hanging on Anne’s every word. Meg couldn’t help herself. As much as she wanted to dislike Sasha, in this moment her heart went out to her. It wasn’t that long ago she’d been the new girl and she remembered the nerves. She almost wanted to go over to Sasha and put her hands on her shoulders, give them a little squeeze, assure her it would all be okay. Maybe give her a hug. Maybe more. God, where was her head? With a long blink she snapped out of her split-second fantasy. Eh, who could blame her, she thought, letting herself off the hook. With her creamy skin and long dark hair that fell in waves at her shoulders, Sasha was beyond beautiful.

  Meg tuned back in to the conversation just in time. “Meg, you should take Sasha out to lunch one of these days. Show her the good places to eat. And more importantly the ones to avoid,” Anne added with a forced chuckle. “All righty then, introduction complete. Back to work, you two,” the boss finished, ushering Sasha out of the office and down the hall.

  *

  It wasn’t until late Thursday afternoon that Meg saw Sasha again. Out of nowhere it seemed, Sasha appeared in her doorway.

  “Hi, Megan.”

  “Hey. How’s it going?” Meg asked, sliding her chair back in search of the flip-flops hidden under her desk. Meg had the tendency to push Sullivan’s casual dress policy to the very edge. It was understood if you were working in the office and there were no client meetings scheduled, you could wear whatever you wanted as long as it looked neat. Unfortunately for Meg, flip-flops were one of the few absolute no-nos. She kept them secreted under her desk and broke them out anytime she thought she could get away with it. Two p.m. on a Thursday seemed like a safe bet.

  “Did you lose something?” Sasha asked, watching Meg’s legs scramble.

  “Got it.” Meg reached for the errant flip-flop and slid it on. “I know, I know.” She cast a glance up at her new colleague. “Don’t rat me out, okay?”

  “I won’t,” Sasha answered very seriously.

  Meg inched back toward the desk. “So how are you adjusting?”

  “Um…fine. Thank you for asking.” Sasha looked down at her own strappy sandals before continuing. “I was just on my way out and I was wondering if you wanted to maybe grab something to eat or get coffee or something?” She was probably trying for breezy but a nervous laugh escaped and gave her away. She bit one half of her lower lip and raised her eyebrows looking hopeful. It was positively adorable. Immediately Meg shook off the thought and reminded herself to stay on track. In addition to being her coworker, Sasha was obviously straight. That didn’t mean they couldn’t break bread together.

  Meg glanced at the clock on the wall even though she knew what time it was. “Actually, I am kind of hungry. I didn’t eat lunch.”

  Sasha smiled sweetly. “Good. Well, not good. I just meant I didn’t eat either.”

  “Awesome. Let’s go.” Meg kicked back her chair and led them both to the elevator. After a little back and forth, they decided to pick up sushi and eat it at Meg’s favorite outdoor atrium. The city was loaded with them, tiny sanctuaries where office dwellers could escape for an hour or so. This particular one on Fifty-First Street was a true gem. Tucked between two buildings and set back from the street, it was full of cement planter greenery and even had a water feature along the rear wall. It was usually mobbed, but at this off-peak hour, they had no trouble securing a spot.

  Meg snapped her chopsticks apart and systematically rubbed them together. “How�
�s Scott treating you?”

  “Fine.”

  Meg had a truly strange relationship with Scott Ford, Sasha’s assigned roommate. Having worked together for years, they were friends by default. Scott had been a first-year associate when Meg had been hired as Sullivan’s office manager six years ago. In the last two years, since Meg had been promoted to consultant, Scott had adjusted to the fact that they were equals, but he loved to remind Meg where she came from. It was always done in jest, but it still irritated Meg. Scott also loved to brag to Meg about his success with women. Meg knew he wasn’t lying, she’d witnessed enough clients and colleagues throw themselves at him. He was very good looking, which Meg hated to admit, and he loved to tell Meg about his conquests—his word—and then expected her to share stories in return. Meg never told him anything, even though in a weird way she appreciated that he at least asked. Still, she was totally suspect of his motives, and his unspoken competition annoyed the shit out of her.

  “He’s behaving himself?” Meg asked through a wry smile.

  “Mostly.” Sasha giggled and rolled her eyes, indicating she’d understood Meg’s meaning exactly.

  “What about everyone else?”

  “Everyone is very nice.”

  “How about your clients?” Meg’s question was purposely vague. Sasha wasn’t new to the field, but she’d taken so much time off to look after her mother that Meg felt oddly senior to her. Maybe it was because during Sasha’s absences, Meg had been the one to carry her workload. It made it sort of awkward, Meg guessed for the both of them.

  “Pretty good, so far. I haven’t been assigned much yet. Still getting settled in.”

  Meg nodded, dipping a bit of her yellowtail into the soy-wasabi mixture she’d concocted. “Well, you’ll see this office runs basically the same as London. Anne is more laid back about some things than Mitch, but uptight about others. It’s basically an even trade.” Meg spoke from experience because in covering for Sasha, she had spent ample time working for the senior partners of both offices.