"Claire's really nice. I think she's kind of taken me under her wing, even though she's younger than me. Since she's already lived in New York for a while, she's showing me the ropes. And I love the apartment. It's exactly what I imagined it would be." I glanced at the alarm clock on my bedside table. "Mom, I should go now. Claire's waiting for me because we're going to order some food for dinner. I promise to call you later this week with an update."

"Okay," my mother said, sounding reluctant to let me go. "But call me earlier if anything happens."

"I promise I will."

After hanging up with my mother, I got up to join Claire in the living room when I heard my phone beep, signaling that I had a text message. I excitedly opened Jackson's text message.

Come to the gym Wed after work. I'll wait for you. Don't think you can weasel your way out of this! My reputation as a trainer is at stake.

I grinned as I quickly texted back.

Okay, Wed but I can't guarantee what time I'll be there. Are you always this pushy with your prospective clients?

Jackson immediately texted back.

Only when I see potential. And I see vast potential in you.

I giggled to myself like a buffoon, feeling giddy by Jackson's text.

My vast potential and I will see you Wednesday.

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I threw my phone on my bed after the sending the last text. It would be too tempting to take my phone with me and obsess about whether Jackson was going to text back.

Claire jumped up from the couch when I entered the living room, shoving a paper menu at me.

"I'm getting the Pad Thai. What do you want?"

I looked over the menu, my stomach grumbling in anticipation. "I definitely want the Pad Khee Mao with beef. I'll call."

I picked up the apartment phone and called the restaurant, placing the order. Claire stretched back onto the couch.

"They said it would take thirty minutes," I said as I hung up the phone. "I need to stop thinking about food for thirty minutes or I'm going to keel over in hunger."

Claire laughed. "Why don't you distract yourself by telling me about work today?"

I joined her on the couch. "My boss seems to have a lot of confidence in me. She said that she's going to give me additional responsibilities besides just being an assistant. More like the work I used to do back in D.C. but on a much larger scale since Mass Communications is such a bigger company. I'm excited but nervous at the same time. I just hope I do well and don't mess anything up."

"I'm sure you'll be awesome," Claire replied "Before you know it, you'll be running the company."

I smiled wryly. "Sure. And then I'll change the name of the company to Mills Communications. We'll air tons of commercials and you'll be our spokesmodel."

"Hey, I like that idea," Claire replied, waggling her eyebrows. "And then maybe you can bankroll a movie for me so I can be the star."

"We can dream," I said ruefully. I paused before continuing. "I'm stopping by Peak Fitness on Wednesday after work. Jackson seems gung-ho about taking me on as a new client."

Claire smirked. "Trust me, Jackson doesn't have any shortage of clients to train. I can tell that he's interested in you."

I couldn't hide my excitement at Claire's words. "Really? I mean, I can't lie. It's hard to look at Jackson and not have only one thing on my mind. And that one thing involves getting naked and sweaty."

Claire burst out laughing. "I'm beyond that point with him since I just see him as a friend, but I know what you mean." She then sobered, looking serious. "I meant it yesterday when I said Jackson was a great catch. Just...be careful. I love Jackson, but he can be a bit of a player. He doesn't mean to be, but it's hard when you have so many women chasing after you. Have fun but don't read too much into what he does. Women have a tendency to be swept off their feet by him, but then end up disappointed when he doesn't want anything more than a good time. I just don't want you to get hurt."

I felt a little deflated by Claire's warning. It's not that I had expected Jackson to become the love of my life. It just stung a little to know that I was just one in a string of women. I decided to not let it bother me. If Claire was right, Jackson was offering exactly what I was looking for. A good time with nothing heavy involved. I neither wanted nor had the time for anything serious right now.

"Thanks for the warning," I said. "Luckily, that's exactly what I want at this point in my life. Fun."

Claire nodded in understanding. "I can imagine that the last thing you want to do is fall into another relationship. How are you holding up? I know you're the one that broke things off, but it still must be hard."

I sighed, thinking it over. "It is hard. I don't regret calling off the wedding, and I don't regret moving here. But I can't lie and say that I don't feel sad every now and then. Sean and I were a part of each other's lives for so long. Sometimes I'll think of something, see something new, and remind myself to tell Sean about it later. Then I remember that there's no Sean to tell."

Claire looked at me sympathetically. "That makes sense. Even if you don't want to spend the rest of your life with him, that doesn't mean you don't miss certain parts of him. Do you still keep in touch?"

I shook my head. "No, it's too hard. Maybe somewhere down the road we can be friends. I'm not sure. I left it up to Sean, since I was the one that hurt him so much. After he realized that I wasn't going to change my mind, he told me that it was too painful to keep in contact."

"The distance is probably a good thing. Merrittsville is such a small town that it's hard not to bump into each other."

"Yeah, no kidding," I said drily. "If I wasn't bumping into Sean, I was bumping into his mother, who gave me death stares. I don't blame her after how I hurt Sean. It was just really hard for me since she was practically my second mother growing up. She was always so much calmer and levelheaded than my own mother, who can be a little flighty. It was nice to have Sean's mother to talk to, but obviously that bond was severed when our relationship ended."

I took a deep breath, trying to clear the knot in my chest. It still hurt to think of losing Mary, Sean's mother. Even though I loved my mother, Mary Somers understood me in a way that my own mother never could. Mary and I were similar in a lot of ways. The biggest difference was that she had stayed on the path that had been mapped out for her, while I had veered away from mine. In the end, she had been rewarded by her husband divorcing her for a much younger woman and walking away from his family. Sean and his mother rarely heard from him.




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