Emancipating Andie

chapter EIGHTEEN



Andie sat in a long line of cars, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel. She should have known better than to think this would be a quick trip. She had learned, through many years of trial and error, that the best time to go to her bank was first thing in the morning, but that hadn’t been a possibility today.

Today she was lucky if she had time to breathe.

It was a good kind of busy, though. Earlier that morning, she had gone to the restaurant to finalize a few things with Dana, the assistant manager who would be taking over as manager for the next three weeks in Andie’s absence. After that she had gone to Chase’s apartment in the brief window of time that she knew he would be out meeting with a client so she could pack the rest of his things. She still couldn’t believe she hadn’t gotten caught yet; she’d been packing him little by little over the course of the past few days, taking only those things she was sure he wouldn’t be looking for, things he wouldn’t need on a daily basis, so he wouldn’t figure out what she was doing. But today, she had packed the rest of the things he’d need—his toiletries, his shoes, his favorite jeans—and taken his bag back with her. Because tonight she’d come clean.

Tonight, she’d tell him about the surprise.

But first she needed to go to the bank so she could make a deposit into the restaurant’s account, as well as a withdrawal from her personal one in preparation for the trip.

She could see what the holdup was. A few cars ahead, a woman was obviously making several transactions at the drive-up window and had not taken the time—or consideration for that matter—to fill out the slips ahead of time. Andie could see her leaning on the dashboard as she filled out each slip, slowly and methodically.

And while the cars in front of her tooted their horns and inched impatiently forward, Andie couldn’t find it in herself to be annoyed.

She had become one of those people.

Unshakably happy, perpetually content.

Completely in love.

She exhaled softly as she rested her head back on the seat, waiting for the line of cars to move forward. She imagined his face when she told him what she’d been planning, and she couldn’t help the smile that curved her lips.

A few minutes later, the woman with the infinite transactions finally finished her business, and as Andie moved forward in line, the new position of her car gave her a clear view of the café across the street that had just opened.

She had never been there, although she had noticed it several times. It looked quaint and interesting, and today it was warm enough to open the outdoor patio; the tables outside were filled to capacity.

We should go there one day, she thought to herself, glancing down at the clock on the dashboard to check her time. And then she froze, her mind registering what she had just seen. Andie lifted her eyes slowly back to the passenger window, but she didn’t need to look again. She already knew.

The mannerisms. The hair color. The deep blue button-down she had loved because it brought out his eyes. The tie she had gotten him for Christmas.

Colin.

She hadn’t realized she’d stopped breathing until she heard the quick intake of breath and recognized it as her own.

The last time she had seen him was over three months ago, the night she declined his proposal. They had only spoken twice after that night, and both were short phone conversations.

Both before he knew about her and Chase.

He had been cold, and formal, and she had understood. They made arrangements to return each other’s things, and Colin wanted to do it in a way that would not involve them seeing each other. It was then Andie realized that as much as she wished she could talk to him, as much as she wanted to explain things to him, he was not ready to hear it. And for the first time, she understood that he might never be.

It hurt her to think that. To think that someone she truly cared about, someone who had been important to her, would never be in her life again. But when she thought of the alternative, thought of what her life would have been like if she had never turned him down, she knew it was worth it. Everything she had done, every tough decision she had made, had brought her to Chase. He was beyond worth it.

Yet as she stared out the passenger window at him, she couldn’t help the twinge she felt in her chest.

“It’s okay to miss him,” Chase had said to her one night when she had been particularly quiet, seemingly lost in her thoughts. “I miss him too.”

Her last memories of Colin were so awful: the look on his face the last time she saw him, the aloof way he had spoken to her on the phone.

What he had done to Chase.

Neither one of them had had any contact with Colin after the night he’d hit Chase. Andie still felt responsible for what happened that day, despite the amount of times Chase assured her he had brought it on himself.

Chase was right about one thing, though. It was okay to miss him. She could finally admit that to herself as she looked out the window at him, sitting at the table. She didn’t miss him romantically, or even sexually; nothing in her wanted to be with him again. She just wanted to be able to talk to him, to see him smile, to hear him laugh again. To erase those unpleasant memories of her last encounters with him.

To know that he was going to be okay.

Andie sat up a little straighter in her seat, bringing her eyes forward, but seconds later they were on the café again. She recognized the guy next to him immediately; Sean, one of his good friends from the office, leaning over and pointing at something she couldn’t see. Colin nodded, saying something in response, and Sean laughed.

The car in front of her moved, and Andie reluctantly pulled her eyes from the café, moving up a spot before she turned her attention back to the passenger window.

There were also two women at the table. She knew one of them was from his office; she couldn’t remember her name, but she had been introduced to her at an office party once. She was pregnant at the time, newly married. Her husband was a teacher, Andie remembered. Her child was probably several months old by now.

The second woman was someone Andie did not immediately recognize. She could only see her profile, but suddenly her attention was pulled back to the other side of the table, where Colin had his head thrown back in laughter.

Andie’s breath left her in a soft rush as she smiled, her eyes stinging with the threat of tears.

He was laughing.

She didn’t realize how badly she needed to see him happy until that moment. It actually felt as though a weight was leaving her chest. Her smile grew more prominent as Colin said something and laughed again, the table joining in with him this time.

A loud horn blast caused her to jump, and she brought her eyes forward, realizing the car ahead of her was gone.

She blinked quickly, shifting in her seat and inching the car forward as she rolled down her window. She handed the slips to the teller, answering her questions about the transactions, and as the woman turned to enter information into her computer, Andie looked back out the passenger window. They were standing now, all four of them, the woman Andie recognized putting her purse on her shoulder. She watched as Colin walked around the table and helped the woman she didn’t know into her jacket. She said something to him, touching his arm, and he smiled.

“Thank you, have a good day,” she heard the teller say through the speaker, and she whipped her head back around to find her deposit slip and the money she’d withdrawn waiting in the drawer.

“Thanks,” Andie said, taking her things, and by the time she had put everything in her purse and looked up, she could only see their backs as the four of them turned the corner and down the opposite street.

She inhaled slowly, a smile lighting her lips.

She didn’t know who that woman was. She had no idea if it was a friend from the office, or a casual acquaintance, or a love interest. But it didn’t matter.

He had been the Colin she remembered. He looked great. He looked healthy.

He was laughing.

She smiled again as she blinked back the moisture in her eyes before it fell, pulling out of the bank’s parking lot and onto the road that would bring her home.

A little while later, she pulled into her parking space, her stomach fluttering as she saw Chase’s car next to hers. He was early.

She jogged up the stairs quickly and swung the door open; he was lying on her couch reading a book, and when he heard her come in, he brought it down just enough to reveal his eyes over the top of it.

She could tell by the shape of them that he was smiling.

In a second she was across the room, and he tossed the book to the floor just as she leapt onto the couch, wrapping her arms around him and immediately putting her mouth on his.

He laughed against her lips and pulled back slightly. “Well, hello there.”

“Hi,” she whispered, kissing him again, softer this time, and he responded in kind.

“You started without me?” she asked.

“Not by much,” he said as Andie sat up, and he reached down to grab the book he had dropped. The Guide to Literary Agents.

Chase had been amazing throughout the entire process. When Andie finally decided she was ready to take the plunge and start attempting to market her book, he spent two hours at the bookstore with her that first day, finding and buying every piece of literature that existed for aspiring authors. And then he spent the next couple of days helping her sort through all of the information.

He had come up with the plan of finding and querying two agents a week; his thought was that only doing two at a time made the process seem less overwhelming, plus that way she could take the time to research the people and find those who would be the best match for her.

Every night since then, he’d helped her with her homework, as he playfully called it. He would look through the book of agents, reading up on various ones, giving her the names and stats of those who sounded like they’d be interested in what Andie had to offer, and then she’d pull up the agency’s site on the computer, researching them further and discussing them with him.

His encouragement was vital, his help invaluable, his unfailing support like air to her.

“Got anyone for me yet?”

“Actually, yeah,” he said, taking the book from her and flipping back a couple of pages. “This one. Leslie Melden. She’s with the Feller Literary Group. It says here she’s looking for new authors in contemporary fiction. She’s got an impressive clientele list. And apparently this agency houses Lara Heady.”

Andie gasped. “Okay, I’m on it,” she said, leaning over and pecking his lips a few times in quick succession, causing him to laugh again.

“You’re very exuberant tonight,” he said as Andie hopped off the couch and practically skipped into her bedroom to get her laptop.

“Am I not usually?” she asked, reappearing and plopping down on the couch next to him as she powered up the computer.

“No, you are. But tonight, you’re exceptionally exuberant.”

She laughed; exuberant didn’t even come close to describing how she felt. She was exhilarated. Part of it was being next to Chase, which always made her happy, and then of course there was the secret she had planned, the excitement of his upcoming surprise. Not to mention seeing Colin earlier.

She grinned over at Chase, feeling the elation flow steadily through her.

“You just have that effect on me.”

Chase winked at her before he said, “Okay, quiet down now. Homework time.” He picked up the book and began flipping through the pages, his expression studious, and she laughed as she pulled up the website for the Feller Agency and began reading.

About a half hour later, when Andie was finishing up her query letter, Chase shifted on the couch beside her, sitting up to play with her hair.

“So,” he crooned, “are you gonna tell me where my stuff is?”

Andie’s fingers stopped on the keyboard for a second before she regained her composure, attempting to look innocent. “Your stuff?” she asked, her brows lifted and her eyes on the screen.

“Mm-hm,” he hummed, grazing the tip of his nose below her ear, causing her to shiver. “I’m assuming you’ve done something with my stuff. If not, we have a very persistent robber on our hands.”

“A persistent robber?” Andie said, trying to concentrate on the words on the screen instead of his breath on her neck. “That could be a problem.”

“Maybe not. He’s pretty conservative. And quite considerate, actually. He only seems to take a few things at a time.”

The corners of Andie’s lips twitched as she glanced over at him. When he pressed his lips together, fighting his own smile, Andie exhaled heavily as her shoulders dropped in defeat.

“How long have you known?” she pouted.

“That you’ve been making off with my stuff? A couple of days,” he said, sitting up and brushing her hair behind her ear. “I figured you were trying to stealthily move me into your apartment, but I don’t see any of it here. Have you been selling it on eBay?”

Andie clicked send on her email before she closed her laptop and turned to him in feigned offense. “Stealthily move you in?”

“Well yeah, I mean, you’d have to trick me into it. Why would I ever want to leave the luxury and convenience of an apartment that has the living room, the bedroom, the kitchen, and the bathroom all in one room?”

Andie pressed her lips together as he added, “I mean, there’d have to be something pretty significant here to lure me away.”

Andie kept her eyes on him, innocently straightening her expression as she brought her hands to the hem of her tank top. In one deft movement, she pulled it up and over her head before casually tossing it to the floor.

His eyes dropped immediately, taking in the curves of her breasts swelling out of her pink lace bra. When he lifted his eyes back to hers, the look in them sent a thrill through her.

He moved then, pressing her back onto the couch as he kissed her, and her legs parted as he settled between them. He brought his elbows to the couch on either side of her as he broke the kiss, supporting his weight as he looked down at her and cradled her face in his hands.

“That was devious,” he said softly. “Well played.”

“I guess I’m a better seductress than I am a robber.”

“Clearly,” he whispered before he kissed her again. “I’m sorry I ruined the surprise.”

“You didn’t,” she said, reaching up and playing with the neckline of his shirt. “You only know that there is a surprise, not what it is.”

“That’s true,” he said, leaning down and brushing his bottom lip over her top one. “When do I get to know what it actually is?”

“Tomorrow,” Andie said, clasping her hands behind his neck. “I’m taking you somewhere for your birthday. You’re already packed. And that’s all you’re getting for tonight.”

“Really?” he asked softly, running the tips of his fingers down the side of her neck as he ground his hips into her gently. “That’s all I’m getting tonight?”

Her eyes fluttered closed. “Okay, maybe that’s not all you get,” she breathed, and he chuckled throatily before he brought his mouth to hers.



“Is that everything?” Andie asked as Chase came down the stairs with a few more bags.

“Yeah, this is the last of it,” he said as he approached her car, and Andie moved the bags that were already in the trunk to make room for the last two.

“You have too much shit,” he said, using his full body weight to cram the last one in.

She laughed as she opened the car door, and as Chase walked around to the passenger side, he stopped suddenly, peering into the backseat.

“My camera equipment?” he asked, his expression surprised as he looked at her over the top of the car.

Andie smiled at him before she slipped into the driver’s seat, and as he got in the car, he shifted to face her. “You’re a better thief than I thought,” he said, but there was tenderness in his voice, and she looked over to see him marveling at her. “You’re incredible. And I don’t even know what we’re doing yet.”

“We’re going on a road trip.”

She watched as a slow smile spread over his face. “Where are we going?”

“Anywhere. Everywhere. I have the next three weeks off. And you can work if you want,” she said, gesturing toward the equipment in the backseat. “Or you can relax. Whatever you want to do, we’ll do. You want to finally get down to Crystal River to see the world’s largest population of manatees? Let’s do it.”

His grin was stunning as he leaned over to kiss her, and then he pulled back slightly, just enough to look in her eyes. “Tybee Island?”

“Anything you want,” she whispered, her heart rate increasing slightly, and she loved that he could still incite that reaction in her with a simple look.

“I love you,” he murmured, kissing her softly before he sat back in his seat and buckled his seat belt.

“Of course you do. You’d be a fool not to,” she said, and she heard him laugh as she started the car.

“I gotta say, I’m impressed. We’re really doing this with no plan? No itinerary?”

“No plan. No itinerary. Just you and me.”

“And that’s it?” he asked, still amused.

She looked at him then, and when she spoke, it was with absolutely certainty.

“That’s everything.”



Acknowledgments

Thank you to my father, for continuing to be one of my biggest supporters even though you’re far away. Shh, no jinxing it!

To my husband and my three beautiful munchkins, who are not only my most enthusiastic cheerleaders, but also my inspiration—thank you for being so cooperative when Mommy is working…most of the time.

To my amazing friends, who are always willing to read my work and who love me enough to tell me when it stinks—Therese, Amanda, Daniella, Rachel, Millie, Joanne, Beth, and Brett, I love you all!

To Gus R., thank you for helping me with the Greek translation—I would have been lost without you!

To Sarah Hansen at Okay Creations—you are the goddess of cover designs, and I continue to be amazed by your work. Thank you for a seamless process and a beautiful cover.

To the lovely Katja Millay, author of The Sea of Tranquility—thank you for listening to my rants and being so amazingly supportive, encouraging, and hilarious. One day we’re going to meet up for that drink—with Slade, of course.

To Mollie Harper, for being my first “official” beta and for helping me find The Boom. You have been an endless source of support, comic relief, and good advice, and I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done for me. I’m patiently waiting to return the favor!

To Aestas, thank you for always supporting my writing and for making the most beautiful banners in the blink of an eye. You are so unbelievably sweet and talented, and I am honored to call you a friend.

And to the incredible bloggers I’ve been lucky enough to befriend through this process: Julie from A Tale of Many Reviews, Judith from I Love YA Fiction, Natasha from Natasha is a Book Junkie, Michelle from Literati Literature Lovers, Elizabeth from Swept Away by Romance, Madison from Madison Says, Megan from The Book Asylum, and many, many others—you guys are absolutely amazing, and I don’t know where I’d be without your endless promoting and encouragement. From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU ALL.