God, we hadn’t been as careful as I’d thought. Did the whole office know? Was someone just waiting to let it slip to Shawn so that it could fuck us up? Because, god, I couldn’t risk my job or Sam’s job right now. Not this close to the primary. Not when we were both so invested in this.
“Who else knows?” I managed to get out.
“No one. And I haven’t told anyone.” She bit her lip. “I won’t tell anyone. You can trust me.”
“Thanks, Aspen. I don’t mean for it to be a secret. But it just happened. It has nothing to do with work.”
“If anything, you’ve been more productive,” Aspen argued. “I think it’s great for you.”
“I appreciate it.”
“So, really…have fun.”
I laughed as she tipped her head at me and then dipped out of the office. I powered down my laptop for the night and then quickly changed into the slinky sapphire dress I’d chosen for the party. This one had come from my closet. Pointedly not something my mother had picked out.
A minute later, Sam stood in the doorway. He whistled. “Well, hello there.”
I smoothed down the front of the dress and then stood in the high heels. “How do I look?”
“The office is empty.” He closed the door. “We could…use your desk.”
I grinned at him, wishing I could take him up on that offer. “Aspen knows.”
“Yeah. I think she’s known for a while.”
“She said that she wouldn’t tell anyone. But I hate that we have to hide it here. And I think we kind of suck at it.”
He strode across the room and pulled me in close. “I don’t like hiding it either. But we’re professionals. Work comes first when we’re here, and then, when we’re home, who cares?”
“Someone probably cares.”
He grinned. “Don’t worry about it. What you should be worrying about is the fact that I forgot my suit at home. We’re going to have to swing by Brooklyn before the party.”
I groaned. “Really? And I already got all dressed up.”
“Yes, and I am enjoying that.”
I swatted him away.
He laughed. “Let’s get going. I’m ready to clean the table tonight.”
I followed him to the door. “God, I can’t wait to see the look on Thomas’s face.”
“I’m thanking those long hours with Jake, learning how to play, right about now.”
“How are things with you and Jake?”
He shrugged as he hailed a cab and held the door open for me. He didn’t respond until we were zipping along toward Brooklyn. “Same. Better. I don’t know. I think he wants to come out after the primary is over.” He glanced down and then back up at me. “If he comes, would you want to meet him?”
“Definitely,” I said automatically. “I’d love to meet him.”
“Cool. We’ll see what happens. It’s nice that not everything has to be so perilous between us.”
“I know it’s not the same, but I don’t have siblings, so I’ve always treated my friends like they’re family. And I’ve always tried to hold my crew together. It’s all splintered, and I still try to fix it. I think I’m going to make us all hang out when Penn finally gets back at the end of the summer.”
“Is he really in Paris all summer? When is he coming back?”
I shrugged. “I haven’t really talked to him, but he has to come back to teach at some point.”
“Well, I think it’s a good idea to get your friends back together. Maybe you could take a weekend away with all of them.”
My smile grew. “I like that idea. Though…I also like that we’re kind of building a new friend network. Having English around and Whitley and the guys…”
“Me too.”
“Sometimes, new is good…healthy.”
“It is.”
The cab pulled to a stop in front of Sam’s apartment, and he paid before helping me out. We took the stairs up to his floor. I was cursing the heels the whole way. I should have stayed in my flats, but I hadn’t wanted to bring them with me. The original plan had been to get ready at work and go together to the casino party. Since we had been getting out of work later and later lately, it just made more sense. But we’d have to make do even if it meant we got to the party really late tonight because of this detour.
“Sometimes, new is just what you need,” he said with a wink at me as he turned the doorknob to his place and pushed it open.
He took a step inside and then froze.
He stopped so abruptly that I nearly ran into him.
“Sam, what…”
But I never finished the sentence.
Because a figure was in the apartment, in the living room, on the couch.
A small blonde figure.
She looked up at us with a tear-streaked face. But she couldn’t see me. Or she didn’t see me. She only had eyes for Sam.
“Claire?” he rasped.
Then she vaulted off of the couch, dashed across the apartment, and threw herself into his arms. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
I stood there, shell-shocked, as she pressed her lips to his.
Fuck.
Part V
But Who Could Stay?
32
Lark
Claire was kissing Sam.
My Sam.
And I just stood there. Because I had no idea how to process this. Like, how the fuck was this even happening? It made no sense. It wasn’t…even possible for her to be here. She wasn’t supposed to be back for weeks still.
Finally, Sam seemed to come out of his own stupor. He gripped Claire’s shoulders and held her at arm’s length. She stumbled backward a step, but I could see her red-rimmed eyes and puffy face.
“What are you doing here?” Sam finally asked.
“I-came-home-early-and-everything-is-awful-and-I-missed-you,” she said, unintelligibly stringing all her words together with tears springing to her eyes again.
“Wait…wait,” he said, gently guiding her back into the apartment. “I can’t understand a word you’re saying.”
“I missed you. I was wrong. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have left,” Claire said, swiping at her cheeks. “I realized that I still love you. I’m still in love with you. I came back to make this better.”
I stood awkwardly on the threshold between walking into that apartment and staying out here. Because nothing good was going to come from me stepping inside and hearing what the fuck was about to happen. Claire was a mess. And still, I wanted to tell her to fuck off. That she was too late.
The old Lark…Bad Lark…would have done it. The other side of me reared its ugly head. It made my claws come out and my teeth lengthen into fangs and my instincts take over. I wanted her to hurt. She had no right to be here. She’d left Sam. He was mine.
But…the other part of me knew I couldn’t say any of those things. It hadn’t worked last time with Melissa. It certainly wasn’t going to work this time with his ex-girlfriend sobbing into his shoulder.