I didn't point out that she'd see him at lunch at my parents' on Sundays because it was a moot point.
"And I quit my job because I realized that I dreaded going into the office for the last two years. Even more after Barnes became my boss and started taking credit for my work." She paused. "I guess I should have asked you if you were okay with me working here with you full-time. At least until we get another location up and running. Then I can work there if you can't stand me. Crap, I didn't think this through."
Before she could say anything else, I threw my arms around her neck and hugged her.
She squeaked and held the flowers out to the side so they wouldn't get crushed.
"Of course it's okay for you to work her. I've loved having you here. And now I'll get to see you every day like I did in college." I released her when she started making dramatic choking sounds. "I've missed you like crazy, dumbass."
Sierra rolled her eyes, pretending that she didn't have tears in her eyes. “Take the damn flowers and shut up. Your man was incredibly sweet when I snuck into his office to pick them up.”
I didn’t get a chance to respond because Sierra’s cell phone went off and she answered it, turning on her heel to walk down the hall where she disappeared into my office.
The flowers weren't the only things that Sierra brought in.
When I went back to my office later, I found a framed photo on my desk that definitely hadn't been there before. It was a picture of Brody, Jacks, and me. At first, I wasn't sure where it might have been taken. Until I saw that we were sitting on my parents' couch. No doubt my mother had snuck the picture when we weren't paying attention. Brody and I were sitting close together, looking at each other, and laughing. Jacks sat in my lap and she was laughing too.
It was a beautiful picture.
My mother must have sent it to Brody so he could print it out and frame it. Now it sat on my desk in my office.
I yearned to call him. To thank him for the picture. To tell him I missed him. Just to hear his voice.
I settled for adjusting the picture frame so I could see it when I sat at my desk to work on the computer.
"Like it?" Sierra asked from the doorway.
I looked up and smiled. "Yes, I do. Let me guess, you snuck this out with the flowers too?"
She nodded. "He has one just like it on his desk."
Oh, he was definitely buttering me up and he was using my best friend to do it.
"You have the dopiest expression on your face. You're totally going to let go of the stupid thing he did, aren't you?"
"Yeah, I think I am."
"If it were any other man, I'd try to talk you out of it, but Brody's a good one. He's just as clueless as the rest of them, but he's not afraid to admit when he's wrong."
I gaped at her.
"What?" she asked, hunching her shoulders and crossing her arms over her chest.
"You're actually advocating that I don't hold a grudge against him? I can't believe it. You've held a grudge since your first boyfriend broke up with you in the sixth grade."
"I have not!"
"Sierra, you hacked his Match dot com account and sent screenshots of his messages to his mother."
"He was sending out unsolicited dick pics! Who does that? Dicks, that's who! He deserved it."
"Did you know he was sending them out before you hacked him?" I asked.
Her face turned bright red. "Actually, I did. Because he sent one to me when he came across my profile and realized who I was."
"Wow. This I did not know. Then he definitely deserved it. But you still hold grudges."
"Whatever," she said. Sierra pushed off from the doorjamb and made her way to the chair across from me. "I still think you should forgive him. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place and he made the wrong decision."
"I know," I answered. "I just want him to think twice so he'll make the correct decision next time."
"And people think I'm the evil one. You have them all fooled."
I shrugged. "It's not my fault if they form their own erroneous assumptions."
"God, stop bringing out the SAT vocabulary words before noon. It's painful."
"Okay, back to you working here. You're always welcome to work with me, but we'll have to redefine our partnership. Right now the paperwork says you're a silent partner."
"Oh, I don't want to be in on the business decisions. I'm not good at stuff like marketing. But I wouldn't mind redesigning the website." She paused. "I do think we need someone in charge of marketing, or at least increasing our social media platform. And Lee just happens to fit the bill. We've already hired her. We can ask her to put together a marketing plan and some social media content and, if we like what we see, we can give her a raise and let her take over that aspect of the business."
I mulled that over for a minute. I kept up with our social media accounts and tried to post several times per week, but my pictures weren't always great and I knew next to nothing about composing pictures or editing them. Now that I'd hired Lee and Sierra was more involved I would have the time to learn, but my heart would never be in it.
"I'll talk to her," I agreed.
It sank in then. My best friend wasn't leaving. And we were going to work together for the foreseeable future. We could get pedicures together, go shopping, go to the movies. Expand our business. We would no longer keep touch via texts and phone calls, or have visits that never seemed long enough.
There were so many possibilities.
"What is it?" Sierra asked.
"You're going to be here. I'll get to see you almost every day. And I'll finally have someone to go do things with."
She made a face. "Ugh. You expect me to leave the house? Why don't you make Brody do that?"
"Because as much as I love him and even though he's one of my best friends, you're a woman. You get me. There will be times when I need you more than anyone else."
A blush touched Sierra's cheeks and I knew I'd embarrassed her. She wasn't much on sharing her feelings, so this was verging into taboo territory for her.
"I guess," she mumbled.
I didn't say anything else, but I was already thinking about what she and I could do together next week. I would be sure to schedule myself a day off in the middle of the week and tell Lee that she would be on her own. Sierra and I tried to work with Lee as often as we could, but she had handled the shop alone a few times so we both felt comfortable letting her do so more often. She was sweet, quiet, and damn smart. She learned how we ran the store within a few weeks and now that she'd been there for about two months, she fit right in. If Sierra and I ever opened up another location, I knew that she would be a perfect fit to manage it. She needed a few more months to learn the complete ins and outs of the shop, but she was still amazing.
"I need to send Natalie Phelps some flowers," I commented.
Sierra picked up my train of thought in a snap. "Screw flowers. We should send her a male strip-o-gram. Lee has been a blessing."
I shook my head. "No way. I refuse to be responsible for an elderly woman's heart attack."
Sierra leaned forward, a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "I heard that Suzy Pratts saw her at La Bare's in Dallas when she went for her bachelorette party."