Page 64 of Meet Cute Reboot

“Will do.”

A rare moment of concession. I congratulate Bethany and then end the call before Drew can ruin the moment.

In the silence, Sarah leans back and studies me.

“What?”

“Luke is okay with this?”

“It’s my company. He’s just an investor. Speeding up the roll-out is my choice, not his.”

Sarah crosses her arms. “That’s not what I’m talking about.”

I narrow my eyes at her and tap the end of my pen against the desktop. “You’re going to have to be more specific.”

“I mean, is he okay with his boob-face moment going viral?”

A pinprick of guilt sears my gut. “Every time we livestream, my subscriber count goes up.”

“But is he okay with you monetizing his humiliation?”

I stand and pace to Sarah’s desk and then back again. She swivels her chair to watch me.

“He asked you to delete it, didn’t he?” she says.

Luke owes me this. After what he did to me. Plus, he has a stake in my company. His money is on the line. I have to perform, otherwise, he could lose everything. I can’t be monetarily indebted to him. It would muddle an already complicated situation.

What is the “situation” really? Sure, I wanted to kiss him last night. Until the memories started flooding back. The awful, heart-wrenching emotions that I’ve spent years tamping down.

Good memories are trickling back too. Warm emotions mixing with the cold. I’m lukewarm. That’s the problem. My temperature could go hot or cold depending on Luke’s next move. I’m not sure I want either extreme.

“Maybe,” I say finally.

“He did ask you to delete it.”

“Yes, he did, but it’s going viral. I need to ride the wave. Since it aired, I’ve gotten two hundred more subscribers.”

Sarah grabs her chin. I feel like the Mona Lisa on display as she contemplates me. To make her job easier, I stop pacing and face her.

“What?” I say when the long moment becomes awkward.

“I feel like you might be using him now.”

Sarah’s more than my coworker. She’s my friend. Still, I feel anger roiling inside, traveling up my neck. I’m a pressure cooker about to let off steam.

“Heusedme. He hacked my app. He forced his way into my launch. He invested in my company behindmyback. He cheated on me!”

Sarah plants her heels on the wood floor and rolls her chair back until it hits my desk. “Whoah.”

The pinprick of guilt returns. I sigh.

“Sorry.” My shoulders collapse. “It’s just... I tied his shoe and he looked at me like he wanted to kiss me, and I wanted to kiss back until the past rained down and I felt like all the progress I’ve made to get over him just washed out to sea.”

I lean heavily against Sarah’s desk and bow my head.

Sarah stands and hovers next to me. The closest she’ll come to hugging.

“You tied his shoe?” she says.