A Heart to Trust A.L. Brooks (romantic story to read .txt) 📖

Limelight, celebrating Carl’s jewelry launch at Bloomingdale’s earlier that evening.

Carl was, miraculously, still relatively sober. He’d been on his best behavior at the Bloomingdale’s event, declining the champagne and sticking to water instead. Now, however, he had his second gin and tonic in hand and finally relaxed.

Solomon was by his side, one hand resting on Carl’s waist.

Jenny liked them together; Solomon seemed to like Carl for who he was, and his calm personality grounded Carl in ways proving very good for him.

“And here’s your disgusting concoction.” Tamara handed the blue drink to Jenny. “I gotta say, I didn’t expect you to be drinking tonight, given it’s only a Tuesday.”

“Just this one.” Jenny smirked and took a sip. “And please remind me of that when you ask what I want for my second drink, okay?”

Tamara laughed. “So, how is work? We’ve hardly heard from you in the last few weeks.”

Jenny took a long drink. “It’s good, mostly. We’re busy on this group project plus I have two TC projects wrapping up soon that I’m still part of.”

“How’s it working out being in that group?”

Jenny nearly choked on her next sip. “Uh, it’s fine. All good.” Now was not the time or place to get into it and—

“Yeah, that sounds real convincing.” Tamara narrowed her eyes. “Spill, Quinn. Don’t give me the censored version.”

Sighing, Jenny motioned toward one of the booths.

Carl and Roz were deep in conversation about creative things at the bar and didn’t glance their way as Jenny and Tamara strolled over to the booth and sat.

“So?” Tamara said as soon as they were settled.

“It’s…complicated.”

“Uh-huh.”

Jenny rolled her shoulders. “All right. So, Maxwell is cool. He and I have always understood each other and that hasn’t changed with working on this new team. He’s easy, you know? Knows what he wants, knows how to do his job, doesn’t bother anyone else.” She took another sip of her cocktail, wondering how well her willpower would hold up once she’d finished the drink. “Chrissy is… God, I don’t even know how to start. High-maintenance, for sure.” She filled Tamara in on some of Chrissy’s more dramatic moments. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I like her. We can have fun together and I know she’s always got my back. But Jeez, the way she reacted when she thought Olivia was ‘taking me away’ from her. It was—”

“Bizarre?” Tamara threw in, a frown on her forehead. “Because that’s what it sounds like to me. And it’s not the first time you’ve told me weird shit she’s said or done.”

“Hey, she’s nice!”

“I didn’t say she wasn’t.” Tamara placed her beer down on the table. “Look, I know you. I know you always look for the good in people. And I know why. But sometimes…” She pursed her lips, her fingers pulling at the label on her beer bottle.

“What?”

“Well, you know, after what your parents did, I can understand why you just want to find people you can trust, people who will love you no matter what. I get that, okay?” Tamara leaned forward. “But with some people, especially the ones who are nice to you when you’re vulnerable, it makes you too trusting, too keen to believe in their niceness. To the point where you become a little blind to the reality.” Tamara pulled her bottom lip into her mouth. “I think you’ve been playing it right with the uptight and standoffish Olivia, but not with Chrissy, and I have worries.”

Jenny sat for a moment, absorbing what Tamara had said. Was she too keen to believe in someone like Chrissy? Someone who was nice to her from the start, someone who was so open with her feelings? Just because Olivia was more guarded and slower to open up didn’t necessarily mean she didn’t have nice qualities, did it? Sure, Olivia had been snooty at times, but not while they worked on Catwalk 2.0. Far from it.

Guilt tugged at Jenny’s insides. Had she been too quick to dismiss Olivia—and too quick to accept Chrissy at face value? She’d tried to rationalize Chrissy’s emotional reaction as part of this ridiculous job fighting, but was there more to it than that? Hadn’t Olivia said Chrissy had lied to Jenny? “Olivia’s avoiding me.”

Tamara quirked an eyebrow but said nothing at the non sequitur.

Jenny rubbed a hand across her forehead. “A whole lot of things happened in a short time and Olivia and I got pretty close.” At Tamara’s frown, she plunged on. “I know, I know, you told me to be careful, and I was. Then I wasn’t. But neither was she!” she added before Tamara jumped in. “There’s something there, and I know she’s married, but there’s something…”

“You’ve been single for over a year, ever since Bambi lost her mind and decided to leave you for that lobbyist.”

Jenny couldn’t help laughing. “Her name was Brandi, and you know it.”

But Tamara had a point. Brandi had blown into Jenny’s life and out again in the span of only two months. She’d left quite an impact, knocking Jenny’s confidence back further when it was already a tad low after the embarrassment over her crush on Morgan.

“And no one has even caught your eye since then,” Tamara continued as if Jenny hadn’t spoken. “So, are you sure there’s something there, or is it just that she’s the first hot woman to hit your radar in what has been a pretty barren time for you?”

“Ugh, I don’t know. You might be right.” Could that be it? Because there was truth in Tamara’s theory—it had been a long time since a woman piqued Jenny’s interest. “Well, whatever, we shared a moment a few days ago at the technical rehearsal. But since then, she’s definitely backed off in a big way. I barely get a ‘good morning’ out of her anymore.” She drained the last of her cocktail. “And she told me before that… Well, she told me Chrissy had lied to me about her. That nothing Chrissy had said was true.”

“Hm, interesting.”

“I’m a