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Belatedly, I remembered my manners "Owen, this is my boyfriend, Josh Josh, Owen is the nener" I didn’t knohich one of theured I’d knohat Josh felt soon enough, I focused on Owen He seemed perfectly open and friendly toward Josh I’d have had to stretch to detect even the slightest hint of jealousy Maybe this was all about business, after all

Josh, on the other hand, had found his inner caveman I didn’t have to look at him to knoas unhappy I could feel the tension and dislike radiating off of him That eird I’d never known hiiven hi so in the vague haze of memories of our relationship

Owen excused hi out his cell phone, as if he planned to use the break to check es and return calls I pretended not to notice Josh’s animosity and said, "Wow, a daytime visit! I feel so special"

"That’s your new boss?"

"Yeah He’s got soe to aze toward Oas on the phone at the other end of the store "Did he beat you up in high school, or so?"

He blinked back to me "What?"

"You seem to have taken an instantaneous dislike to my new boss If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were jealous"

He opened histo clear it, then he pulled out the chair at the end of the table and sat "It has nothing to do with hiht you were finally going to get out of this place and stop treading water with your career, and now he co here He’s sidetracking you"

"You know, it wasn’t too long ago that you were suggesting I just give it all up and let you take care oftone in my voice I tensed anyway, like his ansould be a critical turning point into take the pressure off Soe yourself, like you’re afraid of success" He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, like he was trying to center himself "But that’s actually not why I’ht I left pretty abruptly, which iven you a terrible i too well and wanted to get ho I didn’t want to bring up in a restaurant, if you knohat II’d rushed off angry" He chuckled and added, "Though I guessa testosterone explosion around your boss probably didn’t helpwondered about him "Oh, that’s okay," I said "Youbetter"

"Tons better I think soet sick, did you? It felt like food poisoning"

"No, I was fine"

"Then ive it to you Can I ht?"

"How about toht to o to a ht"

He’d tensed when I declined, but relaxed and grinned when I ht her eye, grinned, and waved Anyone who saw her friendly response would never guess that she spentso her, so I barely noticed out of the corner of htly to her, like he was sending a signal Her smile faded and she looked much more serious--like a totally different person--when she nodded in response If I hadn’t known better, I’d have thought they were conspiring against me

Chapter Seven

Owen and I spent the rest of the day working on details for our scavenger hunt event, interrupted only by a delivery me a bouquet of daisies fro out and toldof me

"That’s nice of hiether?"

I started to answer, then realized I didn’t know The start of our relationship was foggy "A while, I guess," I said vaguely A second later, the answer popped into my head "Nearly a year"