Kayla laughed again. “No. I guess I’m not. You are, though.”
“I try to be kind to everyone,” she said simply, returning to her simmering sauce to give it a stir. Then she muttered something like “even grumpy jerks.” Given that she worked for Max Prescott, notorious grump, Kayla was pretty sure that was who she was referring to.
“I’m sorry, what was that?”
Willa bit her lip, her eyes wide and innocent. “Nothing. Nothing.”
“Uh huh. You know, you’ve been working for Max Prescott for what? Four months now? And you barely talk about it. God knows I bitched about Sebastian almost constantly when he was my boss.” He’d been, hands down, the worst boss Kayla had ever had. He’d been an arrogant, unreliable, selfish, privileged asshole who she’d wanted to throttle on a daily—if not hourly—basis.
Once upon a time, she’d wanted to do other things to him besides throttle him, but as they’d worked together and she’d witnessed the absolute train wreck that was his life, she’d quickly forgotten any ideas she may have had about Sebastian and his various body parts.
Willa shrugged, her cheeks a little pink. “There’s really nothing to talk about. He’s…” she trailed off and then took a long sip of her wine. “He’s fine. I like it.”
Kayla arched an eyebrow. “Very convincing.”
Willa let out a sigh. “Okay, so maybe he’s seriously grumpy.” Her cheeks turned a deeper shade of pink. “And seriously hot.”
Kayla set her wine glass down, shaking her head. “Oh, no. Oh, no no no no no. No crushes on Prescotts. We already lost Lauren to one.”
“Oh, please. Lauren and Theo were pretty much already in a relationship with each other for the entire decade of their friendship. No one was shocked when they finally figured their shit out.” She cleared her throat. “And I don’t have a crush on Max. He’s just, I mean, he’s easy on the eyes, sure. And he’s all stern and he frowns and gets this line on his forehead when he’s thinking that makes me want to…” She curled her fingers into her palm and Kayla laughed.
“Oh, honey. You cannot lie to save your life.” She tossed her hair to the side and put on a high voice, mimicking Willa. “I don’t have a crush on Max, I just fantasize about him all the time!”
“I never said anything about fantasizing.”
“Good. Because I’m telling you, the Prescotts are to be avoided at all costs.”
“Except for Theo.”
“Except for Theo,” Kayla agreed grudgingly.
“And technically Lauren will be a Prescott next year, after they get married.” Theo and Lauren had gotten engaged over the holidays and were planning their wedding not for this summer but the next.
“True. But neither of us has a crush on Lauren, and she’ll only be a Prescott by name, not by DNA.”
“Anyway,” said Willa a little too brightly, clearly keen to change the subject, “I never got the chance to ask you. How did that coffee date go yesterday?”
“Ha. Total dud. He was perfect on paper, but had about as much personality as a cardboard cutout.” A friend from work had set her up with his roommate, and while he’d been a nice enough guy, and attractive, with a good job in sales, she hadn’t felt a spark. And she was looking for that spark. Yes, she wanted the guy who was perfect on paper too, but deep down, she was a romantic. She wanted to feel butterflies and that heady rush of excitement. She wanted to be swept off her feet.
Willa’s face lit up. “Maybe I can get you into the beta test for the dating app. Max says it’s going to revolutionize the online dating landscape.”
Kayla made a face while noticing the way Willa’s eyes got all soft when she mentioned Max. “Hard pass. I’ve done the online dating thing and if I have to see one more dick pic, I’m going to stab my eyes out with a rusty fork.”
She wanted the romance, the happy ending. It was one of the final boxes left to tick on her Perfect Life Plan. The plan that would prevent her from making her mother’s mistakes—marrying the wrong guy (more than once), struggling to pay the bills, white-knuckling her way through life because she couldn’t seem to get it together.
To avoid walking in her mother’s footsteps, she’d carefully and deliberately planned her life out, and so far, she’d seen every single part of the plan through.
Kayla’s Perfect Life Plan
Study hard in high school so she could get a scholarship to the best possible school. Check.
Bust her ass in college—hello Northwestern—to graduate at the top of her class and get into a prestigious MBA program—and hello Wharton. Check.
Be as impressive as possible in order to land the best internships—bonjour Paris. Check.
Move back to Manhattan and work her way up the corporate ladder. Check.
Find the perfect man to marry and have perfect babies with. Nada. Zip. Zilch.
“You wanna talk about it?” asked Willa, studying her.
Kayla took a sip of her wine and then grimaced. “I just…I just really thought that by thirty I’d be, you know. With someone. That I wouldn’t still be getting set up on dates and searching for Mr. Right.”
Willa came over and looped an arm around her shoulders. “I know. It’s the last part of your plan.”
Kayla nodded, but something about Willa’s tone had her pulling back. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“It’s not. It’s just…these things happen on their own time, often with someone you’re not expecting. You can’t force it.”
“Says the woman working on developing a dating app with a man she most definitely has a crush on, but will never admit it. Which is good, because he’s a Prescott.” She took a sip of her wine. “And I’m not trying to force anything. I’m just…I’m ready, you know? I want that next step. I want someone to share my life with. The right someone.”
“You know, if you follow all of your plans and do everything just right, life
