“Back to work,” she declared as she reached forward to grab her laptop from the coffee table. Conner read the papers while she researched more on the internet. “Huh,” she said after several minutes of silence.

  “What? Did you think of something?” Conner asked.

  “No,” she said regretfully. “I was just reading that the wife of the founder of Calypso Candies was named Carlotta. That was my grandmother’s name.” She shrugged and said somberly, “I found it interesting was all.”

  They went back to what they were doing until a few minutes later when Conner wordlessly grabbed the laptop from her hands. “Hey!” she said offensively.

  He waved her off, lost in a bubble of concentration as he typed tirelessly on the keys of her computer that was now in his lap. His eyes scrolled as he read. Just as he thought…

  One side of his mouth started to curve upward. “Did you know Iota is Calypso’s main competitor? They’re that candy company who advertises each bite hardly has any actual sugar in it. An ‘iota’ amount.”

  “Okay,” Jenna said questioningly. “So you think we should have Calypso offer a healthy candy option? I don’t know if that’s possible,” she added with skepticism.

  “No.” Conner furiously shook his head. “I think we should rebrand Calypso’s signature candies--those ones you mentioned that have the toy inside--” Jenna nodded. She seemed to like wherever this was going. “And we should call it Calypso Lottas. For Carlotta and because there’s a lot of greatness inside each Calypso candy.”

  Jenna put her hands to her mouth and then held them outward in front of her. She was momentarily speechless. “Conner. Yes,” she stated emphatically. “I love it!”

  They both simultaneously exhaled a breath they felt they’d been holding for weeks. A huge weight was lifted from their shoulders.

  “I can’t believe you came up with that,” Jenna remarked in awe. Conner gave her a look of feigned offense. “You know what I mean. I feel like I didn’t contribute anything here.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” he quickly countered. “This isn’t a give and take. We both worked hard on this. And we’ve still got some work to do.”

  Jenna put her thumbnail to her teeth and zoned out. If there were such a thing, Conner imagined she would have three pulsing dots above her thought-filled head. He anxiously waited for those dots to turn into words.

  Instead, she reached forward to snatch the laptop back from him. After about ten minutes of typing and scrolling, Jenna shut the laptop and set it on the table. She put her arm on the back of the couch and rested her head on her hand.

  “Tell me what you think about this...” she started with a smug smile. “We put a special label on the new Calypso Lottas bags that say ‘10% of profits go to charity,’ and we brand it all over with ‘Calypso Lottas: Because we give more than an iota.’”

  Conner could tell Jenna was waiting anxiously for his reaction, but he didn’t know quite what to say. It was...brilliant. He was in absolute awe of what the two of them had come up with together.

  She spoke instead. “If sales rocket how we projected with the solid marketing campaign we usually offer on this tier level, then they can more than afford this. Plus, think of the amazing publicity for Calypso. It’s sure to get their name out there and make them prevalent again just like Mr. Rawls is wanting.”

  Conner started nodding his head. “And everyone is all about saving the world right now...some people will buy Calypso Lottas solely because they’re being generous with their charitable giving. The label will be a huge selling point telling everyone who buys the product about it.”

  “Exactly!”

  “We’re going to knock this out of the park,” he said with elation. Conner leaned back against the couch and put a hand to his forehead, letting go of another breath.

  “I feel good,” Jenna stated confidently. “I can’t believe we managed to do it.”

  Conner stared at the ceiling. “Me either, Jenna. Me either.” He leaned forward and rubbed his hands on his thighs. “Do you want to start finishing up the complete package or should we call it quits for tonight?”

  “I think we’ve earned a break,” Jenna said with a chuckle. Conner watched as Jenna pulled out her ponytail holder and scratched her head. Her beautiful red locks cascaded across her shoulders in waves. A knot formed in Conner’s throat and he swallowed harshly a few times to try to loosen it.

  “And to think I was just going to relax and watch 13 Going on 30 Tonight,” she remarked with slight humor.

  He managed to find his voice. “Don’t let me stop you. I don’t mind watching that.”

  Her brows raised into arches. “Seriously?”

  “Seriously,” he repeated truthfully. “I love that scene where they do the ‘Thriller’ dance. Put it on.”

  Reluctantly, Jenna extended her arm toward the small table beside the couch and grabbed the remote. After getting the television turned on and the movie pulled up through one of her streaming services, she pulled the blanket off the back of the couch and covered herself up. It didn’t take long before Conner reached over to her and snatched some of the fleece. They had to scoot a little bit closer to each other to both fit underneath the cover. It still seemed Jenna was doing everything in her power to keep a foot’s distance between them.

  The last thing he remembered before closing his eyes was her beautiful scent and vanilla and lavender.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Jenna heard the snickering giggles of her sister. What was she doing in Jenna’s room? And why did her pillow feel like stone?

  She forced her heavy eyelids to open slowly and was surprised to see Conner’s amused face looking down at her. Jenna sat up abruptly from lying on his chest and rubbed the palm of her hands against her tired eyes. Her hair felt like it was a rat’s nest. She took the elastic band from her wrist and tied it around what she assumed was a disaster on the top of her head.

  She shook her head to wake herself up.

  ‘Nope. Not a dream,’ she thought dreadfully.

  Harriet was still giggling. “Go eat some cereal, you twerp,” Jenna said playfully. She finally mustered the courage to look over at her pillow to gauge his reaction to the fact they had ended up falling asleep during the movie and cuddling with each other throughout the night. He looked pleasantly amused, not to mention perfect. Did he even get bedhead--or couchhead, in this case?

  It was completely unfair.

  “How long have you been up?” Jenna questioned while she stood and folded the blanket they had been using.

  “Just for a few minutes,” Conner replied before brushing his fingers through his hair. “Harriet was nice enough to poke me to make sure I wasn’t dead.”

  Jenna snorted and then caught herself with embarrassment. “That was nice of her to care about your well-being. She probably thought you ate shrimp again,” she said jokingly. Conner’s face contorted. “Too soon?”

  “Har har,” he said, not moving from his spot on the couch. Jenna worked around him to spread the blanket on the back of the couch. “You snore, by the way.”

  “What?” she asked with shock as she returned to sitting on the couch in a spot as far away from him as possible.

  He had the audacity to nod his head in confirmation and laugh at her. Jenna pursed her lips. “Don’t worry about it--it was kind of cute,” he said casually. “Did you not know you snore?”

  Harriet was already finished with her cereal and sprinted off to her room to change into day clothes.

  “Not that it’s any of your business...” Jenna started prickly as she moved loose hairs to behind her ears. “But I’ve never spent the night alone with anyone before.”

  Conner looked genuinely shocked. “Never? Not even in college?”

  Jenna shook her head and bit her cheek.

  “Huh,” he remarked out loud, now seeming impressed. “I didn’t peg you for one of those girls who didn’t stay the night afterward.”

  Jenna punched his shoulder with great offense. “I’ll have you know, Conner Young, I am a good old-fashioned southern girl.”

  “My apologies.” He held up both of his hands in surrender. “I’m...surprised. You don’t meet many of your kind anymore, Jenna.” The words sounded like a joke, but Conner’s face displayed something completely contrary. His eyes locked onto hers, and for a brief moment, she let them.

  “Well, yeah. I--I’m unique, I guess,” she stammered with a feigned smile. “And I was always, you know, way too busy and focused on how to get out of my small town. The last thing I needed was some accidental pregnancy keeping me there.”

  The air in the room was confounding and suffocating.

  Jenna slapped her hands to her yoga pants covered legs, a segue to her changing the subject. “Make sure to run everything by your team and let me know what else you need from me for Calypso.” She stood and talked while she made her way toward the kitchen. “Have Eric contact Dolores so we can meet at least once before April sixth to practice the pitch.”

  Conner rose from the couch and turned toward Jenna. He stretched his arms high into the air behind him causing his ‘Young and Dumb and Full of Pun’ t-shirt to lift. It looked well-worn, but that wasn’t what caught Jenna’s attention. It was the inch of exposed chiseled abs. How long had he been hiding those?

  Not that she cared.

  If he caught her looking, he was gentlemanly enough not to say anything. She turned around before she drooled or worse, they had the chance to make eye contact.

  “Do you want some breakfast or something before you go?”

  He smiled a toothy grin. “For someone who’s never spent the night with a person of the opposite sex, you’re good at the kick-the-other-person-out-part.”

  “Sorry,” she said insincerely while she pulled a bowl for herself out of the cabinet.

  “Don’t worry, Pitbull. Let me just say goodbye to Harriet and I’ll get out of your super messy hair,” he said teasingly. “You should try brushing it once in a while.”

  She turned around to verbally tear into him, but he already disappeared down the hallway, laughing as he went.

  Conner Young was the most aggravating, annoying, and baffling person she had ever met.

  ***

  “What do you want to do first? I’ve got Monopoly, Cards Against Humanity, chess.” Conner sat on the rug in the middle of his living room with a small eighteen-month old girl seated in front of him. Her legs were sprawled out and she had Conner’s collectible Marvel action figures in front of her. They weren’t dolls, despite how much Danny had teased him about them in the past. “Sarah, it’s rude not to answer someone when they ask you a question,” he added facetiously.

  She giggled and babbled something incoherently.

  “You’re right. Chess is probably too advanced.” He bopped her nose. “Maybe next year.”

  Aside from her strawberry blonde hair, she was starting to look a lot like her mom, Destiny. That wasn’t a bad thing. Destiny was a looker. The problem was she knew it and thought it was her only advantage in life. It led her to be incredibly self-centered. Sarah was much better-off only seeing her mother three times each year.

  The toddler started smashing plastic Thor against Conner’s favorite of his action figures, Iron Man.

  “Yeah, that’s not good.” Conner quickly picked her up, swinging her securely around the room like she was an airplane before plopping on the couch with her snugly beside him. He put his feet on the coffee table and used the remote to turn on the television. He let Sarah use the arrows to go back and forth between the children’s movies available in the streaming app.

  Conner offered to babysit so Ben and Steph could have a date night. It had been too long since the couple was able to go out and enjoy themselves, just the two of them. Danny never watched her best friend’s daughter alone unless she was the absolute last resort. Since Conner was rid of the stress from the Calypso account due to his and Jenna’s awesome brainstorming the weekend before, he had the time on his hands. He and Jenna had somehow managed to stay civil with each other all week at work. They weren’t overly friendly, but they weren’t hateful either. That was progress.

  She seemed to stumble and stammer around him more, which was strange. Maybe he was starting to have an affect on her. More than likely, she was still uptight about the pending promotion. They weren’t entirely in the clear. Conner imagined they would go back to hating each other once he got the promotion to Account Executive.

  The thought filled his stomach with lead, confusing him.

  Sarah handed Conner the remote and slid off the couch to wobble over to retrieve her fuzzy pink blanket. He grabbed his phone and dialed without a second thought. As he waited for her to pick up, he realized Jenna could be on a date with Patrick. Now his stomach really felt weighted down.

  “Hi, Conner.” She didn’t sound excited about talking to him, but she also didn’t seem upset about being interrupted on a date. That was good.

  “Jenna, hi, I--uh--well…” He wasn’t his usual posed self around her either. He’d been fumbling all week whenever he saw her. “If you had your choice between Moana and Tangled, which one would you watch?”

  “What?” Jenna asked with a chuckle. “I had no idea you were into those kinds of movies,” she teased.

  Sarah rejoined him on the couch, putting her blanket on both of them. It hardly covered one of his legs, let alone both, but it was adorable she took him into consideration. He played with her loose curls while she went back to perusing their movie options.

  “I’m babysitting Ben’s daughter,” he explained. “I’ve never been a toddler girl and you have. You have to help me,” he pleaded desperately.

  Truthfully, he and Sarah could pick a movie just fine, but he needed an excuse to talk to Jenna. Conner wasn’t sure why, but he wanted to hear her voice.

  “Well, Harriet and I were just about to go out for some ice cream--”

  “That sounds delicious,” he interjected. “Sarah, do you want some ice cream?” Jenna couldn’t very well say they couldn’t come and disappoint the little girl who was now cooing and bouncing up and down with delight. He was a genius.

  Jenna relented and told them where they were going. Thirty minutes later, Conner arrived in the cold creamery with Sarah on his hip to find a smiling Jenna and Harriet. They both got up from their small round table where they were waiting for them with excitement. Conner thought they were running toward him, but all their affections went to Sarah. He couldn’t really blame them.

  They would have been there sooner, but Conner had difficulties getting Sarah’s complicated car seat hooked up into the backseat of his car. Did it take a doctorate in engineering to figure it out? Someone should have developed a better way to install those by now. He would never volunteer to market or advertise those.

  Harriet never left Sarah’s side, awkwardly taking her into her own small arms and holding her up to the glass windows where the ice cream tubs were. Jenna and Conner laughed at the sight.

  “She needs a little niece,” he boldly remarked. Jenna slapped his bicep with the back of her hand. “What?” he asked innocently. “You don’t want kids?”

  Jenna side-eyed him suspiciously. He shrugged innocently with a smirk and asked everyone what they wanted. Conner placed their orders, refusing again to let Jenna pay for it.

  “Conner, you’ve got to stop doing that,” she ordered authoritatively. “We can pay for our own ice cream.”

  “I know,” he replied defensively. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t pay for my friend’s ice cream to say, ‘thank you for letting me drool on your couch.’” She gave him a disapproving look but didn’t say anything else in protest.

  They had fun watching Sarah get more ice cream on her face than in her mouth. Harriet was great at being ready with a napkin to wipe the toddler’s face or table as soon as Sarah made a mess. When they each finished their double scoops (Sarah had help from Conner to finish hers), the four of them walked together to a nearby playground. Harriet held Sarah’s hand the entire way.

  Conner nabbed a seat on an empty bench while the girls ran off to play together on the swings. Jenna sat down beside him and leaned her elbows on her knees.

  “I wonder where she gets her mothering nature from,” she said somberly. “It’s certainly not genetics.”

  Conner disagreed with that, Harriet sharing the same genes with Jenna, but he knew that Jenna could not take a compliment to save her life. If she could, he would also tell her she looked absolutely stunning in the sunlight. She practically took his breath away.

  “Do you miss her?”

  “Who?” she questioned. “My mom?” Conner nodded. “I’d have to be heartless not to--she is my mother, after all. I wonder where she’s at and if she’s okay. But we’re probably better off without her.” Jenna leaned back on the bench and crossed her legs. “I want Harriet to grow up with every opportunity in the world.”

  Conner couldn’t resist. “Well, if she’s anything like her sister, she’ll be amazing.”

  Jenna didn’t try to argue or disagree. She merely blushed a beautiful shade of pink. They stayed quiet on the bench and watched with enjoyment as Sarah dragged Harriet around the jungle gym area. It was the perfect way to spend a sunset.

  Chapter Twenty

  Conner: Do you have those final specs on Iota?

  Jenna: Yes.

  Conner: George and Keiko put together the graphic you wanted, but Marianne still needs those slides you wanted to add to the PowerPoint.

  They’d been coordinating every day that week on the Calypso presentation, in between every other meeting and obligation. They had to resort to emails to communicate, or text messaging if they wanted a quicker response.

  Jenna: Okay.

  It didn’t help it was Thursday and Jenna had to stay home because Harriet had a sore throat. Their pitch was that coming Monday. Conner was trying not to take offense at Jenna’s one-word responses. She was obviously busy. That was no reflection on him or her feelings toward him.

 

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