Free One Night With Her Best Friend by Noelle Adams Page A

you live like the whole world will collapse if it’s not listed,
scheduled, and planned in advance according to an organized agenda, and that’s
not actually true.”
    She
kept typing, but now she wasn’t really seeing the words on the screen. “I don’t
think I’m really like that.”
    “Don’t
you?”
    Aaron
wasn’t a superficial man, but he was naturally casual and laidback. He only
brought up serious topics like this when he thought they were really important.
    Kate’s
belly twisted uncomfortably as she made herself think through his words. Her
hands were now frozen on the keyboard.
    “You
know why I try to stay organized,” she said at last. “When my dad was around,
things were a mess. They were…they were awful.”
    “I
know.”
    Kate’s
dad had been a gambler by nature. He probably still was, although she hadn’t
heard from him in years. Instead of slots or poker, his game of choice was
high-risk business investments. She’s spent the first fifteen years of her life
moving every year as her father chased one failing venture after another.
They’d lived from hand-to-mouth in ever-changing apartments, and Kate had never
known what to expect from one day to the next.
    Sometimes
he had come home with expensive toys and pretty dresses wrapped in fancy gift
wrapping.
    Sometimes
he had come home and looted her bedroom for anything he might be able to pawn.
    Twice,
he had come home and announced they were moving. They’d packed and left town
before dawn.
    It
wasn’t until her mother had finally left her father and gotten a job here in
Chicago that Kate had known what a stable, secure existence even felt like.
    “I
learned it from my mom. I know she was a little anal about schedules and
planning and everything, but she had her reasons for it.”
    “I
know she did.”
    Kate
shot a suspicious look at Aaron, but his face was sober. “So why bring it up
then?”
    “Just
because I understand the reasons doesn’t mean living by a pre-planned agenda is
the best way to be happy.”
    “It’s
the only way that works for me. You don’t know what it was like for Mom and me
before. You only knew me once we got settled.”
    “I
know it was bad for you, and I know why you can’t stand to feel unsettled now.
But—”
    She
interrupted.  “You might think you know, but you don’t really know . You did
see what happened when we tried to give Dad another chance, though. I
thought…we thought he had changed, but it was a stupid mistake. He gambled away
all of Mom’s savings. We almost lost the house. You were there. You saw what
happened.”
    “I
know, and I’m not pretending it wasn’t really hard for you. But that doesn’t
mean everything unplanned or unexpected is bad. Occasionally life happens in a
good way that isn’t in our plans.”
    She
shrugged off his words and the tight feeling in her gut. Eventually, she’d have
to think about what he said—she couldn’t just ignore Aaron, not when he was
taking this so seriously. She couldn’t think about it right now, though.
    It
would upset her, and she had too much to do.
    She
hit send on the email she’d been trying to write during the conversation and
then crossed off the last two items on her list.
    Nothing
pleased her more than the sight of a list completely accomplished. She tried to
summon her normal satisfaction but couldn’t quite manage it. “Maybe being
unplanned works for you, but it’s just not me. People can be different. I’ve
done all right so far the way I am.”
    She had done all right. She had a good life and a great job. A lot of people
wondered why she’d decided to become an administrative assistant after she
graduated with a double major in Business Administration and Public Relations—instead
of becoming a corporate mogul herself. She had exactly the kind of job she
enjoyed, however, and she’d never felt there was anything inferior or
unfulfilling about her position.
    She
liked keeping her boss in order. She liked handling