Free Back to the Drawing Board by L.L. Collins Page B

again.”
    “Well, we’ve agreed then. There isn’t any reason for us to think badly of the other. It was a moment of weakness and no matter what happened, we’re moving forward.”
    Why did what he said make me want to cry? “I need to go, Carter. Look for an email from me soon with the Adams information, and keep me updated on your arrival.”
    “Thank you,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry, Julia. For all of it.”
    “Don’t be,” I answered. “I’ll talk to you soon.” With that, I disconnected the call and ran to the bathroom down the hall, barely making it in and leaning against the door before the tears streamed down my face. I hated myself for every single one of them.

    I’d left my phone on my desk, and when I’d finally made my way back to my office after trying to make it look like I hadn’t been crying, I saw that I’d missed another call from Tracey.
    Sighing, I clicked her number. It looked like I wasn’t going to get anything more done today anyway.
    “So, did you?” Tracey said as a greeting.
    “Did I what?”
    She groaned. “Did you sleep with him or not?”
    I’d already forgotten we’d been contemplating that before we hung up. “Neither of us remembers.”
    “What? He said that?”
    “Yes,” I admitted, feeling like a hooker. “We did have that awkward conversation. We don’t know if we had sex or not. Isn’t that wonderful?”
    “But he was excited about the job, right?”
    “Of course he was. And he apologized for leaving me that morning. I told him there was no reason to be sorry, that I appreciated him not making a big deal of this. I’m a moron , Trace! If he were a different kind of man, I’d be looking at a whole lot of trouble. I really dodged a bullet. I have to be more careful.”
    “That’s not like you, Jules, to drink like that. Is it Jo . . .”
    “I don’t want to talk about Johnny,” I interrupted. “I can’t do anything about it, so just drop it.”
    “So let’s assume that you slept together,” Tracey continued, thankfully dropping the Johnny subject.
    I groaned. “If I slept with that man, I hate myself even more for not remembering.”
    “He was in a hotel, and here only for a day. Right?”
    “What does that have to do with anything?”
    “Well,” Tracey said, “what’s the likelihood of him having protection with him or even used it if you were both in such a state that you can’t remember what happened?”
    Cold chills started at my head and followed a lightning path to my toes, making goose bumps break out all over me. My mouth opened and closed but nothing came out. Oh, my God. I hadn’t even thought of that.
    “Julia?”
    “Oh, God,” I cried, feeling the tears coming back. Damn it, I might as well call it a day. My stomach roiled, threatening to bring back the blueberry muffin and coffee I’d had earlier.
    “You may want to make an appointment with your doctor,” Tracey said. “Better safe than sorry, right?”
    There was no way in hell I wanted to have this conversation with Carter. God, I was so stupid.

I STARED OUT THE SLIDING glass window of my new apartment at the mountains, in awe that I was really doing this. I was here. It had been a week since I’d heard those fateful words from Julia, and my life had been a whirlwind since. Saying goodbye to my family and life in Florida had been way harder than I’d thought it would be. After I got settled and into this new job, I wanted them to come out and see me. I’d even gone and had lunch with my ‘other’ dad, Ronan, before leaving. Of course he’d tried to give me money, of which I calmly but firmly declined. It wasn’t that I was too proud to ask for help; it was that every time he did something like that I felt like it was a smack in the face to my actual father. Blake didn’t have any issues helping me, and he and my mom had given me plenty to survive on out here. I was still angry with Ronan for so many things, though I tried to stuff it down for