“Yes. They loved you. I love you.” I stopwalking and face him.
“I love you, too.”
“Then tell me what you’re thinking, becausequiet Ryan is scaring the shit out of me.”
Ryan’s lips twist up into a smile, “I wasthinking about your uncle’s logo and all the ideas I have forit.”
“That’s it? That’s why you’re quiet?”
“Yeah, why did you think I was quiet? AfraidI wanted to break up so I can sleep with all my teeming women?”
“You heard that?” I curl my lip.
“Yup.”
“Alex can be an idiot sometimes.”
“It’s okay,” Ryan wraps his arm around me,“Is that the kind of guy your father wants you to marry?”
“Alex? No. He has to be someone muchstuffier, but equally as rich.”
“Well, you’re not going to get rich or stuffyhere.”
I rest my head on his shoulder as wewalk.
“That’s completely fine with me.”
I pull on my blazerand slip into my Kate Middleton shoes. At least that’s what I callthem. Tan heels that are feminine, yet conservative. That’s thelook I’m going for this morning. Feminine, yet conservative. Istart my internship at my uncle’s law firm today and I want todress the part perfectly. I smooth down my long blonde hair andcheck my makeup in the mirror one last time. I kept it light, alittle mascara and some blush, with some dark pink lip gloss.
I walk out into the living room to find Ryansitting on the couch with his legs crossed, his computer on hislap. I lean over the arm of the sofa and see the dozens of logoshe’s created as specs for my uncle.
“I like that one,” I say. It’s a circle withthe names of all four the partners written in black with the firstletter done in a larger, fancier script and colored deep red. “Itlooks really professional and not too conservative.”
He looks up at me. His eyes are tired but hisexpression is happy. “You look nice,” he smiles.
I run my hands over my outfit. I’m wearing awhite button up shirt tucked into a charcoal pencil skirt. “Youthink?”
“I know.”
I take a deep, cleansing breath.
“You seem nervous,” Ryan observes.
“I am.”
“It’s your uncle’s law firm, they’ll treatyou right.”
“That’s just it, I didn’t do anything todeserve this internship except share the same name with thefounding partner. I’ll need to work extra hard to provemyself.”
“And you will,” Ryan reaches up and grabs myhand.
“I’m glad you have so much confidence inme.”
“Why wouldn’t I? You have brains, beauty andstreet smarts. You’re a triple threat,” he smiles engagingly.“You’re going to make a kick ass lawyer.”
“I hope so,” I say unsure. “When are yousupposed to show your ideas to the firm?”
“Wednesday,” he says tensely, blowing out abreath of hot air. It seems we both have job-related issues to beanxious about.