Ask Me Something (The Something Series Book 2) by Aubrey Bondurant Page A

the
woman knew most everything about everyone in this office.
    I shrugged it
off. “Good thing for both of you that I consider it a compliment.”
    Juliette
grinned. “I missed you. Can you believe how big Tristan is now?”
    I looked at the
chubby little boy, and he reached toward me.
    “Hi,” he said,
waving.
    “Hi, handsome.”
I was unprepared for Brian to hand him over, but luckily Tristan was quite
sturdy and completely enamored with my beaded necklace.
    “Aw, Sasha, see,
you’re terrific with kids. And your sister, I hope you make her sweat it for
being such a—” She covered Tristan’s ears. “—bitch towards you.” She uncovered
his ears again and kissed his face.
    My gaze slid
towards Brian, and he winced.
    Juliette jumped
in before he could explain. “Don’t be mad at him. I asked why you came up
early. It was either he tell me the truth about your sister pissing you off
with her awful comments, or I’d assume that you two were finally acting on your
years of pent-up sexual frustration.” She’d wiggled her brows to drive home her
thoughts on the matter.
    Terrific. Now
both Brian and I were blushing.
    “On that awkward
note, thank you very much, Juliette. I’ll leave you two ladies,” he muttered,
walking back into his office.
    Her smirk let me
know she’d achieved exactly what she’d wanted. “I was kind of hoping the
separation might make you guys, I don’t know; want to give it a try.” She’d
been convinced that we should be together since the very first year I’d
started.
    After
accompanying me back to my temporary office, she placed Tristan on the floor
with a cup of Cheerios. “That buys us fifteen minutes,” she laughed.
    “You know Brian
and I are better off as friends,” I said, revisiting her earlier comment. I did
my best to sound convincing. All of a sudden, I was feeling unease about people
finding out about us. “But it’s kind of funny to watch him blush. Only you can
manage that.”
    She tightened
her blonde ponytail and grinned. “It’s a gift. And you know I’d never say
something like that in front of anyone else, don’t you?”
    Juliette might
be over the top sometimes, but for the most part, she did know the time and
place for blurting out inappropriate comments. “I know. It’s why I can laugh at
your jokes instead of wanting to kill you for them.”
    “Ha. If looks
could have killed me that first year, yours would have. But I knew I’d convince
you eventually that we’d be great friends.”
    Our
personalities could not have been any further apart on the spectrum, but that
hadn’t turned out to be a bad thing. “You definitely brought me out of my
shell.” I thought about how much more reserved I’d been only a few years ago.
“How’s Rob?” I inquired, wondering how things were with her husband.
    Instantly, her
eyes clouded. Juliette and Rob had been high school sweethearts. He was a
police officer in a nearby suburb. She’d appeared happily in love until two
years ago when he’d injured his back. Since then, he’d been moody and withdrawn
according to her. Having a baby wasn’t improving things.
    “You know, all
I’m going to say is that it’s been tough. I want to work through things for
Tristan’s sake, though, so I’m doing everything I can.”
    I noted that she
said ‘everything she could’ and bit down on wanting to give her my two cents.
I’d never been in love, never been married, and I obviously wasn’t a mother. I
had no business giving unsolicited advice in those areas. “Please know that I’m
here for you, okay?”
    She looked
relieved and let out a breath. “I was sure you’d have something more to say.”
    “Your friendship
means a lot to me, and I only want to see you happy. Everyone has their own way
of trying to do that in their lives.” Maybe I was evolving and learning when it
was appropriate to keep my judgement to myself. I’d come a long way in the last
few years and now had some amazing women I could