Page 10 of The Sweetest Mistake

“Some, but we haven’t resolved anything yet.”

“Stubborn O’Briens. Finn’s the same way,” Harper said with a gleam in her eye. For a moment, Harper’s happiness took Julia’s mind off her own problems. Harper practically floated around the photo studio these days, and she was always in a hurry to leave so she could see Finn.

Julia had experienced the same feeling with Connor, as fleeting as it had been. Now she wondered if she would ever feel that way again.

“Don’t give up on him,” Harper said. “I almost did with Finn, but I’m so glad I didn’t.”

“Yes, but Finn’s different.”

“They’re not that different.”

“But your relationship started off differently. You two were friends for a long time before anything happened. I can’t say the same for me and Connor. I didn’t even like him at first, and the next thing I knew, we were lovers.”

“Every relationship follows its own path. There is no right or wrong. It can still work, Jules.”

“Have you been reading self-help books again?” Julia teased. But before Harper could answer, her cell phone rang, and when she glanced down at the screen, her entire face lit up.

“Don’t worry about me,” Julia said. “Go. Take your call.”

Harper blew her a kiss and walked out the door of the studio, saying, “Hey, Finn.”

After work, Julia dreaded the thought of driving home to an empty house. Funny how, before she’d started dating Connor, the silence hadn’t bothered her. But without him, she felt more alone in her house than ever. She was contemplating how to spend the rest of her evening when she turned the corner onto her street and saw a familiar sight—Connor’s Jeep parked in her driveway. And when she looked up toward her house, there he was, sitting on her front porch with his head bowed and his hands clasped, almost like in prayer.

When she clicked the garage door opener, his head popped up, and he broke into a wide smile. If she’d been tangled up in knots before, the feeling was magnified now. His smile wormed its way into her heart and made her realize that she wasn’t done with Connor O’Brien yet. Not by a long shot.

Chapter Three

He couldn’t help it. The minute he saw Julia whip around the corner in her bright-red Mini Cooper, he broke out with a huge grin. The car was small, sporty, and fun, just like her. Once he’d gotten to know her, he’d discovered it suited her to a tee. Practical yet sassy, and never to be underestimated, which reminded him of their first date…

“What are you doing here?” Julia asked when he showed up at the photo studio one evening.

“I hope someday I’ll get a better greeting than that,” Connor said, his eyes twinkling with humor.

“That’s something you’ll have to earn,” she said and started to walk away from him.

“Hey. Where are you going?” he asked, placing his hand on her arm to stop her.

“Home. Why?”

“What about that drink?”

Julia gaped at him like he had two heads. “Tonight?”

“Yeah. That’s what we said.”

“As I recall, we never agreed on a day or time.”

“That’s not how I see it. You asked me if I wanted to go out for a drink, and I said…”

“Hell yes,” she finished. “I fail to see where that sentence contains a date or time.”

Connor tipped his head back and laughed. “Oh, so you’re one of those women, huh?”

“One of what women?”

“The kind who have to have everything spelled out. What was I supposed to do, send you a written invitation?”

Draping her purse over her shoulder, she punched her hands on her hips and said, “A simple phone call would have sufficed.”