Page 34 of All She Wants

“Go eat,” Ingrid said, already moving toward the front displays. “If anyone needs a consultation, I’ll take care of it.”

Erin grabbed both lunch bags and led Claire through the short hallway into the office. The room held a desk covered in shipping labels, a filing cabinet under Ingrid’s strict supervision, a folding chair, and a large office chair shoved against the wall beneath the December calendar. Erin cleared a stack of vendor catalogs from the office chair and sat down. Claire pulled the folding chair alongside hers, close enough that their thighs touched.

“I found that coffee place on Second Street this morning.” Claire unwrapped her sandwich. “The one across from the gear shop. I sat by the window for an hour watching tourists try to walk around in ski boots.”

“That’s Ouray’s best spectator sport. Free admission, endless content.”

“One woman made it six steps before she fell forward and landed in a snowbank. Why don’t they wear regular boots around town?”

“It’s all about being seen. How else would we know they spent a fortune to ski here over the holidays?”

Erin laughed and stole a corner of Claire’s bread before opening her own container. The soup was still hot. They ate shoulder to shoulder with their knees angled toward each other as they traded bites and talked about the morning.

“Is the week after Christmas always this busy?” Claire asked.

“Half the tourists are sharing an Airbnb, and the other half have relatives staying in their houses. Suddenly, everyone becomes very interested in quiet vibrators.”

Claire smiled. “You chose your location wisely.”

“Denver has more people, but a tourist town like this gives me a fresh crowd every week and far less competition,” Erin said. “Nothing sells a quiet vibrator faster than a mother-in-law sleeping on the other side of the wall.”

Claire laughed, then leaned over and kissed Erin softly. Erin let it linger several seconds longer than she should have at work before drawing back. She pressed her forehead to Claire’s temple and breathed in the familiar scent she could already pick out of a crowded room. The tension Erin had carried all morning finally eased. Apparently, the steadiness she needed had arrived carrying soup and sandwiches.

Claire’s phone buzzed against the desk. She glanced at the screen, and her expression turned serious as she sat straighter.

“I’m sorry, I need to take this.”

Claire answered on the second ring, and the woman beside Erin vanished. Not physically. She remained on the chair, one ankle crossed over the other, her half-eaten sandwich balanced on its wrapper. But her posture changed. Her shoulders settled into a line that suggested glass-walled offices that held serious conversations. Her voice dropped into a register Erin had never heard. It was stripped of every soft edge the afternoon had carried.

“Tell me what actually happened, not what Richard thinks happened.”

Erin gathered the lunch containers quietly. Through the wall she could hear Ingrid greeting a customer, the chime of the register, the familiar soundtrack of an ordinary afternoon. In the office, Claire listened for nearly a full minute without interrupting, then began dismantling the crisis in sentences so clean they sounded rehearsed, except Erin could see her building each one in real time.

“Pull the original filing and compare it to what legal sent Thursday. If there’s a discrepancy, I need it documented before anyone speaks to the board.” She paused. “No. Tell Marcus I’ll review his draft remotely this afternoon, and he’ll have my notes by six Denver time. The client does not need me standing in the conference room to feel better about a problem his own team created.”

Claire glanced at Erin, and her expression softened in a brief apology before she returned to the call. Over the next ninety seconds, she assigned three more tasks, each delivered clearly and without hesitation.

When the call ended, Claire set her phone beside her half-eaten sandwich. Her jaw loosened. Her fingers uncurled from the edge of the chair.

“Do you need to go back to Denver?”

“Denver has survived without me since before Christmas. It can manage the rest of the week.” Claire picked up her sandwich. “Marcus is capable. He simply prefers having someone else absorb the blame if things go sideways.”

The call remained in the back of Erin’s mind. Denver held a career Claire had spent years building and people who depended on her. “Hearing you on that call reminded me how much of your life is waiting in Denver,” Erin said.

Claire nodded. “My work. My home. Most of the people I know.”

“And everything I’ve built is here.”

Claire reached for her hand. “I know.”

Neither woman rushed to reassure the other. They had known each other less than a week, and promises about distance would mean very little until they understood what they were promising.

“We don’t have to figure it out over sandwiches,” Erin said.

“No.” Claire stroked her thumb across Erin’s fingers. “We also don’t have to pretend we aren’t thinking about it.”

Erin stood and leaned against the desk. “You’re terrifying on the phone.”