Anyone But Me, page 1
Anyone
But
Me
Erica Lee
Copyright © 2025 By Erica Lee
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Cover Design By: Kendle Hardbound (kendle.readraws on IG)
Proofread By: mj.proofreads (IG)
To Mom
Thanks for always being my biggest cheerleader.
I miss you every day.
9/22/1954-6/6/2025
Chapter 1
It wasn’t my intention to take a phone call during the reception for my moms’ vow renewal, but when I saw the number come up for VisuSphere, I felt like I didn’t really have a choice. This was the moment I had been waiting for since my second interview with the company three weeks ago. When I hadn’t heard back, I assumed they chose a more qualified candidate. I was surprised to even get a call back in the first place after I applied. This was a huge up-and-coming company, and surely they were looking for someone with more experience. I had applied on a whim (which is very unlike me), mostly because I figured I didn’t actually have a chance. The two interviews I procured had given me a little bit of hope, even though I tried my best to not get excited.
I walked inside my grandparents’ house to escape the loud music of the outdoor reception. “Hello?” I answered as coolly and confidently as possible, which was hard when my heart was beating out of my chest.
“Hello! Is this Miss Carter Miller-Cooper?”
“Yes. This is her.”
“Miss Miller-Cooper, I am very sorry to bother you on a Saturday, but I won’t keep you long. I promise.”
“No problem at all.” It wasn’t exactly a lie.
“This is Mike Domingo from VisuSphere. I wanted you to know we were very impressed with your interview and would like to offer you the data scientist position at our company. I apologize for the delay, but if I’m being completely honest, there was a lot of back and forth given your age. The other candidates had more years and experience than you, but in the end, there was no question that you are the perfect fit for VisuSphere. Now, the issue is, we need your decision by the end of the workday on Tuesday. I know that doesn’t give you a lot of time, which is why I wanted to call you today rather than wait until Monday.”
I swallowed hard as I tried to figure out if I had actually heard him right. VisuSphere wanted me? Carter Miller-Cooper? That couldn’t be right, could it?
“I’m sorry. I didn’t lose you, did I?” Mike asked with a chuckle, as if he somehow knew he hadn’t really lost me, and I was just in shock.
I shook my head, even though he clearly couldn’t see me. Speak, Carter. Say something. Say anything. Okay, not anything. Make sure you’re professional. “No, you didn’t. I’m still here. My apologies. Thank you so much for the offer. I do have a few things to consider, especially since taking the position will require me to move.”
“Of course. I’m going to be emailing the contract for you to look over in the next hour or two. I’ll make sure it includes the coverage of any moving expenses you incur. Your official start date won’t be until the beginning of September, so you will have plenty of time to get everything in order. The reason we need your answer so quickly is because we can’t afford to lose your backup if you decide our company isn’t the one for you, but I have to say, I think you’re going to be very happy with our offer.” Mike paused for only a moment before speaking again. “I’ll let you go for now. I look forward to hearing from you.”
“I will be sure to get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you so much. Have a great weekend, Mr. Domingo.”
When I hung up the phone, I felt like I was in a haze. I couldn’t believe that had actually just happened. VisuSphere, the company that was projected to become bigger than Google and Meta, wanted me. How? Why? I couldn’t even begin to wrap my mind around it, but all I wanted to do was tell my moms. They were the first ones I went to at the highest and lowest points of my life. Aside from my sister and brother, they were my two best friends. Pathetic, but true.
Today wasn’t about me though. It was about celebrating thirty years of marriage for my moms—a feat that wasn’t to be taken lightly, especially given that they had gone from a family of two to a family of five in less than two years after getting married. It wasn’t always easy being a triplet, so I can only imagine it was that much harder having triplets.
I looked outside and found my moms and my Uncle Jamie standing by the lake in my grandparents’ backyard. It looked like they were having a moment, and as much as I didn’t want to interrupt, I felt pulled toward them. I would wait until tomorrow to tell them about the offer, but for now, I just wanted to be near them. My anxiety was through the roof thinking about the huge decision I needed to make and what a big change it would be if I decided to take the job and move from Philadelphia to New York City. If anyone could make me feel grounded, even unintentionally, it was my moms.
I took a deep breath before walking out of the house to join them. Apparently, I didn’t have a good poker face, because as soon as I reached them, my mom gave me an incredulous look. “Okay, spill. What’s going on?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, trying my best to play dumb.
“There’s clearly something you want to say. It’s written all over your face.”
I shook my head. “It’s nothing.” Except possibly the biggest moment of my life thus far. “We can talk about it tomorrow.”
My Uncle Jamie laughed. “Even I can tell that’s a lie.” He squeezed each of my moms’ arms before taking a few steps away from them, then gave me a kiss on my temple. “Whatever it is you need to tell them, just do it,” he whispered. “Trust me. Nothing is more important to them than you and your siblings.” He gave one last wave before walking away.
“What is it, sweetie?” my mama asked, her eyebrows furrowed as if she was concerned.
“Are you sure you want to talk about this now? It can wait until tomorrow. Today is about you two. Not me. I’m fine. I promise.” I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face. “This is good news.”
“That’s even more reason to tell us now,” my mom said with a wave of her hand.
Both of my moms watched me with wide eyes and big grins, while I tried to think of the best way to explain the phone call I had just gotten. Since I assumed I had no chance of getting the job, I hadn’t told anyone in my family (or anyone at all, for that matter) that I had applied or done two interviews, so this was going to be a surprise for them. I just hoped they saw it as a good surprise. I was the only child still living close to the area where we grew up, so if I left, my moms would officially be all alone. Sure, New York wasn’t super far, and it was where my sister, Olivia, was already living, but it also wasn’t the forty minute drive they were from me now.
I opened my mouth to tell them, but before I could, we were interrupted by Olivia skipping over to us. “I have something to tell you!” she stated loudly as she stopped and looked between the three of us. “I think you’ll all be very excited about it.”
“And we can’t wait to hear your news.” My mama’s blonde hair with subtle streaks of gray twirled along with her white sundress as she turned from looking at my sister to focus her attention back on me. “But first, Carter had something she wanted to tell us.”
She winked at me as if she knew I was about to shy away from my news to allow Olivia to share hers. Then again, of course she knew that’s what I would do. It’s what I’d been doing my whole life. What choice did I have when both my sister and brother were so much louder and bolder than me? I was used to fading into the background, even if my moms did their best to make sure I always felt seen.
Olivia wiggled her eyebrows at me. “Big news? What is it? Did someone finally tempt my baby sister out of her shell?”
I rolled my eyes at Olivia. “First of all, I’m four minutes younger than you. I’m hardly your baby sister. Second of all, I don’t have time to date right now. I tell you that all the time.”
Olivia rolled her eyes right back at me. Even at twenty-eight, we still brought out each other’s childish sides. “Yeah, yeah. Wishful thinking, I guess. So, if you’re not getting your lady parts pleasured by some super hot CEO or whatever it is you're into, what is your big news?”
I shook my head, my face heating up over the fact that Olivia actually uttered those words in front of our mothers. “I wouldn’t exactly call it news, per se. I don’t even know if I’m going to accept the offer.”
My mom’s head swung around, and she stared at me with her mouth slightly agape. “Offer? As in a job offer? I thought you loved your job.”
“I did. I mean, I do, but this is a huge opportunity. That’s why I didn’t even bother to tell you all that I applied. I never in a million years thought I would actually get the job.”
“Well,” Olivia bounced up and down on the balls of her bare feet and waved her arms around. “Don’t keep us hanging! What is the job?”
This was something I had always loved about my sister. Her life was much more exciting than mine from the time we were kids, but that never stopped her from being my biggest fan and celebrating my accomplishments that others would find boring.
“It’s a data scientist position at VisuSphere, which is a
“Fine. You’re not going to live out the CEO fantasy I have for you, but that still sounds awesome. Not gonna lie, I have no clue what a data scientist does, but I have no doubt that you’ll rock it. Is the company based in Philly?”
My smile dropped slightly at the reminder of my required relocation. “No. That’s why I’m not sure if I want to take it. I’d have to move to New York.” I reached out and squeezed Olivia’s arm, keeping my eyes on her to avoid looking at my moms, who I worried would be upset about my potential move. “But, it’d be pretty cool to be living in the same city as you.”
“Fuck!” Olivia shouted so loudly that half of our family and friends standing in the yard turned to look at her.
“Olivia, what did we tell you about using that kind of language at your grandparents’ house?” our mama scolded. “If your grandma hears that, she’ll have a heart attack.”
I was less worried about my grandma hearing her swear and more worried about the fact that my sister didn’t sound happy about the prospect of me moving to New York with her.
Olivia held up one finger and looked at our mama. “First of all, grandma couldn’t hear a marching band playing outside of her bedroom door. There’s no way she heard that.” She turned toward me and held up a second finger. “Second of all, I really wish you had told me that like ten minutes ago.”
Okay, now I was really confused. “What happened ten minutes ago?”
“Quinton asked me to move in with him.”
Even though I was happy for my sister, a lump formed in my throat. “In Philadelphia?”
Olivia nodded, eyes dramatically wide. “We’ve been talking about it ever since he moved to Philly, but I wasn’t ready to leave New York yet. It wouldn’t make sense for him to come to me when my plan was always to move closer to home at some point anyway. It must be all the love in the air, but all I could think about throughout the ceremony was how I didn’t want to be away from him anymore, and it turns out, he was thinking the same thing. He told me he understood if I wanted to stay in New York longer, but he wanted me to know that whenever I was ready to move, he was ready to have me. And I figured what the hell? It’s time. Sure, I’ll be leaving my life in New York, but I’ll be moving closer to not only the love of my life, but also the majority of the family.” Olivia raised both eyebrows at me. “At least, I thought it would be. If I had known about your job, I would have told him I want to stay in New York longer. Hell, I could still tell him that.”
Olivia pointed her thumb in what I assumed to be the direction of where Quinton was and turned as if she were about to walk over to him right then, without any more discussion.
I grabbed her arm to stop her. “Don’t tell him that. You two are clearly ready to take this next step. I think you should take it. I honestly don’t know if I’ll even accept the job.”
The thought of accepting the job felt much less appealing than it had a few minutes ago. The thought of moving to New York with my sister there was scary enough. Moving to New York with absolutely no one to lean on was downright terrifying. I didn’t know if any job was worth it, even if this one was everything I had dreamed about.
Before Olivia could say anything, we were interrupted by the sound of an incoming email on my phone. I pulled it out to find it was the contract from VisuSphere. I told myself I should put my phone away and open the contract later, but my curiosity got the best of me, and I tapped the phone screen. I thought my eyes might pop out of my head when I saw the salary front and center on the first page of my contract. It was even more than I expected.
A choked sound rang in my ear, and I looked over to find that Olivia was now leaning over my shoulder and reading the contract as well. “Is that real? Shit, I should have worked harder at school.” Olivia put her arm around me and squeezed my shoulder. “You have to take the job. I know it sucks that you’ll be leaving when I’m coming, but you can’t turn down an opportunity like this.”
“She’s right,” my mama said from where she was standing now right beside me. “Your mom and I obviously believe that it’s up to you to make the final decision when it comes to how you live your life, but I think you’d regret it if you didn’t take this leap.”
My mom winked at me. “I also vote that you take that leap, but like your mama said, you need to follow your heart.”
At that moment, my heart knew exactly what it wanted. I could scientifically analyze the pros and cons of taking the job, but I’d always come to the same conclusion—this was what I needed to do.
I took a deep breath and blew it out as I prepared myself to say the words out loud. “You’re right. I’m going to do it. I’m taking the job.”
Olivia screeched loudly, once again gaining the attention of almost everyone at the wedding. “We have so much to celebrate.” She whipped her head around. “Where’s Ronan? We need him. We’re going to do shots as a family. I’ll find him.” She snapped her fingers as if she had just remembered something. “Before we do that, I need to break the news to Jax though. It wouldn’t be right to keep her in the dark about something that directly affects her.”
Jax Michaels had been my sister’s best friend ever since they met as roommates during our freshman year of college. To this day, the two of them still lived together in New York.
“It’s not like it will be a shock to her,” Olivia continued, as if she was trying to convince herself. “We’ve been discussing this possibility for a while. I’ll just have to help her find a new roommate.” Olivia’s eyes went wide, but this time there was a new light behind them as she looked at me. “Oh my god. You and Jax. It’s perfect!”
“What about me and Jax?” I asked hesitantly.
I didn’t dislike Jax, but the two of us were barely acquaintances. Even with her and Olivia being friends for so long, I had only hung out with her a handful of times. Jax was one of those people with a very big personality—the kind that made me nervous. You’d think I’d be used to it after growing up in a family of big personalities, but I’m pretty sure that’s also why I’d always been drawn to people who were kind of the opposite. I loved my family more than anything, but they were a lot. Spending my time with people who were more subdued was a nice escape.
Olivia took both of my hands in hers and shook my arms. “You two can live together. It’s perfect. You’ll take over my lease. It’ll be like I never left.”
I choked on a laugh. “Yeah, except that we’re nothing alike. Living with me will be nothing like living with you.” Jax will hate it.
Olivia squeezed my hands. “Exactly. You’ll be a much better roommate than I ever was. You’re much cleaner and you actually know how to mind your own business.”
“I don’t…” I shook my head. “If Jax agrees to it, I’m in.”
There. The perfect solution. Jax was never going to agree to living with me. Clearly, she would want a roommate who was more similar to Olivia - someone willing to go out to a bar on a whim in the middle of the week. Someone whose idea of fun wasn’t reading after a long day of work.
“That’s awesome.” Olivia dropped my hands and held hers in front of her mouth, as if she needed help to amplify her voice. “Yo, Jax! Get over here!”
I watched as Jax said something to my brother before patting his arm and walking away from him and over toward us. Jax’s blonde wavy hair, which currently had rainbow coloring on the bottom layer, fluttered in the wind as she walked, and it seemed like the sun shone off of her smile with how wide it was. If Jax was a girl on the street, rather than someone I’d known through my sister for years, the sight would have made me take a second look. Heck, I might not have been able to look away at all. It was no secret that Jax was hot. Anyone with eyes could see that.
“What’s up?” Jax looked from Olivia to my moms. “Mom and Mama Miller-Cooper, I need you to know that you’re the most gorgeous brides I’ve ever seen. The ceremony was perfect. I can only hope I find a love like yours someday.”
