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I brush a kiss on his lips, and we make our way back to Preston.
Preston takes a sip of coffee, his eyes still riveted to his phone. “Your social media accounts are blowing up with fans sending their well wishes,” he says with a smirk. He finally looks to Jake. “If only they knew you were playing hooky.”
Guess that runs in the family.
Jake leans into the counter. “Yeah, I saw. Curtiss told the media I came down with the flu.”
Preston laughs. “That sounds like a hooky excuse. He couldn’t be more creative than that?”
“This is Curtiss we’re talking about.”
“How did he get the manager job again?”
“Uncle Draper likes him.”
“He would, wouldn’t he? He has the worst business sense.” Another sip of coffee. “Yet here he is, owner of your team.”
The sentiment leaves a sour taste in the air. For both of them, it seems, as Jake pensively picks at a flaw in the quartz countertop, and I’m left to wonder how that came to be. How has Magnolia not stepped in and done something about this if Draper is so bad at business? There must be something else to it, then. There has to be. Magnolia isn’t one to accept subpar performance.
Preston swerves them in a different direction. “I’m a dick,” he says, standing. “Do you two want coffee?”
“I’m good,” I say, my voice small. I feel like an intruder who was suddenly noticed. But it doesn’t bother me with Jake and Preston; they deserve their time to catch up. I know they don’t get it often.
So, maybe I should make myself scarcer. They’d never ask me to leave and I honestly would love to overhear more business talk, but something inside me, the middle sibling of three, pleads with me to give them their time, and so I do.
As Jake takes him up on his offer and slides into the stool next to his, I gently squeeze the round of his shoulder and head for the back door—in the direction of the lake and walking path. “I think I’ll go for a walk,” I announce politely, purposefully phrasing it as a statement. “Give you two some time.”
Preston waves over his shoulder as he rummages through his cabinets. “Bye, sweetie.”
Jake studies me to make sure I’m not blowing smoke.
I pause and smile my reassurance before I open the door. He should know me better than that. “Meet you back here in an hour?”
“I’ll come get you.”
“Deal,” I say, and leave them to it.
