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He rolled his eyes. “When are you leaving for California again?”
Ella gave him a playful punch to the shoulder. “You know you’ll miss me.”
He tried not to think about it. She’d only be gone for a couple months before she’d be back. Living bicoastal was going to be an adjustment for Ella as well as the whole family. Other than when she went away to college, she’d always been close. But she went and fell in love with someone who called California home, and with his business there, it wasn’t exactly easy for him to pick up and leave.
“I will miss you, kid.”
“Remember that when I’m getting on your last nerve. I’m just giving you something to remember me by.” She flashed him an over the top, cheesy as hell smile.
He kept his gaze unaffected though he was laughing on the inside. “You’re going away for a few months. I don’t think that’s enough time to forget you. I have years and years of you being a pain in my ass in the rolodex in my head.” He tapped his head for emphasis.
“Memories are not the same,” she said and glanced up at him. Her eyes somber and lips downcast. “You know that.”
His heart weighed heavy. Unfortunately, he did. Their mom passed away when Ella was a kid and he barely an adult. Then their dad went to jail for drug charges and their grandmother passed away. They had many memories, but there were times Enzo would pay all the money in the world to go back, because nothing, not even a memory, could replace an actual hug from his mother or grandmother.
“They’re better than nothing.” He rested his arm on Ella’s shoulders and pulled her in for a side hug. She inhaled deeply and let it out before jumping out of his arms in a spin.
“Okay,” she said. “Paint colors.”
Enzo groaned and dragged his ass to the kitchen. He opened the fridge and took out a beer. He was going to need a little alcohol to get through another conversation about paint.
“Hey, if you would just let me have total control, I wouldn’t have to be here right now harassing you.”
He popped the cap off the bottle and tossed it into the garbage, eyes never leaving Ella. If he wasn’t mistaken, she just revealed her evil plan. “You’re totally doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”
She pressed her lips together, eyes taking on a doe like glare as they rolled up to the ceiling. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You brat,” he said.
“I’m only doing what you asked me to?”
“I did not ask you to annoy me for every little detail. I trust you to pick out an outlet cover for crying out loud.” He took a swig from the bottle, wishing it was something a little stronger.
Ella laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“Just that not even five seconds ago, you were complaining about Cami being a micromanager, but you are, too.”
“I am not nearly as annoying as she is.”
“Says who?”
He rested his hands on Ella’s shoulders and steered her toward the door. “Goodbye,” he said.
“Not so fast, mister. What about the paint?”
“I don’t care.”
“Are you saying I can pick whatever color I want?”
“Sure.” Her face lit up like it used to when she was a kid on Christmas morning. “Just don’t get carried away. If I come home one day to purple walls, I will hunt you down.”
“And what? Glare at me?” she joked.
Enzo would never do anything to hurt her and Ella knew that. “I don’t know, but don’t make me have to figure it out.”
“I’m shaking in my flip flops.”
