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“Have a nice day, Julio.” I turned around and headed back to my desk. Eli might not admit that he liked me—or even that he cared I was leaving, but at least I knew he was a little jealous over someone else showing interest.
That counts for something.
My hand slid to my stomach, which still wasn’t showing.
But not enough to tell him about you.
20
ELI
“A personal day?” I said the words out loud as I read the email from Olivia. “Since when does she take a personal day?” I shook my head at the computer, wondering what it was all about—did it have something to do with her new job? Was she feeling okay? Was she over the sex we were having and wanted to avoid me?
Fuck, I need to stop this.
But I couldn’t. It had been bad, but ever since I had run into Alicia at the coffee shop and then found out Olivia was actually leaving, I felt like I was stuck in a vise—and it was squeezing the life right out of me. I had no idea what the fuck I was supposed to do.
My cell phone buzzing on the desk caught me off guard, and I let out a sharp breath as I saw my dad’s face light up the screen.
Shit.
I was in the wrong headspace to be talking to him. However, I picked it up anyway, sliding the bar across to answer. “What’s up, pops?”
“I don’t know why you call me that,” he said, grimacing. “It makes me sound old.”
“Well, if the shoe fits...”
“Yeah, and it doesn’t, so that’s enough of that. I can still hang.”
“Oh god,” I groaned, running my hand over my face. “Anyway, what’s up with you? You never call me on a weekday during work hours.”
“Ah, yeah, well, I guess you could say I’m switching up my mojo a little.”
“Dude, you gotta stop with these weird references.” I chuckled, grabbing up a pen and twirling it in between my fingers. “It’s too much.”
“Nah.” He laughed—like actually laughed. It nearly stopped me in my tracks since I hadn’t heard him like that in…forever.
“You okay?”
“Of course,” he answered me, his laugh fading. “I’m just visiting Paul, and things are going really well. It’s been a nice break from the fast-paced life.”
“Right…” My voice trailed off at the mention of his best friend. The guy lived in a small coastal town, though I couldn’t remember the town—or even state—that it was in. “Well, I’m glad you’re having a good trip.”
“Yeah, thinking about maybe putting some roots down here.”
I choked on air. “Wh-what? Why the hell would you do that?”
“I don’t know, slow down. There’s nothing wrong with stopping to smell the flowers sometimes. Not to mention, the people are great here.” Something about the way his tone fluctuated when he spoke had me wondering if it was people or a single person…
Like a woman.
“Hmm, that’s an interesting blanket statement there, Dad.”
“Yeah, anyway, enough about me. How’s your life? How’s the company doing? Seems like out of all your brothers, you’re the only one I can’t ever seem to nail down and check up on.”
“I don’t know, maybe it’s because there’s nothing to catch up on…” My voice trailed off as my eyes flitted to the computer screen, Olivia’s email still open.
Nothing that he’d be interested in, anyway.
