Page 84 of Forever Endeavor

CHAPTER 26

Six More Weeks Later

Sonny

“Look what popped up on my news feed this morning.” Gurdeep shoved his phone under Sonny’s nose. “It’s a pre-order for Amethyst Jayde’s new title. That means Billie’s book is coming out soon.”

Sonny snatched it out of Gurdeep’s hand to examine the screen. “This holiday season, Amethyst Jayde returns with the heartfelt finale to the Moonlight Chronicles,” he read aloud. “How’d you get this?”

“I’ve been following Billie…I mean, Amethyst Jayde, online since Gary and I started reading her novels. They’re good, Sonny. Real good. Steamy too.”

“I’m not really a big reader.” Sonny shrugged, handing back the phone. Truthfully, he’d borrowed one of Bernice’s copies to read, or at least, read most of it. He might’ve skipped over a few pages hunting for the descriptively hot sex scenes. Damn, Billie was almost as good with words as she was with her gifted tongue. “But I’m real happy for her.”

“Happy for her? I thought you’d be overjoyed. Now that she’s finished writing the book, you two can get back to where you left off a few months ago.”

Sonny turned back to hooking up a car battery to the charger. “You’re forgetting one little thing. I haven’t heard from her in weeks.”

“Yeah? Well, she told me she hasn’t heard a peep out of you either.”

His head swiveled. “You’ve talked to Billie?”

“Not recently,” Gurdeep admitted. “But she did ask if I’d send her clips of your stuff at open mike night. I had to tell her I didn’t forget, because there were none to send.”

“I’ve been busy,” Sonny mumbled.

“I know, you’ve got a lot on your plate with this place and the—”

“She’s busy too. I don’t want to bother her.”

Gurdeep raised his eyebrows. “She’d never be too busy for you. I’m sure she’d love it if you said hello.”

“I will. Soon. I want to be sure I have something to tell her next time we talk.”

“You already have plenty to tell her. Problem is, you haven't said it,” Gurdeep groused. “She's a writer, Sonny. She needs to hear you say thewords.”

The service bell rang as a flashy F-150 rolled onto the lot. Sonny knew the truck and, unfortunately, the sonofabitch turncoat driving it.

“’Morning,” Chad greeted. “I wouldn’t come unless it was absolutely necessary, but I’m leaking coolant and I can’t get in to the dealer until later this week. Mind taking a look at the radiator?”

Sonny remained silent.

“Please?” Chad asked.

Sonny called out to Gurdeep. “Can you swing it? I’m still tied up over here.”

“Sure, boss man,” he answered.

Chad waited outside as Gurdeep backed up the truck and steered it into the vacant service bay. Sonny turned his back and did his best to ignore Chad. It worked for a few minutes before he wandered over. “Not sure if you heard the news, but Melissa had the baby. It’s a boy.”

“I heard,” Sonny grumbled.

Chad shuffled his feet. “Yeah, well, we appreciate how quickly the whole house thing got handled before he arrived, Sonny. That was good of you,” he said. “So, you’re down at the lakefront now, hmm? Looks like you’re—”

With a loud clang, Sonny dropped the wrench he was holding. “I’m busy. I don’t have time to chit-chat and I sure as hell don’t want to hear all about your perfect life.”

Chad laughed. “Perfect life? Is that what you think?”

“You got everything you ever wanted at my expense. Congratulations.”

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