Page 29 of A Pizza My Heart

He grins. “That you do.” Flicking his butt away, he pushes off the building. “Guess I better get back to the grind before my old man comes searching for me. I’ll see ya in the morning. Night.”

“Winston?”

Hand on the door, he pauses and turns my way. “Yeah, man?”

Now that he’s looking at me, I choke up, scared to say what I want to say.

Again.

Fuck that. Just ask, you moron.

“What’s up?”

I don’t speak. I can’t.

He lets the door go and takes a few steps toward me, tucking his hands into his pockets and staring at me intensely.

Chocolate milk. Ant farms. Hypertension.

“What?”

“What?”

“Why are you spouting off random words? Are you doing that thing again?”

Shit. Did I say all that out loud?

“Oh fuck.” He laughs. “Wren is going tolovethis. She—”

“How come you never told me about her?”

“Huh?” His dark brows pinch together. “What do you mean?”

“Wren,” I say. “How come you never talked about her when I called?”

He doesn’t say anything, just keeps staring at me. Damn do I hate it when the Daniels stare at me. It’s like they can see my fucking soul, can rip right through me and see everything.

“I just realized tonight that I don’t know jack shit about her life anymore, man, and it makes me… Fuck. I’m pissed, you know? It pisses me off. I was involved in both of your lives and now I’m not and I hate it. I feel like I missed so much.”

He sighs, and I can’t tell if it’s in resignation or one of thosewow, I feel bad for youkind of sighs.

“You never asked.”

“I didn’t?”

Winston shakes his head. “No, man. Never. I tried offering info when you first moved, but every time I’d bring her up, you’d change the subject. I stopped offering after that, figured there was a reason, thought something might have happened between you two before you left because she did the same thing.”

“She did?”

He squints at me, and I realize it’s because my voice just rose about two octaves.

Fuck.

“I mean, oh. Huh. Interesting.”

He tilts his head, studying me.

Please don’t see that I’m in love with your sister. Please don’t try to take my balls from me. I like them very much. Please, please, please.

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