Page 224 of The Nanny and the Beefcake
Raz was ready to ask another question when they passed a room, and he recognized a man huddled around a laptop with a trio of teenagers.
“Rowen?” he uttered.
“Excuse me, Augie, do you have a second?” a man asked, walking toward them.
“Give me a minute, Raz,” Aug said, then met the man further down the hall.
Raz stood in the doorway, and Rowen came over.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, not expecting to see the nerd.
“Teaching a class on coding. My company is shut down for the week to give the employees time off. How are you, man? We’ve tried to get ahold of you.”
“I’ve been training hard. I unplugged from everything.”
Rowen nodded. “Are you ready for the fight? Mitch, Landon, and I plan on heading out soon for the weigh-in.”
Raz released a slow exhale. “I’m as ready as I can be.” He shifted his stance and ran his hands through his hair, wanting to ask about Libby.
“She’s doing all right, Raz,” Rowen said, reading his mind.
“She is?” he rasped. “You’ve seen her?”
“She’s staying at the apartment in the Gale Gaming building. She’s been laying low because of your arrangement.”
Because they’d agreed not to say anything to Sebastian.
Ice trickled down his spine.
“I’m not sure if I should tell you this,” Rowen began, “but Penny and the girls saw her yesterday.”
“And?” Raz asked, perking up, eager for any morsel of information.
“And Penny says she got offered a great business opportunity, and she even contacted her dad. They’re getting together tomorrow. Penny says that’s a pretty big deal for Libby.”
Jesus!
“Yeah, it’s huge. So, she’s okay?” he asked, working to keep the emotion from his voice.
“Penny used the words balanced and peaceful to describe her. But she’s taking a page and decided to unplug until after the fight.” Rowen shifted his stance. “Is it over between the two of you?”
It hurt like hell to hear those words uttered out loud.
“I don’t know what we are. But I want her to be okay. I want her to be happy,” he rattled off, saying all the right things.
“Is that all you want?” Rowen asked when Phoebe zoomed over to her uncle and skidded to a stop.
“Hey, Raz!” Phoebe beamed, donning a hot dog headband.
“Hey, Phoebe.”
“Say hi to Sebastian for me and tell him to save me some apples,” the child directed.
“Okay?” Raz answered, not sure what to make of Phoebe’s request when the girl tugged on Rowen’s sleeve.
“Uncle Row, how do you spellbureau?”
“Why do you need to spell that? We’re teaching the kids to code.”
