Page 139 of Until August
“I’ll be there.”
He nodded. “Right. Okay. I’ll see you there then.”
I forced a smile. “Yep.”
He lingered a few more seconds, his eyes scanning the mess I’d made of the walk-in closet. Then he spun around and gave me a two-finger salute over his shoulder as he walked away.
I started laughing when I heard his footsteps pounding the stairs like he couldn’t get away fast enough.
It was obvious that my brother had never had a long-term relationship. He didn’t have a clue how to handle a woman’s emotions.
From somewhere under the pile of clothes, I heard my phone ringing. I fished it out and snatched it up.
My stomach sank when I saw the name flashing across the screen. Dr. Marcus.
CHAPTERFORTY-NINE
August
Sage inspected the breakfast burrito,then plucked out a piece of chorizo and waved it in front of my face. “What’s this stuff?”
“Chorizo.”
“Will I like it?”
“Only one way to find out.”
He hesitated. Then he took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut like he was about to do something monumental like bungee jumping off a bridge.
Finally, he popped it into his mouth and chewed, giving me a thumbs-up as he took a big bite of his egg, red pepper, and chorizo burrito.
Sauce dribbled down his chin. I handed him a paper towel, but he wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his hoodie instead.
“This is good,” he said around a mouthful of food. “Almost better than last week.”
“Thanks. Glad you like it.”
I drank my coffee while he ate. We were sitting on the tailgate of my truck parked next to the golf course, not far from the elementary school. I’d started driving Sage to school a few mornings a week after Sasha had the baby.
We were getting the hang of this co-parenting gig, and things had gone more smoothly than I could have hoped. The mornings I picked up Sage gave us extra bonding time. For me, every minute counted.
But today, I was distracted. Monday night had been a shit show of epic proportions, and I was still dwelling on it.
Why had I chosenthatmoment to say those three little words? They’d just slipped out. Not that I didn’t mean them. I did. I’d known it for a while.
But some things in life were better left unsaid. Telling Nicola that I loved her was one of them.
Yesterday she didn’t show up for work. She’d texted to say that an emergency had come up regarding Cruz. I worried about her all day and had been two minutes from showing up at her door to ensure she was okay. But her house was off-limits to me, like many other things in Nicola’s life.
So I’d sent a short, simple text:Hope you’re okay.
Yeah, I was a fucking wordsmith.
“Can I come over after school today?” Sage asked.
Sometimes he came to the restaurant after school. It was Nicola’s idea, a way for me to spend as much time as possible with my son.
She always lavished extra special attention on him. She talked to him as if his opinions mattered, and every word out of his mouth was fascinating.
