Page 65 of Emergency Exit
“Um, no. I think I was an idiot to a friend of mine.”
“Just say sorry,” said Forest, grabbing dishes. His tone was off-handedly paternal.
“Yes, thanks, Dad,” said Ash sarcastically. “I’m not three.”
“What did I do now?” complained Forest.
“You sounded like you were talking to Olly,” said Rowan, chuckling.
“Well, sorry,” said Forest, “But I stand by my advice. Sorry is good for three or thirty.”
“What happened?” asked Rowan, ignoring Forest. “Is it totally fucked, or can you un-fuck it?”
“I was supposed to do something, and I blipped it. It didn’t seem like a big deal, and I forgot. I meant to do it, but there wasn’t a deadline, and I never got around to it.”
“Ah,” said Forest, nodding. “Yeah, everything has a deadline for me, or it doesn’t get it done.”
Ash was surprised to hear that Forest was using the same time-management system he was.
“Can you do it now?” asked Rowan.
“Yeah? Maybe? I don’t know. I’ll start with an apology.”
“Becausesorryusually works,” muttered Forest on his way to the kitchen.
Hey, I just realized I never wrote you a check for the ten grand. I’m sorry. I can do it when you come home. Is that OK?
Yes, that would be great. Thank you!
The exclamation point told him that his mother had been right. No wonder Harper had been weird and distant on text all last week. He dashed off a thank you text to his mom and then grabbed the dishes. With the three of them onKP, as Rowan called it, the disaster in the kitchen was quickly cleared, and then they went into the living room.
Vivian was wearing Rowan’s USMC sweats, which Ash had never seen before. Rowan never let anyone touch his gear. Rowan leaned down to kiss her, and Vivian beamed up at him with an expression that Ash couldn’t help but envy. Vivian might be younger, but the two were undeniably a match, both professionally and personally. They just made sense together.
“Hey,” said Forest to Chloe as he scooped up Olly, “Ash wants to take Olly to meet my Mom. Would you and Olly be up for a lunch date?”
Ash gritted his teeth. He and Olly didn’t need a chaperone. It felt like Forest was sending Chloe because he didn’t trust either Ash or their mother.
“Um...” Chloe’s head tilted to one side as if she couldn’t figure out why she was involved in the lunch. “Of course. I’d be happy to.”
Everyone was packing up to leave when Chloe came out of the kitchen and approached Ash with her phone out.
“Do you want my phone number so we can set up lunch with your mom?”
“Oh, uh, I guess,” said Ash. “I was going to call Forest.”
“Well, OK, but I’m in charge of Olly’s schedule. So if you call Forest, he’s just going to call me. We can save everyone the game of telephone and talk to each other directly.”
Ash didn’t like that. Forest was the one he talked to. Not some strange woman with blue hair.
“You feel uncomfortable talking to me,” Chloe said, and Ash froze. “That’s OK. Would you feel better if you texted?”
“I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”
“I don’t,” said Chloe. “You do. You’re crossing your arms, and you’ve turned away from me.”
Ash looked down at his arms. She was right. “I got in a fight with my brothers,” he blurted out.
“I know. That’s really hard. Did you say everything you wanted to? Do you feel understood?”
