Page 59 of Lovestruck at Sundown
“You are,” Tobias quickly replied. “Go ahead.”
“Hey, baby!” I greeted him excitedly. We usually found time to talk before I went to bed. But with his erratic schedule, we would text here and there during the day, so I was happy whenever I could listen to his voice.
“Guille.” His voice was low and hoarse. William saying my name like that did something to me, even if he wasn’t aware of it. Well, he for sure was at this point. “Do you want to tell me why you’re eating processed food from a toxic microwaveable container when you have my credit card in your wallet?”
Oh.
Wrinkling my nose at Tobias, I flipped him off and whispered, “Traitor!”
“You’re welcome.” Tobias laughed and Liam snickered as he slurped his ramen.
“And Liam,” William added before I could think of something that would serve as a suitable excuse for my recent questionable eating habits. Liam’s face fell as he stared wide-eyed at Tobias’s phone. “Get photographed touching my girl again in public and youwillbe visiting the dentist’s office.”
“William!” My jaw dropped as I stared at Tobias, whose gossip tendencies were endless. Liam was practically a member of the Sjöberg family at this point. So there was no need to scare him away with his empty threats because I knew William wouldn’t lay a finger on him. He knew we were just friends.
“Why would you tell him about the paparazzi?” I whispered to Tobias. “I was going to!”
“Because I was trying to reassure Liam that he wouldn’t get punched in the face,” he whispered back.
“Gee, thanks.” Liam rolled his eyes and kept to his noodles.
“You know I can hear you, right?” William’s voice sounded bored. “And no, I don’t need Liam’s hands on my girl, especially not in public with the paps running around looking for content to sell.”
“Jealous, mate?” Liam said with a chuckle, taking a spoonful of noodles into his mouth.
“The media will find any excuse to run fake stories about us if we’re not careful,” William’s voice boomed through the speakerphone. “So let’s not give them material so they can use it to their advantage. I know tabloids are tabloids and we can’t always control the bullshit stories they like to print, but I’ll do what I can to keep things as private as possible. At least until I return from Vancouver.”
“Too late. You guys are on the cover of Icon Weekly,” Tobias tossed in, which earned him a glower from me. I had wanted to talk to William about it. Privately. But Tobias had no limits when it came to revealing information to his familymembers. “They confirmed your relationship.”
“Shit.” William sighed. “That explains the six missed calls from Naomi. What else did the magazine say?”
“That we’ve been dating for two months,” I interjected. “That I work at Haute Magazine and study at Parsons. And that we’re neighbors.”
“That explains the paps outside Haute today.” William’s voice sounded frustrated. “How many were there? They didn’t hurt you, did they? Did they try to follow you? I’ll give Aaron a call anyway so we can—”
“William,” I cut him off and took Tobias’s phone to my ear, swapping back from speakerphone mode. Liam and Tobias simultaneously voiced a disappointedAwww. Of course, they wanted to keep listening to our conversation. “There’s nothing to worry about. There were two photographers, no one followed us, and Aaron knows how to keep me safe.” I didn’t want William to worry when he needed to focus on work. He was upset enough as it was since his schedule wouldn’t allow him to fly back for Thanksgiving. “It’s just a silly tabloid piece.”
Silence.
“You’re right.” He let out a sharp breath. I could tell this topic was weighing on him, and he worried about it affecting me, but everything was fine. Not only did I feel safe, but I was. The fact that he was almost three thousand miles away must’ve made him feel uneasy, like he didn’t have control over the situation. But there was nothing tocontrolbecause everything was fine. And it seemed like the knowledge of that sank in suddenly because he managed to change the subject. “So, what did your father say about joining my family for Thanksgiving?”
Tobias stood closer to me, trying to listen, and I pushed him away.
The Sjöbergs had extended an invitation to myfather for their Thanksgiving dinner celebration, a tradition they’d adopted after years of living in the U.S., hoping to soothe his apprehension regarding our relationship. And given that William wasn’t attending, I thought he would have agreed. But my father’s wounded pride ran deep, and he declined. He was probablystill sour about William cleverly buying the apartment and how things turned out for him—and between us—because of it.
That meant I would spend Thanksgiving in a boring fancy restaurant with him instead when I could’ve spent it with the Sjöbergs.
It felt wrong to admit this, but I wouldn’t have minded skipping Thanksgiving this year with my dad. And something told me he wasn’t thrilled about us sitting for an awkward, small-talk-filled dinner. Seeing each other felt forced, and honestly, there was nothing I was feeling “thankful for” when it came to the current status of our strained father-daughter relationship. It was merely a procedure designed to avoid driving what was left of our frail bond into an even more confusing state.
“He said no.” No need to sugarcoat things for William. “He made dinner reservations at Peak325, so those are my amazing plans for tomorrow.”
“What?” Tobias mouthed, and I shrugged. They all probably thought it was a sure thing that I’d be joining them.
“Fancy.” William didn’t sound surprised in the slightest. “You can always join them once dinner with your dad is over.”
“Yeah, I was planning on doing that anyway.”
“I miss you,” he said after a brief moment of silence, his voice filled with longing, and I said it back. “Can you put Tobias on the phone, please? There’s something I need to tell him. I’ll call you tomorrow as soon as I get the chance, okay? I love you.”
