Page 65

“Mom called,” Weston says. “She said you and Ariana broke up and that you’re taking it hard.”
“We came to check on you,” Callie says.
My heart warms to think that my brother is looking out for me like that.
Weston climbs onto the barstool next to me, and Callie gets on the other side of me.
I dig into my food, my head hanging down in misery. I refuse to let them see me get emotional, though.
“You don’t look so good, bro,” Weston says.
“I’ve had better days.”
“You have it bad for her then,” Callie says. “What are you doing still here?”
“I’m giving her space.”
“She doesn’t want space right now, believe me. She wants you to show up at her door and offer her a dozen red roses.”
“No, she does want space.”
“Kaison, she may be telling you that, but it doesn’t mean you don’t try, anyway. If you love her so much, you can’t just let it end so easily.”
“I believe in listening to what others are telling me and respecting their boundaries.”
“You can still respect her boundaries while handing her roses,” Callie says with a grin.
“Well, I do need to head back to Atlanta, anyway.”
“I happen to know of a helicopter you could use to get there faster,” Weston says. “You still have your BMW convertible at your penthouse, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then you don’t even need to drive back. We can get Wilson or Jerry to drop off your car in Atlanta.”
I finish my dinner, letting their words sink in. Maybe they’re right. Would it be so bad to show up at Ariana’s apartment and fight to win her back? “I don’t even know where she lives,” I say.
“I can access the employee database and look up her info right from my phone,” Callie says, tapping on her screen. A few moments later, a screenshot of Ariana’s name, phone number, and address show up in my text messages.
“You’re welcome,” she says. “Call Corey in Atlanta and have him buy roses for you before the stores close. He’ll have to get them from a grocery store at this hour, but she won’t care. Roses are roses.”
“Am I really doing this?” I ask them, standing from the barstool.
“You’d better or Mom will come after you,” Weston says. “And that’s worse than not having Ariana back.”
“No, it’s not.”
“It was a joke, Kaison. Lighten up.” He slaps me on the back.
“Good luck,” Callie says.
The sound of a helicopter landing behind our house fills the air. We had a helipad installed years ago on our property in a clearing some ways away from the house.
“Oh, he’s right on time.” Callie’s smile is huge, like she’s super proud of herself.
“Callie was so convinced she could get you to agree to go after Ariana that she called Rob to come pick you up with the helicopter.”
I can’t help but laugh.