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Iris:Just be happy, Henry, you deserve it.
That chokes me up unexpectedly, and I have to think about how to respond. I don’t have a glib or sarcastic retort, so I simply ask,I’m not fired then?
I prepare for her to say something likelet’s just say you’re on probationor something similarly sassy.
Instead, she says,You can’t fire family.
I take a deep breath.
Fuck, things feel good.
This is all going to work out.
I think about heading back to the airport right now. I could be with Ruby by bedtime. But there are some things at Big Dick’s I want to tie up tomorrow before I leave.
I think about texting Ruby and telling her I’m coming back. But I decide I want to surprise her.
Instead I simply send,I love you.
She replies quickly.I love you, too.
Then I look around. I’m not sure what to do now until tomorrow morning.
Suddenly, I hear squealing from the living room, then Scarlett laughing, then something crashing to the floor, then Scarlett yelling, “Cian!”, then footsteps on the stairs.
“Good lord, you all are a lot of work!” my best friend, Prince of Cara, the ‘a lot of work’ in my life for the past twelve years, exclaims.
And all I do is grin, cross to the fridge, pull out a soda, then perch on a stool at the breakfast bar to wait for dinner.
I’m not going to do a thing about any of that.
I told him not to get a pig.
Chapter 28
Henry
Bright and early on Monday morning, I walk into Big Dick’s with a huge smile.
Then stop short and frown.
What thehell?
Christopher is coming toward me.
“What are you?—”
But April steps up next to him. “Hey, Henry.”
I turn my frown from Christopher to her. “What’s going on?”
“It’s okay.”
“It’s not.”
“It really is. We’re just talking about a plan,” she insists.
“I don’t like him being here.”