Page 54

TWENTY-EIGHT
Patrick
The Eagle has landed.
I stare at my phone for a few seconds. The text from Con, tying my stomach in knots.
Cari is finally home.
Me: Thanks, man. I owe you.
Con: The Eagle is also angry at me for not
taking her to her hotel.
I knew that’d be the likely outcome when I asked Con to cancel her hotel reservations and pick her up from the airport. Take her home.
Con: The Eagle called me an asshole and
slammed the door in my face when I
tried to help her in with her bags.
Con: She mocked Siberia.
Me: I have no idea what that means.
Con: It hurt my feelings.
I laugh out loud, wishing I’d been there to see it. Besides Tess, I’ve never met a woman who can resist my cousin’s charms. Jessica doesn’t count. I have serious doubts she’s even human.
Me: I owe you twice.
Con: I’m still waiting for my pony.
I shove my phone into my back pocket and try to concentrate on work, not the fact that it’s been eleven months since she left and I haven’t so much as talked to her. I meant what I said that night—I love her. I’m waiting for her. But I’m not chasing her. If she loves me, wants me, she going to have to say so. Eleven months gone and she never once called. Texted.
Nothing.
I’d be lying if I said my confidence hasn’t taken a bit of a beating.
“That Con?” Declan says, and I look up to see him on the extension ladder he’s using to double-check measurements for the windows we need to order.
“Yup.” We could have a dozen guys measure the same window and come up with the same measurement and Dec would still want to do it himself, just to make sure.
He tucks his pencil behind his ear and heads down the ladder. “Cari home?”
I nod, holding the ladder for him. “She’s at our place.”
Our place.
That’s what I call it in my head. The apartment above Gilroy’s is our place. After she left, I moved out. Because it’s not our place without her, and without her, I don’t want to be there.
I moved into one of the Backbay loft properties. Hired a part-time bartender to handle the lighter shifts to give the three of us some breathing room. Time to focus on things besides running the bar.
“Want to take off?” Dec looks at this watch. “It’s about time for lunch anyway.”
Yes. I wanted to be the one to pick her up from the airport. I wanted to pull her into my arms and kiss her the second she stepped off the plane. I wanted to take her home and take her clothes off and remind her how good it is between us. And if that isn’t enough to convince her to stay, do it all over again.