How to Resist Prince Charming(69)

“Hmm?” Braxton muttered.

“You know that new doctor we started taking Savannah to a month or so ago? We haven’t seen Clara once since she’s started with him.”

This information actually had Braxton sitting straighter. “Really? That’s great, Dad. Do you think she’s cured?”

“No,” Spencer was quick to answer. He paused to clear his throat. “No, Doc says Clara’s still in there, inside Savannah’s head. But this treatment she’s going through is actually working. In another four to six years, she should be herself again.” He sucked in a breath. “God, Brax, you should see her. It’s like we have our old Savannah back.”

“Wow. That’s...That’s really amazing. I’m happy she’s better.” He meant his words, and actually felt guilty for drowning his misery about something so trivial when his sister had been struggling through serious problems.

“So, I was thinking,” Spencer started.

“You’re ready to come back to Farris,” Braxton finished for him.

His father remained quiet a moment before he sighed. “Yes. I am.”

Braxton nodded. “Then, I’ll tell the crew tomorrow.”

“Wait. Are you sure you’re okay with this? I know we talked about it before you took over, but since you’ve been in charge for a while—”

“Dad,” Braxton cut in, “it’s perfectly fine. You have to be going stir crazy at home with nothing to do. Your employees miss you and, well, Greg keeps begging me to return to ProTech.”

“He has?” Relief filled Spencer’s voice. “That’s great. I’m glad everything’s going to work out. And maybe Tom will ease up on you over his daughter since you’re not going to be his boss anymore. You two kids could get back together.”

“Yeah,” Braxton murmured. “Maybe.” When Hell transferred to the North Pole.

He and Lenna were over. The end. And there was no way he was going to torture himself by returning to ProTech, where he’d see her every miserable day he went to work. Damn it, he’d shot himself in the foot for getting her that job.

Braxton hung up with his father a moment later and stared at the phone thoughtfully.

Lenna was still at ProTech, wasn’t she? He hadn’t heard any news about her in two weeks.

Maybe she hated her workload and wanted to quit. Maybe she already had. Or maybe Greg didn’t like her performance and had fired her.

Thinking there was a chance he might be able to return to his old job, Braxton glanced at the phone still in his hand and dialed Greg.

“Brax, man,” his boy answered on the third ring. “Wuz up? You ready to come back to ProTech yet?”

Yes, please, he was so ready.

But Braxton merely snorted. “You never give up, do you?”

“Hey, how do you think I get all the chicks?” was Greg’s cocky answer.

“Oh, ho!” Braxton replied and grabbed his stomach as if he were having a normal, everyday, carefree conversation with his bud. “So, your big secret is to harass a girl until she gives in, huh?”

Greg was quiet a moment before he came back with, “Well, I like to think of it as persuasive coaxing.”

Braxton snickered. God, he missed the sound of his own laughter. “Look,” he told Greg as he scratched the back of his neck. “I was wondering if you were up for some climbing.”

Yeah, that sounded good. He needed a nice laboring, sweaty day full of rock climbing. Maybe if he was lucky, he could fall off a mountain and put himself out of his misery.

“Am I up for rock climbing?” Greg snorted. “Dude. You name the time and place, and I’m there.”

Braxton bit his lip. “How about this weekend? Rose Ridge?”

“Sold.”

“Good,” Braxton said. Great. Now, how was he going to work his way into asking about Lenna without raising any flags? “How’s it been?” he asked. “Haven’t seen you in a few.” Okay, that was a lame attempt, but hey, he had nothing here.

“It’s going,” Greg replied. “Actually, I was starting to think you’d gotten yourself into a relationship or something since I hadn’t heard from you in a while.”

“No,” Braxton lied. “No, I haven’t been seeing anyone.” He cleared his throat. “But speaking of ladies...” Yeah, it was a bad segue, but he’d lost his patience. “How’s that girl doing? The one I recommended to you for the translating position. She told me she got the job, but I, uh, I haven’t heard from her since.”

His fib actually sounded believable. When he’d become such an accomplished liar, he had no idea.

“Lenna,” Greg sighed her name, making Braxton’s teeth clench. “Pretty Lenna is awesome, man. We’ve yet to send a website her way she hasn’t been able to translate.”

“Is that so?” Braxton said, hearing a smidgeon of disappointment slip into his voice. “She’s doing well, then?” Damn.

“She’s doing fantastic. You can tell she really likes what she does too, because she thanks me for hiring her, like, every day.”

Braxton slid into a chair, his chest burning.

That sounded like Lenna. Always so thankful.

He wished Greg would go on, tell him more about her. He was glad she liked her job. He really was. It’d been important to her to find something she would enjoy. Her happiness at ProTech made his inability to return almost worth it.