The Fix (The Carolina Connections, #1)(51)

I laughed at the mental image of Gavin hitting on Fiona with Laney as a witness. “Smart man.”

Gavin sat forward in his chair and put his elbows to his knees. “Hey, I know it’s late notice, but do you think there’s any chance I can take Thursday off? There’s somewhere I’ve really got to be and I can only do it on Thursday.”

“Shit, man,” I started, not looking forward to what I had to say next. “You haven’t earned any vacation days yet, and if I let you take off it sets a bad precedent. It puts me in an awkward position, especially considering Laney and all, but I have to say no. I’m really sorry.” I shook my head. I hated having to do this, especially to Laney’s brother, but the rules are the rules and if I let one person break them then it’s just a slippery slope. That’s not the kind of work environment I can tolerate.

He looked like he’d already known the answer before I told him, but I still felt bad.

“Hey, no problem. Just thought I’d ask.”

An awkward silence settled until Laney came back out with the beers and a glass of wine for herself. She hollered out to the treehouse, “Hey, any of you adventurers thirsty?!”

“Only if it starts with ‘w’ and ends with ‘ine’!” Fiona shouted as she and Rocco descended the ladder.

“Who do you think you’re talking to?!” Laney answered and headed back into the kitchen.

Fiona and Rocco approached the table, Fiona rubbing at her hands trying to wipe the dirt off. “I swear this red clay dirt is so hard to wash off sometimes.”

“You should use douche,” suggested Rocco as casually as can be, wiping his own hands on his jeans.

We all froze. Well, all of us but Rocco. His only parent was out of earshot, and the three of us were waiting for each other to come up with the correct response. Nothing.

Just as Laney emerged from the house, Gavin hissed at Fiona and me, “Do. Not. Tell. Laney. I like my balls where they are.”





Chapter Eighteen





Now Accepting Applications for a Corner Man





LANEY

It was official. I was in love. And everything all those damn movies and romance novels said was true. Well, almost. Nate couldn’t get it up ten times in a night, and doing it against a wall was ridiculously difficult, not to mention entirely impractical. But all the parts about food tasting better and jokes being funnier and finding yourself with a great big smile during a boring-ass meeting? All true. It was a little like being drunk but still able to operate a moving vehicle and hold down your day job. I was saying hello to complete strangers at the grocery store and complimenting them on their outfits. I was singing in my car and getting caught by other drivers at stoplights and not caring in the least. All I had to do was think about that sexy man and I turned into a fool.

Neither of us had said the words yet, but I had a hunch his heart was right in line with mine. Or at least I hoped it was. Not a day had gone by without Nate sporting the scruff I told him I liked so much, so that had to mean something, right?

And everything else was going well too. Rocco liked his new daycare a lot better, and he was even starting to engage with some of the other kids. The nose twitching was still around sometimes but was not nearly as prevalent as it had been. And he and Nate were getting along phenomenally. Now I just had to tackle asking Rocco how he’d feel about Nate having “sleepovers” at our house. Part of me felt like it was too soon, but my gut was telling me this was it. Nate was the one.

I’d finally introduced my parents to Nate over Skype last week. Yeah, that wasn’t awkward at all. But since we’d spent a few evenings with his parents already, he said it was time to meet mine. Luckily Rocco dominated the online conversation as he usually did, so it all turned out okay in the end.

Fiona was still in a Terrence-free zone but hadn’t had a date with anyone else as far as I knew. She and Nate got along well too, which was a big bonus since she and I were a package deal. And Nate being Gavin’s boss hadn’t turned out to be as troublesome as I’d feared. They hung out like friends when Nate was at our house, and Gavin still appeared to like his job, so all was good.

Until it wasn’t.

It was Thursday after work and Nate let himself in the front door as usual. Rocco and I had been home for a little while and I was chopping vegetables, pretending to know what to do with them, while Rocco watched cartoons in the living room. As soon as Nate entered the kitchen I could feel a weird vibe. He didn’t come over and kiss me right away like he usually did so that was my confirmation that something was wrong. He dragged his fingers through his sweaty, matted hair and set down his hoodie.

“Hey, mind if I jump in the shower? I’m a mess.”

“Sure. You okay?”

“I don’t know …” he hedged. “We’ll talk later.”

That did not sound good. Not at all. My first instinct was to follow him into the bedroom and make him talk. But I forced myself to think like a guy and I left him alone for the time being, as he’d asked.

Dinner was very quiet. Gavin hadn’t come home to eat, which wasn’t unusual, but it would have been nice to have someone else to relieve the tension at the table. Nate was stewing, and even Rocco’s chatter wasn’t enough to rouse him. I just spent the time responding to Rocco and asking him about his day.