A Long Time Coming (Cane Brothers, #3)(52)

“I don’t know. If you think you should, then go for it. Now can we talk about the lawsuit, please?”

“Sure, sorry,” I say and then pause. “It’s just that I saw Birdy last night and the kiss was good, but I didn’t feel a spark, and I wasn’t sure if I should be feeling a spark or if it’s too soon to feel a spark? I don’t know, did you feel a spark with Lottie?”

Huxley tosses his pen onto the desk and leans back in his chair. “You tell me, do you think I felt a spark with my wife?”

“From what I’ve observed, I would say yes.”

“Immediately,” he says. “I might have thought she was annoying, frustrating, and downright irritating most of the time, but there was no doubt in my mind that she was the prettiest fucking thing I’d ever seen, and I wanted her in my bed.”

“Ah,” I say, nodding. “Same you think with JP?”

“Dude, seriously? Come on, you saw JP when he met Kelsey for the first time. The man had heart eyes coming out of every orifice of his body.”

“Yeah, I know.” I glance to the side. “It’s not like that with Birdy. But I also wonder if I have a mental block now, and I’m not allowing myself to feel for her the way I should because of the leaning on Lia thing. Do you think that could be an issue?”

“I think there’s going to be a huge fucking issue soon if we don’t stop talking about this and get down to business.”

“Yeah, okay . . . sorry.” I chew on my thumbnail. “Real quick though, what are your thoughts on Kylo and Rey? Is it weird I’m considering dating someone who doesn’t believe in the love affair as I do?”

“Jesus fucking Christ.”





Chapter Nine





LIA





Lia: Password is on tonight. Am I coming to your place, or are you coming to my place? I need to run to the grocery store if you’re coming over here. I don’t have any Sour Patch Kids or Sprite.

Breaker: Oh, I need to take a rain check.

I stare down at my phone, confused.

A rain check?

I’m pretty sure Breaker has never used that term with me . . . ever.

Lia: A rain check? Is this my Pickle? Just want to make sure he wasn’t abducted or anything.

Breaker: Not abducted, just have plans.

Oh.

Plans? With whom?

Birdy?

I mean, I shouldn’t care, but it’s Password, and we always watch Password together.

We pause the game, and one of us finds out the password and makes the other guess, then we let it play out on screen. During the whole process, we drown ourselves in handheld calzones from our favorite pizzeria, suck on Sour Patch Kids until our tongues are raw, and wash it all down with Sprite, which always causes us to burp through the remainder of the night.

It’s tradition!

So why would he just . . . book other plans?

I lift from my desk, where I’ve been working on a detailed Excel sheet, and then walk over to my bed and flop down on it. I should just tell him to have fun and see him on Friday when we meet with The Beave, but for the life of me, I can’t let this go, so I text him back.

Lia: Plans, huh? With Birdy?

I send the text and wince, hating that I’m so curious.

Breaker: JP and Lottie actually. We’re going to some bar JP’s been talking about. Thought about asking Birdy to go, but not sure yet. That would be four times in one week that I see her. Don’t want to look desperate.

Lia: Four times? That’s more than you’ve seen me.

The disparity weighs heavily on my already churning stomach.

Four times? That’s . . . that’s so much.

Breaker: Well, there was the double date, then the baking thing, and I went over to her place last night, so if I invited her out tonight, that would be a bit much, don’t you think?

I think three times is a bit much.

Also . . . he could invite me to go out to the bar with everyone. Clearly, I’m not doing anything tonight.

Lia: You went there last night? Did you go for a reason?

Breaker: Just to hang. We talked a lot. She’s not a fan of Kylo and Rey, which was a tough pill to swallow, but hey, you can’t win them all. She did think one of the fan accounts I showed her was pretty hot.

Lia: She doesn’t like Kylo and Rey together? I’m pretty sure that is terms for never talking to her again.

Breaker: It was easy to forgive, especially since I’m taking her on a hike on Saturday and a birdwatching tour.

Lia: Oh, cool. The same tour we go on?

Breaker: Yeah, it’s the best one. She seems pretty excited about it. Said she got an outfit and everything.

Lia: Does it have a bird on it?

Breaker: She said it was a surprise.

Bet it’s a sports bra and shorts. She seems nice and all but also . . . a bit thirsty.

Lia: Well, what am I supposed to do about Password tonight?

Breaker: Have Brian come over. He should start playing with you anyway.

Lia: What do you mean, “anyway”? This is our game.

Breaker: Yes, but you’ll be married soon. I can’t keep coming over on our set nights. This is a good change, Lia.

Lia: Wait . . . did you make plans on purpose? To guide me into some sort of transition?