“You look good.” He rocks in his chair back and forth. “Saw a couple of pictures of your daughter and your…” He trails off, making me laugh. “What are you calling her?”
I chuckle and look down at my hands and then declare, “Mine.” He just laughs. “You should try it.”
He looks at me, his eyebrows pinching together. “Are you crazy?”
“What?” I lean back, mimicking him. “The proverbial bachelor can settle.”
He chuckles. “Not my thing.”
“Until you find the right person,” I tell him, and he huffs and rolls his eyes at me.
“I’ll take your word for it.” He leans forward, unbuttoning his cuffs and rolling up his sleeves.
“The only woman I’ve had in my life for longer than one night is Eva, and that’s only because she’s always been my wingman. She knows all my secrets and is always there when I need her.”
“You mean she wouldn’t touch you with a ten-foot pole,” I remind him of what she told me the last time she came in, and I joked about them dating.
“That also.” He points at me. “She can smell my bullshit a mile away.” He stops talking when
more people come in and say hello to me.
The seats are all taken as we go through our list of clients. “Okay, people,” I say, clapping my hands, “let’s get this done.” I know we have to go through our client list and see if they have any needs. Then we have to go through our waiting list to see which clients we are going to be taking on in the next couple of months. I lean back in my chair as Levi starts in on the first name on the list.
I don’t even feel the time go by. “We should order in food if we are going to keep going,” Levi suggests, and I look down at the corner of the computer screen and see that it’s a little past eight thirty at night, and I start to panic.
“I have to head home,” I hear someone say as I look beside my computer for my phone and I find it empty. I jump out of my chair, ignoring everyone voting on staying or going. “I’m with whatever,” I say, rushing to my office and finding my phone on my desk. I turn it over to see Addison tried to call me once, but then I have ten missed FaceTimes from Avery.
I sit in the chair and call Addison first. She answers after two rings, and I can tell she was sleeping. “Hey, did I wake you?”
“Yeah,” she mumbles, “I must have fallen asleep with Avery,” she whispers.
“She’s sleeping?” I say, putting my head back and my eyes closing.
“Yeah, she had a busy day. Apparently, she was teaching the class how to wave like a princess.
It’s hard being Avery.” She chuckles, and picturing her is just making it worse, even with my eyes closed. “How is your day?”
“Good, we just stopped to get something to eat or finish, I’m not sure. I saw the time and ran to call you,” I tell her, looking up when I hear people start walking in the hallway. “I think we are going to be ending it. I’ll call you when I get to the hotel.”
She yawns at the same time that she says, “Okay.” I disconnect the phone and put it back on my desk.
Levi sticks his head into my office. “We will reconvene tomorrow at ten,” he says. “Get some sleep. You look like shit.”
“Thanks,” I mumble, getting up and making my way over to the hotel two doors from the office. I check in and make my way up to the bedroom. The sound of the door clicks closed once I walk in.
I toss my bag by the bed and call Addison right away; she answers after one ring. “Hi,” she grumbles, and I press the FaceTime button. The sound of ringing fills the phone. “Are you FaceTiming me?”
“Yes,” I confirm, putting the phone in front of me as the white circle goes around until she fills the screen. “Hi, beautiful,” I say softly.
“You look tired,” she notes. “Why don’t you get a shower and go to bed?”
“I will in a bit. I miss you,” I admit to her and her mouth goes from a smirk to a full-blown smile.
“Do you?” she asks me, turning on her side, and I wish I was sliding into bed with her.
“I do.” I smirk at her. “How is Avery?”
“She’s good,” she says, and I can feel her holding back something.
“She tried to FaceTime me,” I tell her and she smiles sadly.
“Yeah. We called you from my phone together and then she went to her bedroom.” She trails off.