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“Always am.” He gestures to my shirt, giving me a thumbs-up. “This looks good. It says you’re the kind of man who asks her out by buying up her shop, yet you’re cool enough to know not to propose to her tonight.”
No clue if that’s good or bad. “And that’s the right look?” I’m still skeptical. Been burned before on the rules of dating.
“It is,” Zane confirms. “Eliza and I looked her up. She’s very fashionable and she dresses well. This is what you need to wear. One hundred percent.”
“Done.” I don’t have time to question him more, especially if I’m going to make it to the date on time. We exit my bedroom, and I grab my wallet from the living room table right as Eliza rushes out of her room, waggling her phone. “Sent you a pic of your rookie card. You can show it to her.”
Zane’s eyes pop, and with Eliza behind him, he makes a slashing gesture across his throat, then mouths don’t.
I laugh, then clap his shoulder. “I do know that.” I also know that Elodie’s easy to talk to and easy to flirt with, and that’s all I need and want for one night.
I give Zane instructions on food and bedtime as I head to the door. He turns his big right paw into a hand puppet now. “You say this like my niece hasn’t slept over before,” he remarks.
Eliza grabs her bright yellow sleepover bag from the living room floor. “Dad, I have my own room there.”
And it’s nicer and bigger than the one she has here. “I’m glad you like it,” I say, since I can’t let myself get caught up in those kinds of comparisons. My brother’s a millionaire athlete and I’m not, and that’s just the way it goes.
Before we leave, I hand Zane one of the Melt In Your Mouth boxes. “For Maddox, since I know you don’t eat sugar.”
He grabs it like an alligator snatching dinner. “I’ll make an exception.”
Eliza bats her lashes. “I eat sugar!”
I laugh, then shake my head. “You already had a bar.”
“But I have room for more,” she says hopefully.
“Don’t worry. We can share,” Zane stage whispers to her.
“Yes!”
When we all reach the stoop outside the building, Eliza drops her bag and gives me a hug. I scoop her up and hold her close, sighing contentedly. This kid is my whole entire heart and has been since she was born. “You have fun tonight, but don’t forget tomorrow afternoon we’re doing the beach cleanup by Crissy Field.”
“I know, and I have my work gloves with me so I can pick up all the plastic,” Eliza says, sets a hand on my back, and firmly guides me toward the waiting Lyft I ordered.
“You have fun too,” she calls out as I reach the sedan. “Maybe after the new bar opens, she can be your girlfriend!”
I groan. Zane laughs. I turn back to the troublemakers. “It’s one date. I don’t have time for a girlfriend.”
“Everyone has time for love,” my brother says. “You just have to make the time.”
But tonight is not about love. Love isn’t in the cards for me. It hasn’t been for a good long time. Love has a way of just not working out. But business? Family? Those are the things I can count on.
I pluck at the shirt. “Thanks for the shirt, Zane.”
“Anytime.”
As I slide into the car, my phone pings with a text from Grams.
Grams: Favor!
Gage: Sure. Hit me up.
Grams: I need you to ask your date for a gift recommendation for a friend of mine.
Figuring it’s for chocolate, I reply with a sure.
Grams: Can you ask your date for her absolute favorite toy?
