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He knocked back the rest of his wine. “Then let me give you a piece of advice—from one guy who almost lost his girl to another. Don’t be a chickenshit and let her slip through your hands. I don’t give a crap if she has a boyfriend or not. If you’re in love with her, go for it. You don’t always get a second chance.”
I doubted more fucked-up advice had ever come from the man who has the girl to the dude who wants to steal her. I felt like total shit.
Not knowing how to respond, I simply said, “Thanks.”
One torturous hour later, I felt like I’d run an Ironman as we walked out onto the street after lunch. I was emotionally spent, and the abuse I’d done to my body last night had taken a physical toll. I needed to go lie down.
Brady patted my back. “So how long are you in town?”
I shook my head. “I’m not sure.”
“What do you say we play cards like the old days? Some poker? Remember Trevor Winston? He was a year behind us at CU. When he drank too much, he’d repeat everything twice. ‘Anyone want another beer while I’m up? Anyone want another beer while I’m up?’”
I laughed for the first time in two days. I did remember Trevor, now that he’d described him that way. Nodding, I said, “We called him Trevor Two Times.”
“That’s him. He lives a few blocks away from me. Every once in a while, we pull together a card game. I’ll see if I can organize one for Sunday, so we can watch football while we play. It’ll be just like the frat-house days, except my apartment doesn’t have sludge on the floor, and the beer won’t be whatever is the cheapest on the shelf at the store that takes fake IDs.”
The only thing I felt like doing was getting the hell out of here. Yet I figured playing cards with a few of the guys was getting off easy.
“Yeah, okay.”
“Great. And tomorrow night, we’re going out. I know a great little place that has amazing food and even better live music. You’ll love it.”
I shrugged, because Brady sounded so pumped, I figured he would fight me if I said no. But I had no intention of going. “Maybe.”
“What hotel are you staying at?”
“The Executive. Downtown.”
“Good. I’ll be at your hotel at seven thirty tomorrow. I get that you’re down. But we’re brothers. Let me try to cheer you up a bit.”
Brothers. That was the cherry on top of the shit cake.
I forced a smile. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do. But how about I text you tomorrow and let you know?”
“Sure.” He smiled. “Text me. Though, like I said, I’ll be at your hotel to get you at seven thirty, either way.”
I shook my head. I’d have to deal with this one later. Holding out my hand to shake, I said, “Thanks for lunch.”
Brady used my hand to pull me in for a bear hug. He slapped my back. “I really missed you, man. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”Chapter 18* * *Hazel“Hey, babe.”
The rare, recent smile I’d had on my face turned south when I heard Brady’s voice on the other end of my cell—not because he hadn’t been amazing lately, but because every time my phone rang, I got my hopes up that somehow it was Matteo. I’d snuck in and used Brady’s phone to call him three times over the last few days. Each time, I’d left my cell number on his voicemail, hoping he’d return my call. No such luck.
I motioned to my photography assistant to finish unpacking the equipment we’d just carried into the school auditorium and stepped into the hall with my phone.
“Hey. What’s going on?” I asked.
“Not much. Just wanted to hear your beautiful voice to start my day.”
Brady was really trying. “Well, I can only talk for a minute. We’re setting up to start kindergarten portraits over at an elementary school in Millville.”
“Kindergarten? That’s your favorite grade to shoot, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. The experience is new and everything is exciting to them, so they usually have the best, most genuine smiles. By the time they get to sixth grade, they’re already masters at posed selfies, so not much is genuine anymore.”
“It’s great how much you love your job.”
While Brady meant well, his comment was a reminder of how little he actually paid attention. Ninety percent of the time, my job bored the hell out of me. I found myself thinking, Milo would know, and that made my head hurt. Especially when I realized I’d just thought of him as Milo and not Matteo.
Ultimately, I had to remember it was my responsibility to find happiness for myself—whether that meant a career change or somehow finding my way to the right decision about my life partner. Ugh.
