When I place Izzy onto her feet, her eyes drift over my face. From the corner of my eye, I catch sight of Isaac exiting the living room, carefully watching the exchange between Izzy and me. Even though his gaze remains stagnant, I know he sees it. Izzy is like family to me. Nothing more. Nothing less. There are no fireworks or sparks. There is nothing but friendship and mutualrespect.
When Izzy spots Isaac standing to the side, she gnaws on her bottom lip before she scurries across the room to greet Isaac with the same enthusiasm she bestowed on me. Well, minus the kissing part. Watching them interact should settle any concerns Isaac has. The fireworks he is searching for are exploding before his very eyes – between himandIzzy.
“I’ll bring the car around,” I advise, slipping out the frontentrance.
The heaviness of my steps soften when my cell phone buzzes in my trouser pocket. Lugging it out, my chuckle sounds over the gravel crunching under my feet when I peer down at the screen. Ava snapped a picture of her and Joel playing Monopoly last night. Instead of using fake money, they used the multiple bags of Skittles I left in Joel’s sock draw asleverage.
I quickly type a message as I move to the garage at the side of the mainhouse.
Me:Lucky his mom is adentist?
There is no doubt who the real estate mogul is in the photo Ava snapped. Joel has a pile of candy nearly bigger than his head. Ava has a small scattering of Skittles that wouldn’t even fill half of hersmallhand.
Ava:Lucky he agreed to save his candy gorging until his daddyreturns.
As I type a message, eclipses trickle across the screen. A grin stretches across my face when my message is sent at the same time Ava’s isreceived.
Me:I missyouguys.
Ava:Wemissyou.
I’ve only been away from them for a few hours, and I’m already missing them more than I could possibly express. That proves, without a doubt, my life will not be complete until they are in it. Bothofthem.
When I hear Isaac and Isabelle walking towards the garage, I quickly type a message and hit send before housing my cell phone into my trouser pocket. I rush to the driver’s side door of one of Isaac’s many town cars and crank theignition.
Halfway to the private airstrip Isaac instructed me to drive to, my cell phone buzzes in my pocket. Dying to know what Ava’s reply is, I shift my eyes between the road and my trousers while retrieving my phone. My hearty chuckle traps in the front partition of the car since Isaac has the privacy divider liftedbetweenus.
Ava:That was even more pathetic than that time in youroffice.
It takes me several tedious minutes to type a reply since I’m gripping the steering wheel with one hand and typing withanother.
Me:Come on, cut a guy some slack. I’ve never done thisbefore.
I can’t wipe the grin off my face as I pull into the private airstrip on the outskirts ofRavenshoe.
Ava:Well, for one, you missedabox.
Me:No, Ididn’t.
Ava:Yeah,youdid.
I scroll up the screen to check the original message I sent her:Will you go out with me? Yes or Maybe. To dinner. I meant to say, will you go out to dinnerwithme?
Me:I don’t see what theproblemis.
Ava:Imagine a rolled eyes emoji here if I could work out how to do them on my newphone.
Me:Lol. Ask Joel. Hewouldknow.
Ava:I can’t believe you type Lol. How old are you? Anyway, you forgot the “no”box.
Me: And? What’s wrongwiththat?
Ava:You can’t ask a girl out without anobox.
Me:Hell yes, I can. Saying I can’t do something is pretty much daring me to do it. And we both know, I never back down fromadare.
I place my phone into my lap and pull Isaac’s town car beside Cormack’s private jet Isaacregularlyuses.
