“I’m still here,” she said in a breathy rush that didn’t give her time to think about what she should say. “I can’t wait to see you, either.”
“I’ll let you get back to work, but I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Bye, Derek.” The phone beeped to let her know the call had ended and she set her phone back on the counter. Carefully, since her hand was shaking slightly.
“I guess you probably heard that,” she said in a barely raised voice.
Kelsey’s laughter rang through the apartment. “Hell yeah, I did.”
* * *
Friday was a pain-in-the-ass day. While Derek didn’t wish catastrophic events on anybody, the constant in-and-out for stupid shit wore on his nerves after a few hours.
Like idiots who managed to forget they put pizza rolls in toaster ovens and filled their offices with smoke, setting the alarms off and forcing an evacuation.
“You’ve gotta be kidding,” Derek said, yanking the plug out of the wall. “How do you not set a timer for pizza rolls?”
“I don’t,” Gavin said. “But mostly because I stare at them until they’re done. I wonder if they have any more of these, less well done.”
“Seriously?”
He shrugged. “I’m starving.”
“You’re always starving. Let’s get this out of here so we can clear the place.”
Once they were done and gave the all clear to the guys in ties and rolled-up shirtsleeves standing around outside smoking and talking on their phones, they headed for the trucks.
“Hey, are you guys going to reimburse us for that toaster oven?” one of the guys called after them.
They all paused, but it was Rick who spoke. “What’s that?”
“The door broke when you dropped it on the sidewalk, so are you going to buy us a new toaster oven? That one’s garbage now.”
Rick chuckled. “Sure thing. Send a bill to the mayor’s office and let me know how that works out for you.”
The guy was still calling them names when they climbed—laughing even though they probably shouldn’t—into the trucks. And the mood only improved when they got back to the house and Scott told them he had a line on some Red Sox tickets.
“Who’s in? The guy thinks he can get me six seats if we need them.”
“I’m in,” Derek said, at almost the same instant Gavin did.
“My name better be on one,” Aidan yelled from the other side of the bay.
“I’m out,” Grant said.
Gavin whipped his head around so fast, Derek was surprised he didn’t give himself whiplash. “What the hell are you talking about? You never miss out on games.”
“I’m saving my money.”
“For what?”
“Something.”
Derek probably would have minded his own business at that point, but Gavin didn’t seem to have any qualms about forcing the issue. “It’s the Yankees at Fenway, dude. What could possibly be more important than that?”
“I’m saving up to buy a ring for Wren, okay?”
“No shit,” Gavin said, and then he grinned and stuck out his hand. “Congratulations, man.”
