“Sorry, Reg,” I ground out through gritted teeth.
“You returned from your reunion with a new spring in your step and a gleam in your eyes that I think wasn’t entirely due to your amazing success with our friend Mr. Brady.” Reggie sipped his iced coffee. “For a month, you were a whistling, smiling, happy version of my brother. It was a joy to see.”
I grunted in response but said nothing else.
“And then everything changed a couple of weekends ago. You left on Friday almost dancing out of the office?—”
“Bullshit,” I cut in. “I don’t dance out of anywhere.”
Reggie ignored me. “And then I arrived on Monday morning, and you were already in here, working. I greeted you with my usual cheer, and you answered me like a big grumpy bear.”
I stayed silent.
“Since then, you have only grown worse. You almost never speak, and when you do, it is with anger. You lash out. You snap at me, you are borderline rude to our clients and associates?—”
“Now that is not true!” I countered harshly. “I am never rude to clients.”
“I saidborderlinerude,” Reggie corrected. “Let us agree that no one is under any misapprehension that you are happy, my brother.”
A tic jumped in my cheek. I knew I owed my partner an explanation, but I wasn’t in any state of mind to give it to him. It had been almost two weeks since Peyton had driven away from Burton—driven away from me—and I hadn’t heard from her. I felt as though I was back in those dark days after graduation: once again, Peyton had walked away from me after I had bared my heart to her.
But there is a natural resiliency in the young that I no longer possessed. Everything was bleak, and hope was impossible to find. I had begun to doubt its existence.
“I don’t remember acting happy as being part of my job description,” I answered him finally. “And when someone is acting like an asshole, I’m not going to pretend he’s not. I’m going to call him on it.”
“Ah, yes.” Reggie nodded. “I see. This is how we operate. All right, then.” He paused. “Nash, my brother, my friend, you are acting like an asshole.”
I blinked at him, surprised by his quick comeback but unable to argue with his succinct point.
“And in this space—” Reggie waved his arms to indicate our open office. “I need my energy to be clear. Every morning now, I come in and set up my crystals, smudge the doorways, and meditate. And then you come skulking in with the dark cloud over your head, and you infect this place with your anger and negativity. So now, I am sending you out.”
Grabbing my arm, Reggie dragged me to the door as I stumbled in shock.
“What the hell are you doing?” I demanded. “You can’t kick me out of my own office. I’m a partner here.”
“Yes, you are,” Reggie agreed. “You are not only my valued partner in business, but you are my beloved brother.” He loosened his grip on my arm and gazed into my face. “Nash, when I was at my most desperate, when my sister was dying and needed someone to rescue her in a way that I could not, you didn’t hesitate to step up. You sacrificed years of your life to make sure that she died with peace and dignity. You eased her last days. For that alone, I will never be able to repay you.” Tears filled his brown eyes, and I had to look away or risk crying, too.
“Not only that, you took on the care of her son, my nephew.” Reggie drew in a ragged breath. “You didn’t have to do that.” He pressed his hand into his chest. “I would have raised Max as his uncle. I would have given him everything I could. But I would not have been his father, and you have been that. What makes your love more valuable to Max is that it was a choice. It was not an obligation. You chose Max, and he will never forget that. It has helped to shape the excellent man he has grown to be.”
Now it was me swallowing over a lump in my throat. I tried to speak, but it was impossible.
“I say all of this because I want you to remember how much I love you, my friend, and how much gratitude I have for you. I can never thank you enough for what you did for Lena and for Max.”
“You never had to thank me,” I managed gruffly. “It was an honor.”
“Because you are such a good man,” he responded gently. “I want you to remember all that as I—what did you call it? As I kick you out of our office. Just for the afternoon,” he added as I began to sputter again in outrage. “Or until you manage, as Max puts it, to get your shit together.”
I tossed up both hands. “Where the hell am I supposed to go?”
Reggie smiled. “You said it yourself that you have to go speak with the county admins, to clear up the issues with our permits. Why don’t you go to an early lunch at that little pub around the corner from the building? You can take the time to consider how to find your joy once again—or at least how to stop yourself from robbing others of their joy.”
I wanted to argue with Reggie—I wanted to storm back to my desk, sit down, and refuse to listen to him. But even in my current state of angst, I knew that he was only acting out of love and compassion for me, and he was right: staying here would only drag him down into my mire of misery.
So with a sigh, I nodded and left the building.
“Well, fancy meeting you here.”
Max took off his sunglasses and slid into a chair across from me at the pub. I glanced up at him, frowning in surprise at his sudden appearance.
