There’s a playful twitch on his lips, so I relax. He’s difficult to read a lot of the times, so I never know if he’s serious or not.
“You’re making fun of me,” I mutter, shooting him a glare.
“I’m not. You sound like her because that’s what she always said to Clo.” Elias smirks at me. “You can’t take a compliment either for the record.”
Warmth blooms in my chest. The fact that he revered my grandma so much that saying something like she did is considered a compliment solidifies how much he cared for her. Again, there’s a tender spot inside my heart for him that I don’t exactly like.
It’s easier to just see him as her rude neighbor, not her caring roommate.
“I can take a compliment,” I grumble, “but I’ve just had a bad morning.”
His chair creaks as he turns more to face me. “The sun hasn’t even made her debut. How can it be bad already? Because of me?”
How can this man be so grumpy but say things like,“The sun hasn’t even made her debut,”? Like I said, he’s confusing. The man makes zero sense to me.
“Not you,” I admit, meeting his gaze. “Denver. He wants me to go to Chicago next week for work.”
“And you said…”
“No.” I lift my chin, still standing behind my decision. “I already let him—er, that job—take something away from me.” My eyes water and I swallow down the emotion. “When I was across the world, it felt like the right thing to do at the time.”
“Now that you’re here?”
I sniffle and kiss Clo on his head. “I realize it was a mistake. One I can’t undo.”
We’re quiet for a long while after that. Elias is right. There’s something to these slow mornings. Hearing all the chaos on Denver’s end of the call set my nervous system bells ringing. I don’t miss the hustle and bustle. Maybe after a week or two here in Budgie Bay I will, but not today.
I needed this.
Even if it is under the worst possible terms.
“Denver sounds like a workaholic,” Elias says before sipping his coffee.
“He is. But so am I.”
Clo flies off to investigate Elias’s coffee. He gently moves the bird from the edge of his mug to his shoulder. Clo then pecks at his shorter beard as if grooming his owner.
Technically, Clo is my bird.
“I don’t appreciate you coming in while I sleep,” I blurt out.
He stiffens.
“Not that I thought you were being creepy like Wayne or Wallace or Warren or whatever that guy’s name was.”
“Wayne’s the creeper. Warren is my brother-in-law whom I haven’t mentioned yet. However, I expect you to keep them straight in the future unless you want to get in my mother’s bad graces.”
I snap my head his way. “I’m her client. She has to like me.”
“You don’t know my mom. That customer service rule isn’t one she abides by. If she doesn’t like you, she’ll tell you.”
Worry trickles through me that this woman might fire me after I barely got her hired, but then irritation chases it away.
“You have a knack for winding me up,” I say to Elias, eyes narrowing. “Don’t you have other hobbies?”
He sets his mug down and rises to his feet. “Actually, I do have other hobbies. Want to see?”
I’d rather sit here and quietly drink my coffee, but there’s a hopeful gleam in his eyes that has me following suit. Clo abandons Elias again and flies over to the bird bath. I follow Elias down the porch steps and into the grass. The salty air invigorates me as we trek over to his shed. Lawn tools hang on the outside and look pretty ominous. There’s a couple I have no idea what they’re even used for, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen them as weapons in a horror movie before.
