She froze, glancing at me out of the corner of her eye. “I’m fine.”
“Laiya, how are you?” I repeated.
Letting out a heavy sigh, she confessed, “No, really. I’m good. Rod had a change of heart and returned the money. He told me it was because he loved me, but I knew Des lit him up after he drained the accounts. And he doesn’t want to lose her. We decided to do an uncontested divorce and he moved out a couple of days ago.” She snickered. “Left all his shit,though. Told me to deal with it. And I haven’t heard from him since.”
The more she told me about Rod, the more I wanted to whoop his ass. My jaw clenched as irrational rage coated my insides.Irrationalbecause … Again, none of this was my business. Laiya was a grown-ass woman capable of taking care of herself. Still didn’t stop me from wanted to fight this battle for her.
“What do you need?”
“Nothing,” she said with a shrug. “My attorney prepared the settlement agreement, filed it with the court. Our date is set.” She looked at me. “A huge weight has been lifted.”
“But …”
“No buts. It’s so over and I’m okay with that.”
We settled into a comfortable silence as she finished the purchase offer. Once she was done, she let me read it, made a few changes, and finally hitsend.
“That’s it. Just waiting to hear back.”
I pulled out my phone and scrolled through my email. “You have any plans today?”
She slipped me a curious glance. “Other than work?”
“Yeah.”
“No, I’ll be at home surrounded by all the things I need to get rid of.”
I chuckled, pulling out a bag and handing it to her.
“What’s this?” she asked.
I leaned closer. “Gummies.”
Her eyes lit up as she gaped. “You brought me weed?”
Unable to help myself, I barked out a laugh. When I picked up my supply for The Leaf Lodge, I’d grabbed a low-dose bag for her. Figured I’d help her out on her list when the time was right. “You said you wanted to try an edible, so I got you some.”
“Oh.” She studied the bag. “Is it strong?”
“It can be, if you eat the whole bag.”
“Okay.” She nibbled on her thumbnail. “I’m gonna try it.”
“Start with half of one. If you feel okay, then take the other half.”
With a hard nod, she stuffed the bag in her purse. “Got it.”
Before I could warn her about side effects, she hugged me. And I …Damn,I wanted to take up residence inside of her. She felt so warm, so good against me that I didn’t want to let her go.
Unfortunately, she pulled away from me. Clearing her throat, she tucked a strand a hair behind her ear. “Um, that was … I didn’t mean to do that.”
“Don’t apologize,” I assured her. “I liked it.”
She groaned. “Well, then. Um. I should probably get to the office. I have some work to catch up on.”
I could take the hint, so I changed the subject. “While I have you here, though, I’ve put together a list of objectives for the new year. Number one on the list is commercial space. Taylar is looking for an event venue, and I told her I would invest.”
Alaiya placed a hand over her heart. “Aw, I love it. You’re such a good uncle. Lease or purchase?”
