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“You’re not going to work today?” Tasha asked Daniel as he stood in the doorway of her office.
Since she’d moved in with him six months ago, he’d rearranged things in the San Francisco flat, creating a workspace for her with a desk, shelves, and cabinets he’d lovingly crafted himself. A brilliant web designer, she’d created an innovative app for Top Notch that allowed customers to interactively design furnishings for the entire house. Every day, he couldn’t believe he’d been lucky enough to find her.
Daniel shrugged, and even that hurt. “I’m working from home.”
She tipped her head, her dark hair falling over her shoulder. “You’re ashamed to let your employees see you looking like you’ve been in a barroom brawl, aren’t you?”
He wanted to say it was Cal’s fault. He’d been trying to convince himself of that for two days.
It wasn’t working.
Especially when he’d shown Tasha a side of him that he was deeply ashamed of.
“I blew it, didn’t I?”
“Big-time.”
She’d had brunch with Lyssa and the girls yesterday. But she hadn’t revealed a word his sister had said. The need to know whether Lyssa would ever forgive him was an ache burrowing under his ribs that had nothing to do with the punches Cal had thrown.
He’d had two days to consider everything Tasha had said, everything his mom said. He’d wanted to stay angry at Cal and thereby justify himself.
But the truth was he hadn’t been justified at all. He hadn’t stopped to think, he’d simply lost control. Now he had no idea how to fix it. “I called Lyssa, but she won’t answer.”
“I’m not surprised,” Tasha said.
At last, it all came spilling out. “You were right all along. It’s Lyssa’s life. I had no right to criticize her actions.” It hurt to talk through his split lip, but it hurt even worse to recognize how wrong he’d been. “She’s not a little girl anymore. She’s an adult. An adult who can not only take care of herself, but who’s also been doing a damned good job of it.” He grimaced slightly. “Even if she ended up getting pregnant by a guy nearly twice her age.”
Tasha finally rose from her desk and came to him, putting her hand on the relatively undamaged side of his face. “I know how hard it is to change the view you’ve always had of someone you love.”
Tasha understood. She’d idolized her big brother Drew. Until the day she’d had to view him through different eyes.
“The way I reacted was unacceptable,” he said in a low voice. “I had no right to judge either of them. I would do anything to rewind and undo it all.”
Tasha went up on her toes to kiss his broken lip, and he almost staggered beneath the weight of her unspoken forgiveness.
“You can fix this, Daniel.”
With her belief in him, he believed he actually could.
But how?
* * *
Lyssa and Cal left the office early, at five o’clock instead of seven or eight, and picked up a curry because neither of them felt like cooking. They went to her apartment so she could pack a bag. Because they didn’t want to spend a single moment apart.
“Daniel’s been calling me today,” she said as they ate at her tiny kitchen table. “But I’m not ready to see him yet.”
“You will be.” Cal raised her hand to kiss her fingers. “He’s your big brother, and you love him.”
“Yeah. I love that big ugly lug. But I still need time to think about what to say to him so he understands he can never, ever treat me—or you—like that again.”
Cal pushed his plate away. “I’d like to speak with him first, if that’s okay with you.” He held up his hand before she mistook his meaning. “I’m not under the delusion that I need to avenge you. You’re more than capable of dealing with your brother.”
“I certainly am.” She gave him a soft kiss. “You’re going to talk with him about your relationship, aren’t you?”
He nodded. “Before I ever met you, I had a business relationship with Daniel, then a close friendship. Not only is all of that in jeopardy, but now that I’m your husband-to-be, Daniel will also be my brother-in-law. I need to fix things with him just as much as you do.” He cupped her cheek. “And this will give you extra time to figure out what you want to say to him.”
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I love you.”
“As I love you. Always.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
After letting himself out of the apartment, Cal jogged down the stairs. And almost ran into Daniel coming up.
The left side of Daniel’s face was a mass of purplish bruising. His lip was split, and his eye was swollen shut like Cal’s. The two of them were mirror images.
Cal studied his friend. The man he’d fought like a bear a mere two days ago. “Do I look as bad as you?”
