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Needing to escape his sisters, he’d built the second story apartment for himself. Dating while still living in a house with three teenage girls had been awkward at best, and there was only so much noise he could take.
His retreat came complete with a balcony and outdoor access, though he rarely used it. But it was nice to have if he wanted to come and go unnoticed, or if they ever needed to rent the place.
Given the way his mother worried when he left the house, he made a point to let her know when he was leaving, so his private door stayed locked most days. Although he’d sponsored her green card, shewas terrified that someone was going to come and take her away to a Mexico she barely remembered. All four of her children had been born in the US, but still she worried that the government would ignore that and send them away, or that the police would shoot first and ask questions later, or that they would be victims of a violent crime… Her list of daily anxieties was endless. And Adrian knew them all, because he did his best to talk her through them every day.
Never leaving the house only exacerbated her fears about the big, bad world. Adrian did his best to respect those fears and let her know where he was and when he was leaving. The home-cooked meals waiting for him didn’t hurt to reinforce the habit either. He could have moved out a long time ago, but this arrangement worked for everyone. His apartment had everything he needed, and he saved money by not paying rent since he owned the house.
He walked in his door and eyed his comfortable brown leather recliner with longing. It had been the first piece of furniture he’d ever bought on his own, and it was perfect. Comfortable and durable, it accommodated his long frame easily. He’d arranged it the perfect distance from his flat-screen TV. He turned on the A’s home game against Texas and grabbed a beer from the minifridge he’d installed in his efficiency kitchen before heading back to finish cleaning up. Now, the bathroom he’d added up here was a different story. Efficiency was not a word that applied to this space. This was his retreat. Being able to escape sharing a bathroom with his sistersanddesign it to his specifications had been a double bonus.
He placed his beer on the tile shelf in the corner of his travertine-clad shower and turned on the water to heat while he stripped down. The tankless water heater he’d installed made that wait quick, and he grinned with pleasure as he stepped beneath the rain showerhead. The water beat heavily on his head, massaging away the stress of filming, the aches of demolition, and the frustrations of having to keep his growing feelings for Sofia in check. He sipped his cold beer in a steaming hot shower and let his cares flow down the drain. There were few pleasures in life better than this. He sudsed his hair briskly, enjoying the scratch and the feeling of clean before turning his attention to scrubbing away the dust and plaster from the rest of his body. Switching the spray over to the side jets, he scrubbed himself clean with his bar of soap, ready to relax and fall asleep in front of the TV.
Although he’d built a functional bedroom/office space, most nights he fell asleep in his perfect recliner, too sore to move and too tired to care. There certainly wasn’t anyone luring him into bed. He was free to do as he pleased. Why did that detail, which his married friends envied, always make him so sad?
He shut off the water and thought about that. Since he’d gotten honest with Sofia about wanting her, he’d begun to notice the places in his life where she wasn’t. His once-solid normal now felt full of Sofia-shaped holes.
He dried off and tugged on a pair of gray sweatpants and a T-shirt he’d worn down to nearly threadbare perfection. He snagged his second beer and sat down in his sacred chair, ready to just be still for a while.
And then his phone rang.
Chapter 11
Sofia grippedher cell phone till the edges pinched her fingers while she waited for Adrian to pick up. She was tired of waiting. And at the end of this marathon day, she was just plain tired.
“Hello, beautiful.”
“Don’t you ‘hello, beautiful’ me!”
“¡Ay!What’s got you ticked off?”
“You and your inability to do what I asked. You turn in these order forms half filled out and mostly illegible and expect me to track down all the freaking details for you. It’s bullshit, and I’ve put up with it long enough.”
“You’re calling me after eight o’clock on a work night to complain about the way I do paperwork after twelve years?”
“Technically, I’ve been dealing with this shit for three years, but it ends tonight.”
“That’s not why you called me.”
“Yes, it is.”
“No, it isn’t. We aren’t children, and you don’t need to make excuses to call me.”
Sofia resisted the urge to chuck her phone at the wall. As satisfying as that would be, she simply didn’t have time or funds to replace it. She settled for yelling her displeasure into it.
“Argh! You arrogant bastard! I’m not calling to flirt with you. If I were, I wouldn’t call you an asshole for wasting my time. Let me guess. You’re sitting at home, watching the game with dinner and a beer resting in your belly.”
“What, are you spying on me now?”
“Guess where I am. The office. I sure as hell haven’t been able to turn my brain off for the night and relax. After a full day in the office and a surprise afternoon on camera, I’m still here placing orders from your half-assed form. I haven’t eaten since lunch, and I still haven’t solved the budget crisis. Thanks by the way for throwing me under the bus on camera with that. What the fuck? So yeah, I’m gonna call you and interrupt your evening, because I deserve better than this.”
Sofia let all of her frustration vent into the phone. When she ran short of breath, she paused and waited for his response.
Crickets.
He’d hung up on her. Son of a bitch! All of the warm and fuzzy feelings she’d been considering nurturing shriveled and snapped in the fire of her rage.
Five minutes later when the phone rang, she let it go to voicemail. She was afraid she might say something she couldn’t take back. Her anger had temporarily disabled her filter. When it rang again, she turned off her ringer. When he called a third time, she turned the music in her office up to eleven. She’d given him enough energy today.
She pushed his orders to the side for later. The music would keep her awake and focused so she could finish the other requests in her pile. She would have ignored them completely just to spite him, but they were for the Shah project. She couldn’t afford to have things arrive late, but she was too mad to deal with his shit right now. She put her head down and buried her anger in the classic alternative rock she was blasting.
