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“After the spa is open, which is coming up fast.” Almost too fast. I’m both ready to leave and not ready to leave. I’ll miss it here. Archer’s company, mostly, but I can’t let missing him mandate my decisions.
“What will you do for work when you’re back?”
“Well, my contracted work has turned into a business of its own. I have an LLC now. I’m official.” Nervousness creeps into my voice, and I laugh uneasily. I know he won’t approve. I remind myself that, like Archer doesn’t need approval from his father, I don’t need it from mine either. Doesn’t keep me from wanting it, though.
“Businesses can be unstable. It’s nice that you’ve experimented with this, but when you’re back, you are going to pick up where you left off with Lotus Leaf.”
“I can’t do that.” I stop pacing through the living room, too shocked to keep moving.
“Yes, you can.”
“Papa, I dumped green juice on Ed Lambert’s head.”
“Tallie, Brandon is offering your job back. He’s willing to overlook everything that happened. Including the man you’re working for physically assaulting him,” he adds. “He said to call him when you come back to Miami. You know as well as I do the business you began on a whim might not work out. Besides, you might find you and Brandon are more compatible than you were before. You need stability.”
I’m too angry to think straight. What point do I argue first?
“Archer hit him because he insulted me, Papa. I’m sure Brandon didn’t tell you that when you called him. I’m assuming you called him?”
“I always liked Brandon.”
“Well, I don’t. I’m not working for him again, and I’m sure as hell not dating him again.” Restless energy propels me from living room to kitchen to office and back again.
“I want you to be happy, and happiness means not working yourself half to death in a career you won’t make work.”
“How the hell do you know it won’t work?” I snap.
“Because I know!” Rare is the occasion my genial father yells. We both fall quiet. My heart rate escalates, making me worry about his heart rate. I instantly regret losing my temper, even though it was completely justified. Work for Brandon again? Really?
“Are you all right?” Concern is a heavy blanket on my shoulders. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“I’m helping,” he says, and I figure he believes that.
“I can’t date Brandon, Papa. I’m dating Archer Owen. For the moment.”
“The man you work for.”
“I work with him, yes.”
“Is he coming to Miami?” I hear the spark of hope in his voice and nearly laugh. He wants me taken care of—by Brandon or Archer, and it doesn’t seem to matter which one.
“No. I’m coming back to Miami, though. And when I’m there, I’ll be living with Calista and building Talia’s Design until I can afford an apartment of my own.”
“Talia—” he starts, but a knock at the door saves me.
“He’s here. I have to go.” I’m guessing, but who else could it be? I open the door and find Archer standing there. He changed from that delectable suit, looking no less edible dressed down in worn jeans and a maroon Henley. “Love you,” I say into the phone, my eyes on Archer. I don’t miss the flicker of surprise in his eyes as I end the call. “That was Papa Richards.”
“Uh, you mentioned the sink.” He holds up a small red tool chest.
“I thought you’d call a plumber.” I texted him about the minor leak in the kitchen earlier.
“You’re looking at him.” He kisses me, stamping his mouth over mine while hugging me close with his free arm. My phone, still in my hand and trapped between our bodies, buzzes against his chest and mine. “Papa again?”
“Yes.” I ignore the call. “I’m not talking to him right now. Wine?”
“Sure.”
I go to the bottle on the countertop, and twist in the corkscrew, my hands shaking. He wanders away to “shut off the water” and then returns. After a bit of wrestling, I toss the corkscrew, the mangled cork speared onto the tip, next to the bottle.
