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ChapterEight
Cash
“You’re annoying today,” Brock tells me with a scowl. “And stop whistling.”
“Maybe you’re the annoying one.”
“Oh, good come back. Seriously. Stop whistling!” he growls when I continue to whistle the tune that’s been in my head since I woke up this morning.
“Sorry.”
“No, you’re not. You’re smiling. You’ve been smiling all day.”
“I’m not allowed to smile?”
“Boone!” he shouts. “Get your ass in here! You, too, Corbin!”
Within seconds my siblings are in the conference room with us, a pastry in Boone’s hand.
“Where’d you get that from?”
“Break room. Someone dropped off a big box of ‘em.”
“Why am I the last to know?” I demand.
“Probably because we didn’t want them all gone before we had the chance to eat one,” Boone admits.
They see my back as I make my way to the break room to steal a few snacks.
I grab a paper plate out of the cupboard and fill it with a couple pastries from what I know is Lola’s bakery, which might be the only bakery in town, but that doesn’t mean it’s not hands down one of, if not the, best in three counties.
I walk back to the conference room, chewing on a cream puff covered in chocolate ganache. Taking a seat, I sigh in happiness. I would never, and I mean ever, tell my mother, but these cream puffs are in a tie with her carbonara. My last meal? Mom’s carbonara with cream puffs and chocolate ganache for dessert. I’d die a happy man.
“You’re still happy,” Brock accuses.
“Of course I am. I have this,” I tell him, holding up my pastry. “And the rest of these to enjoy next.”
“Not what I meant and you know it. Spill. Or Corbin’s taking your snacks away.”
“Rude,” I mumble, licking my fingers before wiping them off with a napkin. “I can’t be happy or in a good mood without being interrogated?”
“Stop deflecting,” Boone says. “This is about Hadley, isn’t it?”
I know my face gives everything away because I can feel how big my smile is.
“It’s about Hadley,” Corbin confirms. “Look at his face. He can’t even hide it.”
“He looks like he’s constipated,” Boone adds, laughing. “Why are you making that face? Don’t do that around Hadley. She’ll be a runner for sure.”
I roll my eyes and try my best to wipe the smile off my face. I’m able to relax it, but not lose it completely.
“Fine. Don’t get all weird on me and act like your usual selves, but yeah, it’s about Hadley. She and I are getting together tonight.”
“A date?”
“I didn’t specify.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
