AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I could feel his fury bubbling beneath the surface and…I was trying to play mediator.
“And I’ll tell you one thing,” my dad was rambling. “If it’s one thing this generation is lacking, it’s work ethic.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
I bit back my sigh, studied the wine menu like it was the fucking Rosetta Stone. I’d passed on the waitress’s first ask, but I was going to order some.
I needed it to get through this meal.
“And like I always tell BR,” my dad rambled on, “she needs to work harder and—”
“No.”
I blinked, losing sight of the cabernets for a heartbeat before my lids snapped open and I gaped up at Joel.
Then at my dad, whose brows were lifted, as he repeated, “No?”
“No,” Joel said again. “Billie Rose is one of the hardest working people I know. Bar none,” he said, slightly louder, talking over my dad when he began to say something.
Or protest.
Or express disbelief.
Or pass along his anger.
Who the fuck knew?
It might be all of them (likely). It might be none of them (less likely).
But Joel didn’t give my dad a chance to express any of it. Instead, he pulled out his cell, hit a couple of buttons and then set it on speakerphone.
It rang once, twice—
“Hello, baby boy!”
“Mom,” Joel said without preamble. “I’ve got a question for you.”
A pause. Then, “Shoot.”
“Rosie. Is she a harder worker?”
Not a pause.
Not at freakingall.
Joel barely had the words out before his mom said, “Absolutely.”
“Thanks. Talk soon.”
He hung up. Repeated the dialing and call on speaker phone sitch.
“Excuse—” my dad began, and he was impatient in the best of times. Inthis,he was bordering on murderous.
“Hey, son,”Joel’sdad answered.
“Billie Rose,” Joel clipped. “What’s her work ethic like?”
No hesitation again. Just, “One of the hardest workers I’ve ever come across.”
