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“Come on,” he says. “Let’s wrap things up with Andy. Then you and Cooper will sort this out. I want to hear about Mia, too. From what I remember, that girl wears a lot of black.”
I smile at the thought of her in one of her trademark dark outfits. “I’m not signing with him.”
He snorts as he claps me on the back. “Absolutely not. The guy’s a scumbag. He makes some good points about contract structuring, though.”
* * *
“This really isn’t necessary,”Cooper says.
“Yeah,” I say. “We’re fine.”
Richard leans through the open backseat window, fixing each of us with his most serious gaze. Cooper refuses to blink, but I look away. “I’ll be outside. Take your time. Roll up the windows, Anderson.”
The minute we’re alone in the car—locked in to “figure out our shit,” as Richard put it when we pulled up to the house—Cooper peers into the front seat, a scowl on his face.
“The car’s still running,” he says. “Want to make a break for it?”
I flop against the seat with a groan. “That would make things worse.”
“We don’thaveto talk.”
“No.” I rub my temples. Even though I’m a little less pissed at him now, thanks to the conversation with Andy, that doesn’t mean I’m thrilled by the prospect of chatting with him about Mia. He didn’t have the right to stick his nose in our business, regardless of the result. If he pushed, and Mia had reacted by breaking everything off completely, rather than agreeing to give me a chance—well, we’d have way bigger issues than our dad locking us in a car together to chat.
Cooper glances at his phone. “I could text Penny and see if she’ll rescue us. She’s not afraid of Dad.”
I snort. If there’s one person Richard Callahan doesn’t intimidate, it’s Penny. “No. I don’t want this getting back to Mia.”
“You scared of her?”
“No, dumbass.” I kick him. “I don’t want her to feel bad.”
He kicks me back. “You really planned a whole date, and she ghosted you? That’s the big thing you refused to tell me?”
“It’s ancient history now.”
“That doesn’t mean she didn’t hurt you.”
I sigh, leaning my head against the seat. Even though the air conditioner is still running, I feel warm, my collar stiff and choking. I undo the top few buttons of my shirt. “I’m not saying that she didn’t. Both of you were right, I guess. I was keeping how I felt bottled in rather than rock the boat.”
“And you let her drag you along in the process.”
I shake my head. “She wasn’t doing it to be malicious. I know that. She just has her own shit to deal with.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.” I don’t know the specifics, but I’m certain that there’s something else going on. Something that made her think twice about whether she wanted to get involved with me on a deeper level when she realized that she had feelings for me. It’s not like I’m not scared shitless too. I just have to hope that together, we’ll be able to make it work. There’s no one else I’d want to try it with, after all. “I was trying to be patient, at least until you came along.”
“Then I don’t regret it.”
I roll my eyes. “You could have been nicer about it.”
“You deserved more than she was giving.”
“And like I said before, it’s not your job to defend me. I can handle my own shit.”
“I know you can, but you’re my brother. You’re family. Speaking of, what the hell was wrong with that douche?”
I can’t keep myself from laughing. “He’s not going to be my agent, that’s for sure.”
