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“Lisa,” he said. “We met at the dealership. I asked her out, and after a few dates, we realized we had something special.”
“Lisa,” I repeated. “She’s gorgeous.”
“Isn’t she?” he said, beaming.
It was nice to see him so happy about it, but only a few dates . . . Todd tended to fall fast and hard, a lesson we learned from him being with Lana. He gushed about Lisa, telling me so much I almost felt like I knew her.
Lisa apparently had some issues with alcohol too, but she’d been sober for years. I was a little concerned, but I did my best to be a supportive big brother and offer as much encouragement as I could.
“But remember, you’ve got plenty of time. Time to go slow.”
“I know, I know,” he said, waving his fork at me.
The reason for my warning, his relationship with Lana, was behind his eyes, but he didn’t bring her up. He had occasionally mentioned her since she went to New York, but it was usually in relation to our grandfathers or something casual.
After he gushed about Lisa some more, I almost told him that Lana was back, to warn him if nothing else. Something stopped me.
Maybe the fact that she was his ex, and I didn’t know how he’d react if he ever found out we’d spent the night together.
Or that I was determined to have her again.
25
LANA
After talkingto Dylan at the brewery, admitting how I felt, I’d been even more desperate to try to wring some kind of feeling out of myself when I was with Austin.
I was more affectionate, more hands-on, but nothing quite drummed up the excitement or passion I’d felt with Dylan.
Nothing matched how my heart flip-flopped in my chest when I saw him again at the agency after so long.
“So, he’s your client?” Austin had finally asked me the night Dylan dropped me off. He’d had an odd, skeptical look in his eyes.
“Yes, Dylan and Brent, his partner, own Deft Rock, and I’ve been assigned to run their campaigns,” I’d explained.
Austin had been strangely quiet after that and a little reserved for the next couple of days.
Austin had wanted to take me out for dinner, so we sat enjoying our meal at a local place. We had mostly nice conversation, but he’d been on edge since the night Dylan dropped me off. It still showed.
I thought this dinner out was a sort of apology for him being so stand-offish since that night. It didn’t take long to realize I was right.
Austin cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, Lana, about the way I’ve been acting for the last couple of days. Seeing you get out of that car—”
As I tried to focus on Austin, I caught someone staring at me in my periphery. I glanced up and froze.
Dylan had just been seated at a table across the restaurant, and he was staring right at me.
"Everything okay?" Austin asked, noticing my distraction.
Before I could respond, Dylan was making his way over to us, lips pressed in a flat line.
"Fancy running into you two here," Dylan said, eyes locked on mine.
Austin twisted around, surprised when he saw Dylan.
"What do you want?" He asked with a scowl.
Dylan looked Austin up and down dismissively and turned his attention back to me.
