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“What bug crawled up your ass?” Evan asked him days later.
“What are you talking about?” Christian asked, turning his head to see his brother standing in the doorway of his office on Wednesday afternoon.
“I asked what your problem has been,” Evan said. “Everyone has noticed it. Normally I’m the one that people are bitching about, not you.”
“Nothing is wrong,” he said and went back to his computer.
“Yes,” Evan said, walking in. “There is something. It’s ninety fucking degrees out and I’ve been standing around in the heat and sweating my balls off. I’ve got the right to be moody. You, on the other hand, have always been the brother that blows with the wind and nothing bothers you. You’re sitting in this cushy air-conditioned office and yet still have a frown on your face and are barely talking to anyone. I believe you were overheard swearing at the coffee machine this morning too.”
He all but growled, which only proved his brother’s point. “Who is watching me and ratting me out?”
Evan shut the door and came in to sit down. “Not that it matters, but I can tell you because you won’t say anything. It’s Mom. She was here earlier and heard it. She thought it was me and was going to come down on my head and then she saw it was you.”
“I didn’t know she was even here.”
Evan was grinning at him. “She stopped in looking for Dad. She’d just missed him, she’d said. She heard the swearing.”
“And wanted to slap your hand?” Christian asked.
“There is the grin I’m used to seeing. So yeah, what is going on? I guess Mom mentioned something to Whitney to see if anything happened. And don’t get pissy at Whitney either.”
“Never,” he said. “She’ll come down on my head like Mom.”
“That’s right. But Whitney said everyone is just giving you wide berth.”
Christian let out a sigh. He wasn’t used to this. Nor was he used to feeling like he had been.
He supposed it was reflected now to everyone.
“It’s been a long few days.”
“Something going on with Liz?” Evan asked.
He debated for a few seconds and finally said, “We had a fight on Sunday.”
“You don’t normally fight about much in your life,” Evan said. “That’s me.”
“It feels like shit too,” he said. He hadn’t talked to Liz either, which was worse in his eyes.
She’d gone to work on Sunday like she normally did. He knew she slept during the days, but she could have texted him on Monday. Or last night. She was sleeping now, but he’d been tempted to reach out. He’d hold off. He had to let her come to him. She was the one that split up with him back in high school and he never found out why.
Sure, they hadn’t been dating long and he just moved on like she had, but he had to admit it had come as a shock. He’d written it off as teens that just went their own way and refused to let anyone know that it bothered him more than he let on.
Maybe that was why he was so pissy right now. This was bothering him more than he wanted to admit and he hoped it wasn’t history repeating itself.
Or maybe it was more of a reality check on the things she’d said.
Not that he was more interested or obsessed with the house. He didn’t think he was.
“What was the fight about?” Evan asked. “Maybe I can help.”
“I don’t know. I didn’t even think it was a fight. I brought up helping her with the hall bath upstairs. She got offended and said that she didn’t need help. She didn’t want it with the kitchen, but I’d managed to slip in there and do it because her father asked for my help.”
“What’s the problem there?” Evan asked. “I don’t see it.”
“Really? This from the guy who thought she was taking advantage of me. Which by the way, she figured out you felt that way.”
“What the fuck, Christian? Now she’s going to be pissed at me. I hadn’t even seen her yet. I shouldn’t have that hanging over my head.”
