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I shrug. I can’t tell them that I miss Emerson like a fucking limb, and that in no way do I want to go to bars and have women hitting on me all night. Not because she can’t trust me, but because it will be obvious to them, I’m not into it. Then they’re going to start asking questions. Ones I can’t answer.
Hell, they're already suspicious.
I did break down a few weeks ago and went to Get Hammered, the bar down the street, for beers after work. It’s not that I don’t want to hang out with them, but Emerson only gets so much free time from studying, and I can’t talk to her when they’re around. Since we all work together, they are always around. I just like going home and ending my day with her.
“Thirty is the new twenty, man,” Maddox says adamantly.
“Just not feeling it this year.”
“Fine,” Forrest grumbles. “But we’re getting Peach Crown this time.” He stalks off to his room to get ready for his day.
“What are you doing here, anyway?” Lachlan asks. “I thought you were off today and tomorrow because you’re helping your dad with the deck?”
“Yeah, I am, but I needed to come in and pick up my Bluetooth speaker. I’m going to need some tunes while we work.”
“At least it’s a nice day. It’s supposed to be cooler this weekend.”
“It’s the third week of October. It’s supposed to be cold.”
“Yeah, but at least it’s in the fifties today, so you won’t be freezing your balls off. You might want to reproduce one day.”
Instantly, a vision of Emerson carrying my baby pops into my head.
Fuck me, this girl has me twisted in a way I’ll never unravel her from my heart.
“Not reproducing anytime soon,” I counter, moving toward my room to grab my speaker. Emerson just turned twenty this summer. She’s not ready for kids; at least I don’t think she is. Hell, that’s not something we’ve talked about. We need to get through telling everyone we’re together, and then we can cross that bridge. In the meantime, I’ll leave those thoughts for when I’m alone and missing her, and can’t stop thinking about when she comes home for good after graduation.
I grab my small speaker and the charging cord just in case, wave to Lyra, who’s manning the desk, and head out.
We try to take at least one day off during the week, but we also have paid vacation time. We hardly ever use it, but I did take tomorrow as a day so that I can help my dad finish up the back deck that he started on their house. He started it last weekend, but I worked late Saturday. I helped on Sunday, but it’s still not finished. I’m hoping we can wrap it up today, and tomorrow I can just chill and wait for Emerson to get out of class. I chuckle as I drive toward my parents’ when I realize I’m a thirty-year-old man waiting for his secret twenty-year-old girlfriend to get out of her college classes so I can talk to her.
I should be ashamed, but my heart won’t let me. We’re both adults, and I can be honest with myself at least when I say that I love the hell out of that girl.
After parking my truck in the driveway of my parents' place, I head into the house, calling out for them.
“In the kitchen,” Dad calls back.
“Something smells good,” I say, kissing Mom on the cheek and giving Dad a pat on the shoulder before taking a seat at the table beside him.
“Your mom made her homemade cinnamon rolls.”
“I’m making lunch too. Chicken and dumplings. One of your favorites.”
“You spoil me, woman,” I tell her.
“Leave her be. She misses having you home, and she enjoys it,” Dad says.
“Dad, I haven’t lived at home for a decade.”
He nods. “I know, but you are still our son, and we miss you.”
“Well, I’m here for you to put me to work for the next two days. Today is my day off, and I took tomorrow as well. We’re going to wrap this deck up so that it’s done and off your plate.”
“Thanks, Rome. I only have one side of the railing that needs to be finished. Joe and Larry came over yesterday and we got a lot of it done.”
“That was nice of them.”
“Your aunts bribed them.” Dad laughs.
