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“Go on in. I’ll text you,” Ezra says. I glance up, surprised to see him already holding the car’s door open for me. When did he get out?
“Drive safely,” I murmur, then run into the relative safety of my apartment. Too bad I can’t run from my own thoughts.
CHAPTER 19
EZRA
Iwatch her run into her apartment building with a sigh. “Very smooth, dickhead.” Fuck, I was going to be patient, but being in that exam room with her, I felt something extraordinary. Seeing them in person is so different from just watching a recorded video.
I’ve never felt love like this overwhelm me before. My heart was in my throat the entire appointment and wouldn’t leave even after we left and had lunch. The proposal just sort of slipped out; I couldn’t hold it in. But she’s not ready. I debate going after her but then decide against it. What she needs is space. I can give her that.
For now. I start my car. I try to think of different strategies to get Charlie to see reason during the hour and a half drive home, but I end up rejecting most of them. I’m just pulling up in front of the Latchis Hotel when my phone starts vibrating.
“Alex, what’s up?” I ask, turning off the ignition.
“What’s up? What the hell, Ezra? Why weren’t you answering your phone when I called you a couple of hours ago?”
I frown, not knowing I had any calls. I minimize the screen and curse when I see twelve missed calls from him, Andrea, and Mom. Shit.. I put my phone on silent so my time with Charliewouldn’t be interrupted, I don’t see her enough as it is. It must have rung while we were at the clinic and then at the park. Those were the only times my phone wasn’t with me.
“I’m sorry, my phone was on silent. Fuck, did something happen?”
“It’s Dad.” My heart stops beating at his ominous words.
“What do you mean? What’s wrong with him?” I’m already starting my car again. “Where are you guys?”
Alex sighs. “He’s home now.” Dad fell unconscious because his blood pressure had spiked earlier, but he’s better now. That stubborn oaf. I know he probably threw a fit about being hospitalized. He thinks he’s still young and spry.
“I’m on my way,” I tell Alex as we hang up. I press down on the gas, and the car rumbles in response, picking up speed. I’m driving through the gates to my parents’ estate within minutes. I pull up behind Alex’s Royce, nodding at his driver as I slam my door closed behind me, then jog up the wide front steps.
Surprisingly, I find everyone in the living room, doting over Dad. Shouldn’t he be in bed? I hesitate in the doorway, studying his pale face. He looks to have aged ten years overnight. For the first time, he looks his age of sixty-six.
“Ezra!” Mom is the first to see me. She starts walking toward me. I meet her halfway and pull her into my arms. Her shoulders shake a little, her body frail in my arms. It’s a strange phenomenon, realizing your parents are getting old.
“Where have you been?” she asks, staring up at me with the blue eyes we all inherited.
This isn’t the right time to tell them about Charlie. “I had business to attend to in Burlington. I’m sorry I missed everyone’s calls.” I glance up apologetically at each of my siblings.
Andrea smiles at me, immediately understanding what business I had in Burlington. Mom pats my cheeks gently.“You’re here now. That’s all that matters.” I press a kiss into her dark brown hair, noticing for the first time the gray strands.
Mom shifts away from me and I walk over to Dad. “You should have stayed in the hospital, overnight at least,” I say and he harrumphs, tossing his chin up stubbornly.
“That’s what I said, but he wouldn’t listen. Threatening those poor nurses and doctors until they made up the paperwork for his release.” Mom scowls at him.
“Tell me where you were, boy. What business did you have in Burlington? I know Alex is the one overseeing the construction of the new branch there,” Dad demands grumpily.
“Dad, it must have been really important for Ezra to put his phone on silent.” Andrea jumps in. My lips tilt up a little. Andrea has never taken my side our entire lives; if this isn’t a giveaway that something’s up, I don’t know what is.
“What could be more important than family?” Dad crosses his arms over his chest, frowning at me. “I’ve let you off the hook one too many times. With the drugs. Letting you lose the Square girl. That was a solid deal, damn it.”
“It’s worked out just fine,” Alex adds in smoothly. “Beaufort Construction finally got a foot into the Burlington market.”
“A half decade too late if you ask me,” Dad insists stubbornly. “Well, boy? Where were you? Don’t tell me you were off frolicking with the girls again.”
“John,” Mom warns. He huffs again but doesn’t utter another word. I slowly glance around at the faces in the room. Mom. Andrea. Alex. Autumn. Dad. All of them–except Andrea—are looking everywhere but at me.
Is that really what they think of me? Someone who’s off having sex with random women while Dad has a medical emergency. And fuck, does it hurt. It hurts like a motherfucker.
“If you really must know. I was in Burlington to see Charlotte. She had an appointment at a clinic.” My voice ishoarse, so I clear my throat, although it does nothing to help. The hoarseness is coming from the huge lump lodged firmly in my throat. My heart throbs painfully when they all glance up at me in surprise.
