AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That’s different,” she says. I can’t see it, but I’m sure she’s wavingher hand dismissively. “That was just a gift, it wasn’t like, a huge decision.”
“I know the diner thing was bad.”
“Extremely.”
“But it all worked out.”
She sighs. “What did you do this time, exactly?”
“I just brought home my signing bonus.”
She gasps. “As a surprise? Dad told me how much it is.”
“Yes, a surprise. But she knew I was getting a bonus.”
“Twenty million dollars is not something that just happens. No wonder she flipped out.”
I rub my temple. “Yeah, well, it’s not like it changes anything. We were always going to buy a place together.”
“Money is important in relationships,” she says. “Keeping news about money from your girlfriend, even if it’s good news, is probably not the best idea, you know?”
Sometimes, my sister talks for an hour and I have no idea what she’s saying. Other times, like this? She gets through to me crystal clear.
“Shit.”
To her credit, she doesn’t gloat. “You should probably go tell her you fucked up.”
“I love you, Iz.”
“Love you too.”
“Don’t give Cooper too much hell this fall.”
She giggles. “This fall? Wait until we go to OBX next month.”
Chapter 3
Bex
James knocks on his bedroom door instead of just opening it, which makes me flush with embarrassment. It’s his room, after all; he should be able to go in whenever he wants. I call for him to come in, and he opens the door slowly. Cautiously. I curl into a tinier ball, feeling the guilt pinch my stomach.
He’s carrying two bowls of pasta, a fork stuck in each, along with napkins. He hands one to me, then settles into bed beside me with the other one.
“Thanks,” I say.
“It’s too good to go to waste,” he says. “Thanks again for making it.”
I swallow past the lump in my throat. “You’re welcome.”
He sighs, dropping his hand to my knee. He rubs his thumb over my skin, making me shiver. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you how much the bonus would be.”
I poke at my pasta. My stomach started grumbling the moment I ran upstairs, so I’m glad he made me a plate, but it’s one of a million little things he does without asking that reminds me he’s pretty much perfect, and right now, that makes me feel like the ass in comparison. “It’s not like it’s a bad thing.”
“No,” he says. “But it affects both of us, and I should have told you differently.”
“Either we’re in this together, or we’re not, you know? Like the diner. I still can’t believe you did that.”
He runs his hand through his hair, looking down at his lap. I’m not that upset about the diner situation anymore, but at the time, it led to the biggest fight we’ve had so far—the mess of January aside, I suppose—and I’m glad that he has the decency to be ashamed about it. He used his family’s connections to arrange a buyer behind my back, even after I told him I didn’t want his help with it. In the end, my mother and I sold it to someone who promised to keep it a diner. The buyer James chose would have wanted to tear down the building entirely.
