He drummed his fingers on the wheel, nodding as the light turned red. “For now. I’ve got another showing Monday. Wish me luck. I need to hire help, and not everything can be done remotely.”
“Good luck.”
Another check of my phone. My stomach tightened.
Still nothing.
Ale eased into the crawl of cars heading toward downtown Venburn. “Waiting for an important call?”
Of course, he’d notice. “Waiting for news from Kaia. Russell sent her away.”
“What do you mean, sent her?”
Since the season started, I’d been buried in racing and Ethan’s bullshit, and Ale spent all his free time setting up the agency. Even if I’d told him sooner, there wasn’t much he—or anyone—could do.
Traffic picked up. I raked a hand through my hair. “She scored low on the PSAT, so he shipped her off to some boarding school six hours away. Today.”
“But she’s eighteen.”
“Kaia’s set on her mom’s dream college,” I said. “She’s already a year behind, struggling. He could’ve hired a tutor, but I guess he’d rather not have her around.”
Ale sighed and pulled into the lot of a bar withNightfallglowing in neon blue against black.
Inside, the backlit bar stretched the length of the wall, bottles gleaming on glass shelves. Two guys in black shirts worked cocktails while a DJ manned a station in the corner. The music thumped low, thank God. I wasn’t in the mood to yell.
Ale and I sank into a black leather couch. He flagged a server and ordered two whiskeys on the rocks.
“This is a nice place for a date,” I said. “Bring anyone here?”
A smirk tugged at his mouth. “You’ve been my date since I moved to Stetbourg.”
I chuckled. “Come on. Don’t be shy. You can tell me.”
“Can.” He wiggled his brows. “But should I? Honestly, I haven’t had time, mi niño. Too busy putting out fires.”
“I’m sorry about mine.” I dragged a hand down my face as the waiter set our drinks on the low table.
When he left, Ale leaned forward, clasping his hands on his knees. “How are you? Should I worry?”
I raised a brow. He nodded toward my silent phone.
“I don’t know.” I exhaled, picking up my glass. “She hasn’t answered. And before you say I’m whipped, that’s not how it is with us. Kaia always answers if she’s okay.”
Ale sipped his whiskey. “Did you ask Russell?”
“I can’t.”
He traced the rim of his tumbler. “At some point, he’ll need to know. You can’t hide forever.”
“We’ll tell everyone once she’s in college.”
“That’s still far away.”
Sixteen months, exactly.
“Fuck, Ale. Do I look like someone who doesn’t know that? I’m not that oblivious.”
He lifted his hands. “Sorry. You just seem distracted. After what happened with Ethan, you need a clear head and a stellar season.”
