When he walks into the kitchen, his shirt collar is unbuttoned, tie looped around his neck, but he pauses at the counter.
“Come eat,” I tell him, fully aware of what he’s looking at.
“What’s this?” He points at the clicker.
“It’s for your garage door.”
“I know that, but…is it yours?”
“It’s Declan’s. Come eat, George.”
He stares at it. “Why?”
I set his food on the table. “Because you threw him out, and—”
“Ididn’tthrow him out!”
Good, an edge of anger in his voice.
“When youtoldhim to move out andtoldhim you weren’t his Sir any longer. He’s got keys and the alarm code. He didn’t feel right keeping that.”
Behind his glasses, I can see there are tears in his eyes when he looks at me. “Tellme how tofixthis, Case,” he hoarsely whispers. “Please.”
I sigh and walk over to fix his collar and tie. I gentle my voice. “Hopefully, after you and I talk tonight, everything will be fixed.”
Not really, but he won’t know that. It’ll mostly be on my end. For him and Declan, it’ll be as good as fixed.
“Really?”
I cradle his face in my hands. “IneedGovernor Forrester today. George and Sir can talk to me tonight. Okay? Deal?”
He takes a deep breath and nods.
“Okay,” I say. “Today, donottalk to Declan about this. All right? Game faces.” I’m glad I built a weekend off into his schedule for next weekend.
Hopefully, we’re going to need it.
All I have to do now is get them both through today without any public meltdowns.
