Pain twisted in his stomach. “I have no clue. I haven’t even thought about it since last night…when you showed up.” He gulped more coffee, and Hayden continued to regard him with a steady, thoughtful gaze.
“Would you like my opinion?”
“Of course.”
Hayden hitched his chair closer and leaned in. “Get in front of it. After breakfast, we can work on a statement for you to put out from the publicity team first thing on Monday.”
Armi stopped with the coffee cup halfway to his mouth. “We? You want to work on this with me?”
“News flash, Armi.” A cocky grin curved his lips. “I’m the best, and we’re going to make sure this stupid piece of shit never messes with you again.”
Their food arrived, and Hayden dug into his meal, but Armi remained quiet. After a minute, Hayden glanced up from his plate.
“Is something wrong?”
“I-I guess I’m surprised you want to spend your Saturday with me. Doing this.”
Hayden’s eyes warmed. “I can’t think of anything else I’d rather do.” He pointed a finger at Armi’s plate. “Eat before it gets cold. We’ve got work to do.”
They ate and spoke of Armi’s roses—the time he spent grafting and fighting the diseases that ate away at their leaves, leaving black spots and mildew, how he’d constructed the greenhouse to take care of the bushes in the winter. It was a subject he was passionate about, but when he stopped to take a sip of coffee, he remembered how one guy told him it was boring listening to him droning on about flowers. He pressed his lips together and gave Hayden a weak smile.
“Sorry. I’m babbling. I’ll shut up.”
“What? No, you’re not. I told you, my mother loves her rosebushes. She’s always entering them in the town garden contests, but she’s never won. I can give her pointers now. Maybe you’ll write down some of the things you just talked about, so when I go home I can tell her.”
“Uh…yeah, of course. Sure.” There was so little he knew about Hayden, he decided it was a good time to ask a few questions. “Where do your parents live?”
“Upstate.” Hayden finished his coffee.
“Is that where you went to school?”
“Yes.” Hayden shifted in his chair.
The clipped answers were such a direct contrast to Hayden’s normal easy speech, it was conspicuous. The questions he asked were innocuous. Why did it make him so uncomfortable?
“What made you want to go into PA work?”
The tension of Hayden’s shoulders eased. “I’m very organized, and I love spreadsheets. I don’t want to be the boss, but I’m happy to help whoever I work for to be the best they can.”
“You do a great job.”
“Thanks. Are you finished? You should get home and start working.”
His heart plummeted. “Oh, yeah, of course.” Guess Hayden had changed his mind because he wasn’t including himself in their afternoon plans. “I’ll get the check.” He raised his hand.
“Thanks. I’m going to stop by my apartment first, change, and get my laptop. It shouldn’t take me more than an hour.”
“Oh, you’re coming back?”
Hayden’s brows drew together. “Yeah, of course. I said I would.”
He lifted a shoulder. “I thought you might’ve changed your mind.”
“No way. We’re gonna get this bastard for what he wrote.”
They walked out together and parted at the corner. Armi hurried home, and knowing he had nothing to eat in the house, put in an order for sandwiches, drinks, and snacks. He debated for a moment and included a box of condoms. Not that he expected anything more to happen between them, but he should have them. Just in case.
Of course he’d messed up his clothes—a grease stain on his shirt and coffee spilled on his sweats. Hayden was too polite to point it out. He changed into a Kings T-shirt and a pair of gray sweats. The food came, and he put away the beer, sparkling water, and sandwiches, and emptied one of the bags of chips into a bowl. The rest of the snacks he left in the bag on the island. As a kid, he’d come home from school and grab either cookies or potato chips and go to his room, where he’d sit by himself and watch movies or TV or read. It was the only way to drown out the laughs and jeers of other boys in school when he was the last—as usual—to be picked for team sports.
