My heart leapt in my chest.
I’d missed him so goddamn much.
Even the stilted professional language he was using was charming.
Behind me, a car leaned on their horn, causing me to jolt up and realize that the line for the light was already gone. Tossing my phone into the passenger seat, I stomped on my gas and continued through the light.
Once I was home, I’d email Brandon back and set up a time to meet him.
I’d only be in Ellington Heights for a little while, but in the meantime, I’d soak up as much time with him as I could before I’d be forced to say goodbye once again.
CHAPTER 4
Brandon
“You buckled in?”Avery asked the second I was finally situated in the passenger seat.
“Yeah, all good.”
“Excellent.” The tendons in his hand moved as he flexed it over the gearshift, putting the Audi into reverse, and backed out of the shop’s parking lot.
“Nice car you got.” The remark was off-handed, meant for a throwaway kind of line that most people used when trying to fill up the awkward space. In this case, though, I absolutely meant it.
“Thanks. Bought it at the beginning of this year. Cash, no interest. Got a good deal.”
Jesus...Imagine having a cool 100k lying around that could be spent frivolously on a sports car.
He had one of the newest models that were suped-up with the long paneled touch screen spanning from the driver’s to the passenger’s side, displaying all sorts of modules that were tempting me to reach over and fiddle with.
The interior was black leather with a sharp orange trim that looked sleek despite it being a little more unconventional in terms of style. The engine rumbled pleasantly, leading me to believe that, taken down a long stretch of highway, this thing could do numbers on the speedometer.
He drove stick while we moved through traffic, handling the gears expertly in a casual sort of way that kind of got me a little horny.
Okay, maybe alothorny.
The thing about Avery was that he made most things look effortless. His ability to command anything that he could get his hands on—this car, an entire goddamn room full of people, whatever it was—went unmatched.
That trait of his was one I’d always admired. With years between us and our lives being completely foreign to each other, I was glad that this fact had somehow remained true.
“How was your first night back in Ellington Heights?” I asked.
“All right. Felt weird being back in that house.”
I imagined so.
Regardless of Avery’s tumultuous relationship with his father, being away from a place you’d once spent every single day living in, had to have felt strange. I’d lived in this town for my entire life and I still found myself having déjà vu moments from time to time since moving all the way across town.
“Was the staff happy to see you?” I asked, forcing my eyes away from the hand gripping his gearshift.
“I think so. It’s hard to tell since everyone’s still shocked over my father’s death. I don’t think any of them really thought he’d keel over in the way that he did. A man like that you’d expect to live till he’s eighty.’
“That’s true.” I paused, then asked, “Did you? Ever expect him to...”
Avery was quiet for a moment, his eyes fixated out the windshield to the intersection’s light up ahead.
Perhaps that was the wrong question to be bringing up so soon into us talking again. I’d been reeling since he’d come into my shop, nonstop thinking of all the things I’d wanted to say and ask him that it’d driven me nuts.
My curiosities weren’t exactly an excuse to be asking him such personal questions anyway. No matter how close we once were. Death and grief were tricky things, as were coming to terms with the process of living through them.
