“My sister is trying to get me to take a plus one to her wedding. That was one of the guys her...friendis trying to set me up with.”
I blinked. “Sister?”
Since when?—
“Ah...” Brandon dropped his arms to his sides, letting out a half-chuckle. “Yeah, my mom got remarried. Her husband came with a few more kids.”
When?
The question rattled inside of my brain, so loud that it had me holding back a wince.
So damn much had changed in the time that we’d stopped communicating. Both of our lives had forked into two separate directions, and now that we were back in the same town again, I was trying my damnedest to force our paths to cross once more.
Frustrating didn’t even begin to cover it.
A sister.
A new father.
What the hell else did I miss?
“Congratulations to your mom,” I said, flashing him a fake smile.
“Yeah, it’s been interesting. We went from our family of five boys to being one of nine kids. All four new ones are female, too. Let’s just say there’s never a dull moment, especially since they all still live close by.”
“That does sound like quite a big change.” As an only child myself, I couldn’t imagine my father bringing home a new wife and a gaggle of kids. That was the stuff of my nightmares growing. “All younger than you?”
He shook his head. “Older. Me and my sister, the youngest of their bunch, are the only ones close in age.”
Why set him up was the real question. Brandon was a good looking guy, more so than most guys I knew. Imagining that he had any kind of trouble pulling interest from others seemed rather impossible. Unless it was the location being the main issue.
Ellington Heights was certainly much bigger in terms of population than most of the surrounding ones were, but it was still considered a small suburb by far compared to the city a few hours away. Which made for few opportunities for someone who was gay, I’d imagine.
There were plenty of fish in the sea when it came to my sexuality. Though perhaps Brandon couldn’t say the same. Maybe that’s why his sister was sending him romantic prospects like a damn singing gram.
“Well, I hope it works out between you two.” I flash another fake smile his way, hoping I pulled it off despite the coiled tightness in my belly. I wasn’t even sure what bothered me about it all, but something niggled at the back of my mind either way.
Brandon threw me a weird look, once that had my stomach churning over. “Thanks...”
Desperately wanting to change the subject to something way more neutral, I said, “So, I see the cars arrived.”
“Yeah, just a bit ago. They’re in good hands with my guys.”
I had no doubt about that. Or with him handling everything personally, either. Brandon would never let something like this screw up on his end. Whether I was looking to make an absurd amount of money off of these vehicles or not, they were still my property—which is exactly why Brandon would treat them with care.
“Keep me updated on what’s going on with them. You’re free to do what you need to in terms of getting them back into working condition.”
Hell, if they all turned out needing to be junked and stripped of their parts, that was fine with me, too. It wasn’t like I was banking on the possibility of selling these things off at a high ticket. My bank account would, as sad as it was, hardly see a dip in funds whether the situation went good or poorly.
He nodded. “Of course. I’ll call before we do anything to them.”
The tempting offer to tell him to not bother with calling me and to stop by my place instead was right on the tip of my tongue. We weren’t there yet, clearly, but that didn’t stop my heart from wishing it so.
Now that I knew he was in the market for dating, his time was even more precious to covet.
“I’ll let you get back to it.” Pulling away from the counter was hard, as was forcing the words out of my mouth.
If I had it my way, I’d hang around the shop and soak up as much of his time as I could. Damned be the consequences on either of our sides. Pathetic, of course, no matter how you dressed it up. But that’s how I’d always been. Desperate to keep him focused on me and no one else.
