“That’s not what I’m saying.”
“You like him,” he accused.
“Of course I like him. He’s nice. And I need to keep the peace for the sake of Felix.”
“Bull,” he said, keeping his language clean.
I hated how well my brother knew me.
“Nothing has happened,” I lied. “And nothingwillhappen, so you can set your scowly expression back to disinterested.”
“I’m ready,” Felix announced.
“Let me finish this, then we’ll play,” Luca said.
“I’ll do the dishes,” I offered. “You go have fun.”
My phone buzzed just as I closed the dishwasher and I saw that it was Stoney calling. I debated on answering, but good manners won out and I picked up my phone.
“This is Sabrina.”
“Hey.”
“Hi. How are you?”
“I’m good. You?”
“Good. Busy, though. I’m in the middle of something, can I call you back?”
“Yeah, nothin’ urgent. Was just checkin’ in.”
“Okay, cool. Do you want to text me some dates for you and Felix to hang out and I’ll get those on the calendar?”
“Yeah, Breezy, I can do that,” he said.
“Okay, great. We’ll talk soon.”
“Have a good night.”
“You too,” I said. “Bye.”
I hung up and sighed, leaning against the counter. God, I needed to reel in my emotions. I was bordering on rude to Stoney, and that was because I had already started to put a wall up. I didn’t want to get hurt. But that was no excuse for being short with him.
I picked up my phone again to call him back just as a text from him came through with dates for Felix. I decided I’d call him back when I was a little more relaxed, grabbing a glass of wine and heading into the family room to hang out with my family.
* * *
It was almost ten,Luca was gone, and Felix was asleep, so I figured I’d text Stoney back and see if he was up. The second I’d sent the text, my phone rang, so I picked it up. “Hi.”
“Hey, Breezy. You good?”
“Yep. Why wouldn’t I be good?”
“No reason. You just sounded pissed earlier.”
I rolled my eyes. “I did?”
He chuckled. “Yeah, baby, you did. You gonna deny you were irked?”
