“You’re pathetic. No wonder she blew you off.” Charles looked at the screen. “With a fucking crying emoji.”
Tim considered wresting the phone away. But the hallway windows provided a clear view of his office. He couldn’t risk his team seeing him grappling with Charles. There had been enough speculation about him and Laura already. “It was her sister’s last day.”
“So she says. Poor sod,” Charles said. “Stuck in the friend zone.”
A memory flashed. Dee on his couch—soft, pink, warm, wet. Tim didn’t say anything.
Charles raised his brows. “Or not. Good for you, mate. I wouldn’t have said she was your type.”
Tim hated this discussion.
He and Dee were friends. Exclusive friends. More than friends, on his part. It panicked him slightly to realize he had no idea if she felt the same way. She’d only recently gotten out of a relationship with that tosser from Kansas. And then there was Sam—one more unknown variable Tim didn’t control.
“It’s really none of your business,” he said.
Charles’s eyes widened. “Well, fuck me. You’re really stuck on her.”
“Give me the phone.”
“It’s okay, mate.” Charles’s genuine sympathy somehow made everything worse. “Well. Not okay. Sucks, right?”
Tim closed his eyes for a few seconds. Opened them again. “Dinner,” he said abruptly. “We’ll do dinner. Seven o’clock.”
The phone buzzed in Charles’s hand. He glanced down. “It’s your bird.”
Tim practically leaped around the desk to grab the phone.
Sorry. Just saw your message. Thnx! Would love ride. Flight at 4. 1 okay?Followed by another bubble with wavering dots. His breath stopped.If not, don’t worry, Dee added. With two pink hearts.
Tim exhaled in relief.See you at 1, he typed.xx
“I’m guessing dinner’s off now.” Charles smiled wryly. “Enjoy the ride.”
“Don’t be stupid,” Tim said firmly. “We made plans. I’ll pick you up at seven.”
He did not flake on a pal. Besides, Dee’s message had made no mention of dinner. Or after dinner. She didn’t owe him her time in return for a ride to the airport. They hadn’t been together that long, really. He wasn’t going to make assumptions simply because they’d had sex a few times. More than a few times. A week. Ten days, if he didn’t count this last miserable weekend.
But Charles... He’d known Charles for nine years. The manhad saved his life. Even if Dee were free, Tim couldn’t blow Charles off.
Tim tucked his phone carefully away in his breast pocket.
—
Dee sat in the back, next to her sister.
Tim could see them in the rearview mirror, knees touching, fingers interlaced. Frankly, he was jealous. Not so much about the hand-holding but of their unthinking closeness, their ability to connect in such a direct and human way.
In the meantime, he’d been demoted from squire to chauffeur. Not part of the family. Useful but irrelevant. He parked in the drop-off zone, unloading Toni’s duffel and a new suitcase out of the back while the sisters said their good-byes at the curb.
They hugged for a long time. He had a lump in his own throat when they let go.
Growing up, he’d rather enjoyed being the sole focus of his parents’ attention. But as they aged, he wondered what it would be like to have a sibling to rely on, to share the burden of love and worry.
Toni disappeared behind the sliding doors, walking briskly. Tim opened the passenger door for Dee.
“Unless you’d rather sit in back,” he said, only half joking.
Dee managed a wan smile. “Don’t be silly. You’re not my taxi driver.”
