I nodded. If something happened or got weird, they’d be right there.
“I hope he doesn’t ask anything about… you know.” My ultimate fear right now was being asked hard things about the time that I had been with Eli and then Sebastian.
“You and I practiced this, Brandon. If he asks you something you don’t want to discuss or feel like going into, what do you say?”
“I’m to say that I’d rather not talk about that right now.”
“Good, pup. He won’t push you past that. But he’s also not a mind reader. You have to say those words to him. Once you do, he will move on to a different topic.”
I nodded again. James was right. If Chase valued and respected our time, he wasn’t going to upset me. I picked up the fob to my car and my cell phone, then pulled on my blue hoodie. I was ready.
“I’ll see you later. Have a good day,” I said as I leaned in to kiss James. “I love you,” I added.
“Love you too, pup. Remember, call or text me when you arrive and when you leave.”
“I will.”
Before I backed out of the garage, I sent Salem a text. She knew I was meeting Chase there this morning because we exchanged texts about it last night.
Are you going to be at the coffee shop this morning?
Already here. I’m not missing out on a chance to see your dad. I’m excited.
Okay, good. I’ll come say hi before Chase arrives.
I scrolled through the emojis to find a random one to send. It had been our longstanding “thing.” I grabbed the one that looked like an ice cream sundae and sent that.
See you soon.
She then sent a separate text message with a tire emoji. I smiled and set my phone on the charging tray.
Even though the traffic seemed just as bad as any other workday, time went by quickly as I made my way to the coffee shop. I had tried to think about conversation starters during the drive, but each time I started to think of something, my mind would drift to other things. And now I was out of time.
“Great job, Bran,” I sarcastically mumbled out loud as I pulled in the parking spot beside Andrew’s SUV. “Didn’t come up with a damn thing.” I sat in the car for a few minutes and focused on conversation topics. “Sports are good. Movies. Food. Those are good.”
It didn’t look like he was here yet, but I went inside anyway. This was my stomping ground after all. Right away, I spotted Salem adding some of her keychains to the display by our mugs.
“Hey,” I said. She turned and smiled and then hugged me. Her keychains clanged against one another and my back as she squeezed me.
“How are you this morning?” she asked.
“Good, I think.”
Salem arched her eyebrow at me and went back to hanging up keychains.
“You think? That doesn’t sound very reassuring.”
“Well, James banged me and spanked me really hard this morning, so that was good,” I said quietly so only she could hear me.
“That sounds like a typical, good, ‘Brandon’ morning.”
“I was trying to think of things to talk about with Chase. I don’t want to talk about… you know… certain things.”
“That makes sense. I don’t blame you.”
“So I’m trying to think of conversation starters to keep it from that topic.”
“Okay, what do you have so far? I’ll help.”
