I swallowed uncomfortably. His words hit home. I did feel guilt-ridden and ignored his comment about making him happy. Nope. Not enough emotions in the day to deal with that little bomb. I looked down at the table, processing his words when his voice lowered. “You can’t let your guilt rule you.”
“How are you so good at this?”
He scoffed. “I’m not good at this. I fortunately lean on my parents and do the same as you…I work a lot.” He chuckled but not with joy. “I’ll go back to being a raging asshole when it’s my turn. The anniversary of their death was the first week you started. Promise me you’ll be there for me then next year.”
“Oh, Brock.” My already wounded heart constricted for him as his voice took on a slight tremble. Idefinitelyunderstood this kind of grief.
“Yeah, I’m sure you remember, I turn into even more of a miserable asshole.”
“You could’ve told me, said something,” I said, sad about not learning this earlier. “That’s why you were so mean?”
“Part of it. But next year, I’ll tone it down.”
“You better,” I said and froze at the realization August was ten months away. Ten months. Would we even still hang out then? Maybe he’d meant because I’d be working for him then. Yeah, that must be it. Brock must’ve sensed my trepidation because he cleared his throat and lowered his voice.
“What is it?” His frown deepened, and his hand on the table went to mine for a quick squeeze.
I dared to look up at that beautiful face, and a warmth flooded my body. “Who says we’ll still be hanging out?” I gulped, blinking rapidly. Surely, he didn’t realize how far away that was.
He sighed, not meeting my eyes.
I felt stupid. I shouldn’t have said anything because that’s what ruined things. Shit. I cleared my throat, causing his gaze to flick to mine.
“I trust you more than I trust anyone else. I know today is a rough day for you, so I won’t lecture you.”
I gulped, feeling the hurt and mild anger in his voice. He continued, nostrils flaring every so often. “I sincerely hope we’ll still be hanging out then because if not, I’ll be in a hell of a mood. And you know how I can get. It would be your fault, and that’s not really fair, is it?”
Humor danced in his eyes, his effort to diffuse the tension admirable. “It would be a disservice to society.”
“Damn straight, woman. Now, enough talk about us not hanging out then. Eat your food, and then we can go anywhere you want.”
“Anywhere?”
“Yup. My treat. What would make you happy today? Well, happier than you were this morning? And nothing work related is allowed.”
“Well, shit.” I realized how sad I was that my first two ideas were, in fact, work related. “I don’t know.”
“What do you do on off days or when you have free time?”
I released a long, exaggerated breath. “Uh, watch entire seasons of TV shows. What do you do?”
He leaned forward onto the table with his elbows almost knocking over the mug due to their size. “I, too, binge watch TV shows. I spend time with my parents. I read. I read a lot, actually.”
“Really?” I leaned back into the booth, my curiosity taking over. “You read?”
“I’m slightly offended at your tone. Yes. I read.” He moved to cross his arms, battle stance ready. “Are you stereotyping me?”
“What do you read?” I ignored his question, excitement taking over. “Romance? Adventure? Mystery? Oh! I know. Young Adult?”
“Asshole Grace doesn’t have the same ring to it, but you are being an asshole.” He narrowed those cerulean eyes. “That settles what we’re doing next.”
“What? Reading out loud together?” I goaded, an inexplicable feeling warming me.
“Going to my favorite used bookstore. You’ll fall in love there.”
Chapter Twenty
Here I was,Thursday afternoon, sitting with my feet propped up onto a cooler next to Anderson at the town’s public sports complex. There were baseball fields, football fields, basketball and tennis courts, and even two volleyball courts in the park. The rec league had officially started—Brock and I the trainers on call—and that left us sitting less than a foot apart in the cold.
