I run up the front steps, two at a time. “Give me five.”
“Holy shit.” I hear Jaxon laugh as I leave the door open and rush up to my bedroom. In a matter of five minutes, I’m wearing my workout clothes and headed back down. I shut the door and rush down the front steps, finding both of them sitting in the SUV. I pull open the back door and get in.
“I’m so sorry,” I say, getting in.
“No worries, Romeo.” Kirby smirks and pulls out of the driveway. “So tell us, do we know this person?”
“I’m not saying shit to either of you,” I tell them, my heart speeding up as I say two words, knowing they are a lie. “It’s nothing.”
eighteen
Kylie
“Staff meeting in fifteen minutes!” Lexi yells from her office and I have to laugh.
“It’s literally just the two of us!” I shout back at her and look at the top of the screen on my computer to see what time it is. “It’s also almost lunchtime. Should we order lunch and meet when the food gets here?”
“Yes,” she sings from her office, “I’m starving.”
I chuckle. “Is my brother joining us for this meeting, or is it just the two of us?”
“He’s arriving later on tonight,” she says, “so it’s just the two of us.”
“Who runs the world?” I sing out and she follows with, “Girls?”
“You know it!” I shout back. “Are we watching what we are eating this week, or are we full-blown give me a bacon cheeseburger with onion rings and fries?”
“Ohhh.” I hear her tapping her nail on her desk. “We did work out this morning,” she mentions the morning Pilates class we took before coming to work.
“So burgers it is.” I open my app. “I’m ordering two bacon cheeseburgers and a side of onion rings and fries for us to share.”
“Sounds good,” she agrees. I place the order before I put down the phone and then look back at my computer. I’m going through the emails and making lists of shelters and churches I would like to go and visit, to see if we should partner with them.
Thirty-five minutes later, the door to the office opens and the delivery man sets the brown bag on the desk in front. I push away from my desk and walk out of my office at the same time Lexi walks out of hers. “Where are your notes?” She looks at my empty hands.
“I can’t read notes and eat a greasy cheeseburger, Lexi,” I scoff at her, walking to the brown bag and then heading over to the couch area, kicking off my heels, and putting one foot under me.
“That would be irresponsible.”
“Fine.” She turns and heads back to her office, tossing her folder back on her desk before coming out. “It smells so good.”
“Doesn’t it?” I open the bag and pull out a fry before popping it into my mouth then an onion ring. Lexi grabs one of those before I hand her a burger and then take one for myself. I grab the little packets of ketchup and ranch before flattening out the brown bag and emptying the French fries and the onion rings next to each other.
I unwrap the burger and take a bite. “So what are your plans this weekend?” I ask her and she smiles.
“Kirby gets home tonight, and he has a game tomorrow, and then he’s off for two whole days.” She smiles big. “I know the season just started, but I’m already over him leaving,” she says sadly.
“Two whole days,” I repeat the words she just said with as much enthusiasm as she did.
She nods. “Like, I was looking forward to him leaving at the beginning because I had all these things planned, but then I just missed him, you know?” She takes a bite of her burger.
“No, I don’t know.” I laugh as I open a packet of ketchup and fill the corner of the bag with it, dipping a French fry in it. “How would I know? I think my longest relationship was two weeks, maybe a month, and I felt like I was being suffocated.”
“A month.” She gawks. “A month?”
“Yeah,” I reply, taking another bite, “maybe a month and a day.”
“I have food in the fridge longer than that.”
