Still, he could try to throw some cold water on this.
Leo:You’re going to be coworkers.
William:Which is why I’m saying it to you one time before I drop it forever.
Right. William was a good guy.
William:Just like you dropped it with Reggie.
Okay, maybe not such a good guy.
Leo:Fuck off, you know these are different situations.
William:Relax. I’m just messing with you. Drinks on me once I get to town?
Leo tossed his phone down without bothering to respond. The sooner William got here, the sooner his friend would take over the day-to-day business with BUILD, freeing Leo from the frequent interactions with Faith. At that point whatever happened between his best friend and his ex-girlfriend wouldn’t be any business of his.
He just needed to make it through the next few weeks, and then she’d be out of sight, out of mind.
ELEVEN
She’d almost made it out the front door when a voice from the dining room stopped her.
“Faithy? Is that you?”
Damn. So close. She blew out a breath and turned to face the parental music.
“Who else would it be?” Her tone was bright, but her pace was reluctant as she shuffled into the wood-paneled room. This early in the morning, it was awash in sunlight and smelled like bacon.
“Sit.” Her mom patted the chair next to her. “It feels like we haven’t seen you in weeks!”
That was eighty percent her backbreaking workload of getting BUILD up to speed and twenty percent intentional avoidance, but Faith wasn’t a total asshole. She could sit and drink coffee with her parents for a few minutes before bolting.
“I’ve been so busy!” She chirped her response as she fetched a dainty china cup from the service tray and filled it from the carafe. “Now that kids are back in school, we’re swamped getting all our programs rolled out.”
Thanks to the grant, she was working long hours at BUILD, and Leo often joined her at the end of his workday at Digham, which she loved and hated in equal parts.
She settled into a chair across the table from her parents and snagged a muffin. Her mother frowned as she started to peel off the wrapper.
Kind. Calm. Collected.
“What’s the rule?” Faith asked mildly.
Her mother sighed. “Apologies, sweetheart.”
Faith had laid down the law against monitoring anyone else’s food intake the first time she’d joined her parents for dinner after she moved in, and her mother had been surprisingly good about sticking to it. In fact, Betsy seemed so grateful to see her on a regular basis that Faith was pretty sure she could request a live orchestra to accompany every meal, and her mom would make it happen.
Her father, as always, was less demonstrative. Today he barely spared her a glance over the top of theBeaucoeur Courier. “Where are you off to so early on a Saturday?”
“BUILD has a table at the Gourd Olde Days Festival.” Which she was going to be late to set up if she didn’t finish her breakfast and leave. She gulped a scalding mouthful of coffee, immediately regretted it, and waved her hand like a maniac to fan away some of the heat.
“Isn’t the Gourd festival just pumpkin crafts and beer tents?” Her mother’s dainty nose wrinkled.
God, what a snob. “It’s way more than that. There are tons of booths promoting local businesses.” She kept her voice upbeat despite her irritation. “We’re hoping to drive sign-ups to the new Dig Greener initiative. I’m really excited about it.”
Both her parents hummed in response, but she’d already lost their attention. Although they’d never cared about the details of her work, it still stung to see her father so much more interested in the business section of the Saturday paper.
She knew one way to get him to notice her though.
