“That’s all I’ve got,” Tucker said. “Bye.”
“Bye,” she said and hung up. She was just as happy not to have a long conversation with him. They were cordial for their kid and nothing else.
She crawled under the covers, pulled her iPad onto her lap and shopped for basketball hoops. Dang, it could be delivered tomorrow. The perfect surprise for her son.
Just like she got one hell of one on her first real date with Jayce.
The question was, when would the second be?
18
HE WAS WRONG
“Ican’t believe all this paperwork,” Jayce said on Monday.
“All employees need to fill it out,” Jocelyn said. “Stop being a baby.”
“I’m not being a baby,” he said, typing into the laptop. “I’m not sure why I couldn’t do this all yesterday at home and then I could get right to work.”
“Because Mom and Dad told you that you couldn’t answer until after the weekend and I wasn’t working this weekend and neither was anyone else. Get over yourself. If you think you’re getting special treatment here, you’ve got another thing coming.”
His sister was riding his ass exactly as he knew it would happen, with a wide grin on her face.
He missed these interactions for the years he hadn’t lived at home.
Not that he’d ever admitted it. Not when he’d boasted for years he was going to make a name for himself outside of the family business.
But here he was, ending up where everyone said he’d be.
He didn’t want that to burn so much, but it kind of did.
“No one treats anyone else special,” he said. “I know.”
He finished the rest of his paperwork, then submitted it. They’d had a laptop set up for him already that he was using, and his new office had a fresh coat of paint on it. He’d told them a soft blue would be fine and that was what they’d done.
It was crazy to him how bare it was and yet felt so much more comfortable than the bigger one he’d had in Charlotte that was surrounded by sports memorabilia and pictures of him with players hanging out.
Almost like trophies of his own.
Sad that he’d felt the need to do that.
His brother’s office had a few pictures of Elise and Hunter in it. Not much more. Not that Gabe was around much.
Jocelyn’s office was more designed and cozy, pictures of Chance and Mav, artwork on the wall, some carefully arranged vases and plants.
Just like her house. Easy and modern, welcoming and comfortable.
“What’s wrong?”
He turned his head to see his father standing in the doorway.
“Nothing. Trying to figure out how to have this place feel more like Jocelyn’s does.”
His father smiled. “It took her years to do it, but you know she loves to shop. She’d help you.”
“I can handle it,” he said.
“I’m sure you’ve got a lot of things from your old office.”
