He stepped inside after me, grinning. He shut the door and strode around my desk—hisdesk—to sit down behind it. “It’s kind of weird seeing you back here.”
“It’s kind of weirdbeingback here,” I replied, going over to the floor-to-ceiling windows instead of taking the chair across from the desk. “Even weirder that this view used to be my life.”
He chuckled. “Are you having buyer’s remorse already?”
“No way. I like it there. I was actually just thinking about how I thought I’d miss this place more, but I just don’t.”
“How are things?” he asked. “It sounds like it’s going well if you don’t even miss us.”
I laughed. “I didn’t say I didn’t miss you all. I said I didn’t miss this place. There’s a difference. Things really are good, though.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
He studied me for a second, like he was checking for cracks in my story. “England is treating you well, then?”
“Yep. It turns out I enjoy rain a lot more when it’s attached to a castle.”
He huffed out a quiet laugh. “That’s good to know. I’ve been wondering if you were going to change your mind now that winter is coming.”
“Well, it’s not Game of Thrones. We’ll be fine. So you can tick that off of your list of things to worry about. How about you?” I asked. “Enjoying your new life as me?”
“It’s terrifying,” he said. “I don’t know how you did this every day.”
I shrugged. “Get your coffee from the place down the street instead of the breakroom and you should survive.”
“Thanks for the tip.”
“No problem.” A brief, comfortable silence settled between us before I turned to face him again. “How are you doing with all of it, though? Areyouhaving buyer’s remorse yet?”
“Nah. I’ve still got a lot to learn and it’s going to take a while, but I’m getting there. At least, I think I am.”
I nodded. “I’m sure you’re right.”
He glanced at me with one eyebrow arched. “You sound very confident about that.”
“I am,” I said simply. “It’s not like anyone just walks in here and automatically knows what they’re doing. It took Alex ages to figure it out. Nate was a wreck for months. I was still kind of finding my feet even when I left, if I’m being honest.”
“Seriously?”
I nodded. “Yeah, man. It’s a multi-billion-dollar, multi-national company that we’re only one division of. Just the organogram used to give me nightmares.”
“What the fuck is an organogram?” my twin asked, nose wrinkling.
“You’ll figure it out.”
“Yeah, maybe.” He inhaled a deep breath through his nostrils, but at least some of the tension was easing from his features. He refocused on me. “So what are you really doing here? I doubt you came all the way to Chicago just to check in with me.”
“Mostly, I’m here because I had some loose ends to tie up, but there is also something else I wanted to tell you. In person.”
His eyebrows lifted slightly. “That sounds ominous.”
“It’s not,” I said. “Well, actually, it might be. It depends on how you feel about babies.”
His face contorted in confusion “Babies? Are you opening up a foster care center or something, because I’m not qualified to?—”
I couldn’t stop the smile that crept onto my lips. “Relax, dude. I’m not about to ask you to open up the townhouse to a charity. Eliza’s pregnant.”
