Holding back nervous jitters, I braced myself and walked outside. I’d just stepped onto the grass when Bodhi rolled the passenger window down. He was smiling. I let out the breath I’d been holding as I raced to greet him.
Ducking my head inside the car, I grinned. “Hey there, handsome. I take it the meeting went well?”
“Ehh.” Bodhi shrugged. “I think she’s blackmailing my father.”
I searched his face, waiting for the punchline. But there wasn’t one. He was serious. And a little too chipper. “You seem fairly okay with that, so good for you.”
He laughed, clearing up the confusion with three little words. “I have brothers.”
The place in my heart reserved for Bodhi stretched out a little wider. Despite the circumstances, his capacity for love was astounding. “What are they like?”
“I don’t know yet. I’m meeting them tonight at six. Their names are Evan and Jonah. Can you come with me?”
I struggled to keep up with the blur of information. “Of course. Wow, that’s fast.”
“Well, it had to be tonight since I’m leaving for LA tomorrow.”
As his words sank in, I felt the color drain from my face and a pitiful sob catch in my throat. This couldn’t be right. Not once did he mention that he’d be breaking my heart on a Thursday. “You’re leaving… tomorrow?”
He frowned. “I… yeah, I thought you knew.”
No. No. That was definitely not made clear. Thursdays had once been my favorite day of the week. I mean what was there not to love? You were over the hump day and sliding into the weekend – so much to look forward to. And now, Thursday sucked worse than waiting to press that ‘skip ad’ button on a YouTube video.
Without a word, I turned and slunk off in the direction of the house.
“Breeze?”
Holding up a hand, I kept walking. “I can’t right now, Bodhi.” Before the sob exploded from my throat, I added, “But I’m super happy for you.”
“Breeze, stop!”
He was behind me now, closing the gap between us in record time. I picked up the pace but, before I could make my dramatic exit, Bodhi sprang like a cheetah and caught my arm.
I spun around and, even though I had the urge to knee him in the nuts, the ‘oh shit’ look on his face tempered down my resentment. Instead I slapped his chest.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were leaving tomorrow?”
“I have a concert Friday,” he said, brows knit together over uncertain eyes.
“Friday. Not Thursday.”
He scratched the back of his neck and looked at me like I’d just landed from another planet. “Right, but there’s a lot of preparation that goes into a show. I can’t just pop in ten minutes before the concert starts. Maybe I didn’t make that clear.”
It made sense. Of course it did. Still, I didn’t want to hear it.
Frustrated tears sprung to my eyes at the thought of him being out of my life, and bed, for good.
“Your communication skills suck,” I grumbled, swiping my cheek with the back of my hand.
Bodhi grinned as he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “I’m sorry.” He brushed his thumb over my bottom lip. “I should have communicated better. But, I’ll be clearer right now. I want you to come with me.”
My sagging body perked up at the thought of flying to Los Angeles in some private jet, then standing stage side and watching my sorta-boyfriend perform in front of an audience of thousands of fans who wouldn’t crush us against a store front window. How refreshing.
I wanted to say yes—and would have said yes—if the image of my mother’s disappointed face hadn’t overshadowed the concert fantasy now withering out in my head. Instead of watching my man sweat his way across the stage like a Greek god, I would be the one perspiring profusely when my ex-fiancé’s perfectly domesticated life was dangled in front of me like a bad luck charm.
“You have no idea how much I want to, but I just can’t. We have a family reunion this Saturday. I already promised I would go and if I back out now my mother will be so disappointed.”
“Oh.” Bodhi’s optimistic expression faded before my very eyes. “You never said anything about a reunion.”
