“And you didn’t bring him to meet me because…?” Mr. Nakamura prodded.
I could’ve, I realized. I could’ve brought Xander here, and he would’ve been welcomed just as warmly as I always was.
“Because his life is back in Otter Bay.” I shrugged. “Mine’s here. My dad threatened to fire me if I didn’t come back for this opening and stay from beginning to end, and I honestly wanted to be here,” I hurried to add, finally raising my eyes to meet Mr. Nakamura’s. “But that’s gonna keep happening. My job is here. And I can’t… I can’t be absent like that. He deserves someone who’s there for him.”
“So you love your job more than Xander?” Mr. Nakamura asked, eyebrow climbing toward his hairline.
“I…”
Well, no. Obviously I didn’t.
I hated my job. I’d stuck with it because… well, Zara was here, but now she wasn’t anymore. It was all I’d reallyhad, but now it wasn’t all I had. I had two nieces and a little sister who needed me and…
Xander.
I had Xander.
And I was giving him up for a job I hated? For a family business I didn’t evenwantto run when Dad retired?
To sleep four days out of seven in my office chair and feel sick the whole time?
Why? What for? Because my dadtoldme to?
Mr. Nakamura was right. It definitely wasn’t because I loved my job more than Xander. I didn’t love my job at all.
I loved the quiet little life I’d had with Xander for the quiet little while I’d had it.
Why couldn’t I have it all the time?
Maybe because Xander would never speak to me again after leaving like I had. I might’ve screwed that up completely.
But it was worth asking for another chance. Begging, if I had to.
Because I loved Xander more than I’d ever loved anything.
I stood all of a sudden, decision made, heart pounding so hard it was making me dizzy. I knew what I had to do.
“Milo?” Mr. Nakamura asked, looking up at me.
“I have to go,” I said. I had to go, I had to goright now. “If, uh. If you see my dad, tell him... tell him I'm fired.”
Mr. Nakamura smiled.
39
XANDER
The smellof bacon frying woke me two minutes before my alarm normally would have, my stomach growling in response. I hadn’t eaten last night, and I’d gone to bed hungry, and now maybe I was hallucinating?
No. No, that was definitely bacon. If I held my breath I could hear the sound of it sizzling.
What the hell?
I slipped out of bed as quietly as I could, tiptoeing over to the open bedroom door to peer out into the kitchen, trying to figure out why—
Oh.
No way. Noway.
