Page 55 of A Matter of Time

“Oh. So you waited a whole fifteen minutes, huh?” He sounded irritable.

“Yep.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

I hung up and stopped walking for a minute. When had I become one of these loser guys who equated great sex with anything more than a one-night stand? I knew better. When my phone rang again, I answered it as I crossed the street.

“Jory.”

“I’m just leaving work now,” I confessed, because it didn’t really matter if he thought I was a loser or not. We were done anyway. “I waited for you all this time. Just so ya know.”

“Oh.” Sam cleared his throat. “I’m glad.”

“You’re glad?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, whatever,” I grunted. “Bye.” I made sure I put my phone on vibrate before I walked toward the curb to get a cab home.

“Excuse me.”

When I turned to the guy standing beside me, I realized he was studying my face.

“Yeah?”

“Are you Jory Keyes?”

I yawned. “Yeah.”

Big smile suddenly. “I’m Caleb Reid.”

I groaned and turned to go.

“No, no, wait,” he said, chuckling, gently but firmly grabbing my shoulder, holding on so I couldn’t leave.

“C’mon, I swear, even though your boss thinks I’m crazy, I’m not.”

I squinted at him.

“Lemme feed you.” His arm went around my shoulders, pulling me close. I continued to stare. “Please. I just want to talk to you so maybe—just maybe—you can talk to him.”

Heavy sigh as I agreed. I was just too curious to know what my boss was hiding to turn him down. And besides, I had nothing else to do.

Caleb Reid looked like a farm boy even though he had grown up just outside the big city of Dallas, in the even bigger state of Texas. Between the warm trace of an accent and his big blue eyes, I was intrigued.

“You’re wondering what in the world this has to do with your boss.”

“Pretty much.” I nodded, shoveling French toast into my mouth.

“Well, see, it turns out that his folks are my folks.”

I paused in midbite to stare at him. “I’m sorry?”

Quick sigh. “My mother is his mother. My father is his father.”

“How is that even possible?”