Page 25 of The Longest Wait

The next time she got the great idea to not fight with Alex, sheneeded to prepare responses to still seem indifferent to him.

“Lucy is proud of her big brother.” Which was true. “Shecouldn’t stop talking about it.”

He nodded. “It was one of my favorite trips. Wait, can I talkabout this, or am I crossing the line about your rule of not bringingup the past?”

His smart mouth made her laugh. She pretended to thinkabout. “I will waive the rule for you to give me more detail.”

Alex gave her a real smile, one she wasn’t used to being on thereceiving end. It made her heart race. “I was there for a month. Ispoke the worst case of broken Spanish, and I went to an actualsoccer game where I got a taste for how crazy Europeans are aboutthe game. In fact, the whole time I was there, I felt like a traitorbecause I called it futbol.”

“If it makes you feel any better, historically we’ve beenlabeled traitors by the Europeans ever since the Boston Tea Party.”Sofia teased.

“True,” he laughed. “Being in Spain was life changing. It wasalso beautiful. When I went to Gaudi’s Case Mila, I teared up overthe architecture.”

“Wait,” Sofia interrupted him. “You actually have tears to cry?”

“Is it impossible for you to make it through an entire nightwithout going back to your old ways?” Alex said with a half grin.“And yes, I like to think I’m an emotional person. When I seesomething historic, something so full of joy, or unfortunately inmy line of business, something so devastating, I do the one thingyou’re shocked over, and I cry. It is emotional to see something sobeautiful or, something so horrific.”

Alex as an asshole was easy to disregard.

Alex with emotion was not.

“Do you like your job?” There was something sad in his eyeswhen he talked about it.

He let out a sigh. “Can I table that one?”

“Sure. As long as you tell me something I don’t knowabout you.”

This was something she always desired, to learn more about Alex from himself. Apparently tonight she was into torturing herself.

THIS WASN’T HOW Alex expected his night to go, but time withSofia was addictive. There was so much she didn’t know about him.He wasn’t a fool. There was no way he would bring up ten yearsago, even though he wanted to. Closure from that night wouldchange things, but it wasn’t about to happen. Not right now.

“I’m afraid of flying,” he admitted.

Sofia laughed. “Are you serious? What do you do when youhave to travel?”

This was something no one else knew. “You’re sworn to secrecy.Do you understand?”

She agreed quickly, crossing her heart.

“When I was early in my career, I used to get drunk and praynothing would happen. Now though, I have a regimen.”

“Which is?” She pushed for more detail.

“I have to meet the pilot.” He paused. “I sway the truth a littleand tell the staff on board the flight that I’m on assignment aboutplane safety. So, before every takeoff, I have someone go throughall of the safety features and checks with me.”

She continued to laugh. “Stop. I wish I could tell, I don’t know,everyone that tough guy Alex is afraid to fly.”

“You swore to secrecy.”

“My life regret,” she said with her palm over her forehead.

“You’re turn.” He wasn’t the only one sharing. “Tell me something I don’t know about you.”

“I hate soccer.”

“I already know that. Everyone who has ever met you probablyknows that.”

She sat in stillness for a minute. “Okay, but this is your turnto swear to secrecy. When I get bored, which mostly happens atsoccer games, I try to list all of the coding languages. There arefour primary languages used for coding, but there are over sevenhundred out there.”