Page 56 of Goode Tidings

"You've been inside it?"

"Yes." I pick at a chip in my nail polish. "I had to ask him a question." Also known as strong-arming him into letting me lure him out of his hidey-hole. I don't feel like telling Justin about that, either.

"I think you should know that he likes you."

"Pfft," I scoff, my lips vibrating. "Callum can stand me. That's a far cry from like."

I'd perched on his desk, though, hadn't I? He pinched my lower lip, rubbed the pad of his thumb across it. How about a week ago when he'd admitted he appreciates the way my favorite blue jeans look on me? Does Callum like me? Or were we innocently flirting?

"I know what I'm talking about," Justin insists.

My eyes roll. "How do you know this so certainly?"

"I have my ways."

Ugh. I hate when he's cagey. "Tell me."

"No, thanks."

"You are so full of shit, you know that?"

"Normally, yes, but right now I am telling you the truth."

I sigh, big and long and loud. "Let's say you're right. Somehow, from however many hundreds of miles away you are, you picked up on something I didn't. So what?"

Justin makes a disgusted sound. "So what? Are you seriously asking me that? He's my brother, Eden."

"Don't be melodramatic. Callum's not your brother. He has never, ever been your brother. You have as much genetic relation to him as you do to any other person you pass on the street."

"I lived with him for, like, six years."

"So?"

"It's weird, Eden. It's just really fucking weird."

"For you."

"Huh?"

"It's weird for you." I'm not sure why I'm arguing so vehemently. It's not like anything is going to happen between me and Callum. In the world of right versus wrong, Justin happens to be wrong. That's it. That's why I'm arguing. Preservation of truth.

Also, Justin doesn't get to tell me what's acceptable and not acceptable. My ex-husband can pound sand.

"Yeah, it's weird for me. And it should be weird for you, too. Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless you like him. I don't know why you would, but I'm sure stranger things have happened."

There are probably seventeen reasons I could list off the top of my head for why a woman would like Callum. But am I going to recite them for my ex-husband? Absolutely not.

"Justin, there is no way I am talking with you about anything related to who I like, or romantic interests, or anything of the sort. Oliver is what connects us, and Oliver should be our topic of conversation. Understood?" I put that boundary in place a long time ago, but one of Justin's favorite pastimes is pushing boundaries.

"Fine," Justin says. "At least you know, so you can distance yourself."

"Right. Thanks." The fact Justin thinks his opinion means so much to me is baffling. He's known me for years, and somehow he manages to not know me at all.

"I gotta get going," Justin says. "Can you hand me back to Oliver so I can say goodbye?"