“Jackie and Vincent gave us permission to use their home for Holly’s training. That’s done. Did you call and ask them if you could stay longer?” he asked mildly. “Or do you plan to stay at your parents’ for the next year or so? You and Mortimer did sell your condo, did you not?”
Justin cursed under his breath. He’d planned to stay at Jackie and Vincent’s, but . . . “The next year or so?” he asked, his frown deepening.
Lucian shrugged. “I am just guessing how long this could take. Holly could change her mind and come around in a -couple weeks or months, or she might never. I’m guessing you won’t give up for a good year though.”
Justin scowled at the thought of her not coming around at all. She had to. She was his life mate.
“So how do you plan to fill your time while you’re waiting?” Lucian asked. “Helping out your parents with the dogs?”
He so wasn’t living at his parents’. He loved them, they were great and everything, but they would drive him mad in no time.
“And did you write up a resignation for me to give to Mortimer?” Lucian added pleasantly.
Justin gave a start at that. “A resignation? I’m not resigning.”
Lucian raised his eyebrows, nodded, and then barked, “Then get your ass on the plane.”
“But—-” But how would Holly find him if she did change her mind? he wanted to ask. He couldn’t get the words out though.
“Gia gave Holly both her number and yours. If she comes around, she will undoubtedly call one of you. In the meantime, you do nobody any good pacing around Vincent’s house, or your mother’s, eating cheese puffs and refusing to bathe.”
“How do you—-”
“You smell,” Lucian interrupted succinctly. “And you have orange powder on your cheek and—-” He reached out and plucked something from his hair above his right ear and then held it up in front of Justin’s face. It was the broken end of a cheese puff. Justin had been eating them in bed last night. One must have rolled down his cheek into his hair, he realized. Lucian turned to flick away the remnant of food, then turned back and eyed him solemnly. “It is hard. I know. You are hurting. I know. But if she does change her mind and come for you, do you really want her to find you sitting around here feeling sorry for yourself?” He let that sink in and then added, “You would do better to get back to work, take out your frustration on some rogues, and hold on to your self--respect. Mortimer needs you.”
Justin stared at him blankly for a minute and then shook his head, murmuring, “Wow.”
Lucian narrowed his eyes. “Wow, what?”
“It’s like Leigh is making you almost human,” Justin said, a crooked smile twisting his lips. “You even speak in whole sentences now and everything.”
Lucian scowled. “Get your ass on the plane.”
Justin shoved his hands in his pockets and started walking toward the plane, a little cockiness in his walk. “You need me. You said so.”
“I said Mortimer needs you,” Lucian growled, following.
“Yeah, but you missed me. I can tell,” he said, his smile becoming more natural.
“I missed you like a pain in the ass,” Lucian snapped.
“That’s still missing me,” Justin said on a laugh as he jogged up the plane steps. He was still smiling as he entered the plane and threw himself into one of the four empty seats Dante and Tomasso had left. He watched silently as Lucian pulled the plane door closed and the engine fired up. When the plane began to taxi, Justin turned to peer out the window at the sun--splashed tarmac, his smile fading. He was leaving Holly behind in sunny California, and didn’t know if or when he’d see her again . . . It felt like a part of him was dying.
“Are we supposed to go in, or are Bill and Elaine meeting us out here?” Holly asked James as he steered her car into the restaurant parking lot.
“Inside,” James answered, parking. “Whoever gets here first gets a booth.” Undoubtedly that’ll be them since we’re late as usual.
Holly bit her lip and tried to ignore that thought when it hit her. It hadn’t been directed at her, and hadn’t even been a complaint about her really. It was just a generally unhappy thought, and it was true. They were usually late. Between work and classes, Holly always seemed to be scrambling.