So, I spent much of the day ignoring the beep, beep, beep from my phone. When it was finally time to leave, I darted out of the office as quickly as I could. I hadn’t been home since five this morning, but I wasn’t about to head home anytime soon either.
Instead, I went straight to Jensen’s house where Emery’s surprise party was being held. Heidi was organizing the event, which meant she would already be there. And I wanted to spend as much time with her as I could.
I parked Jensen’s Mercedes in the garage and entered through the garage door and into the kitchen.
“Whoa,” I said.
Heidi was standing on the island in the middle of the kitchen in nothing but short shorts and a tank top that was riding up her stomach.
Her eyes darted to me. “Oh, Landon! You’re early.”
She tried to attach a streamer to the spot on the light fixture but missed. The kitchen was already decked out in decorations, but I could see that there were bags with more decor just waiting to go up.
“Need a hand with that?” I asked.
“If you don’t mind.”
“I’m a bit taller than you.”
“Just a bit.”
I scrambled onto the island next to her and took the streamer out of her hand. Our bodies were close together, standing there in the middle of Jensen’s kitchen. Her blue eyes lit up at my nearness, and then she averted her gaze and took a shaky step back.
“Thanks. I have a ton to do. So, it’d be great if you could help.” She hopped off the island.
“That’s what I’m here for.”
“Great. Great,” she muttered.
She seemed nervous around me now. It was as if the easygoing girl who had talked to me in my office this morning disappeared, and I didn’t know why.
I brushed off her unease and decided that I wasn’t even going to acknowledge it. I really had shown up early to help her if needed and to hang out. I wasn’t trying to get crafty and make a move on her.
Once I attached the streamer to the light fixture, I jumped off the island and followed her into the living room. Black balloons were everywhere with a few glitter and hot-pink ones scattered throughout for a bit of color. That was definitely Emery through and through.
“Want me to do that?” I asked Heidi as she sat down to blow up more balloons. “I’m guessing you won’t be happy until we cover the room in them.”
She grinned up at me and then caught herself and looked away. “Yeah, I want Emery to try to stab me after seeing how over the top it all is.”
“This will definitely do,” I confirmed, looking around.
Heidi handed me the bag of balloons. “Thanks for your help. I still have a million things to do.”
“No problem.”
She headed out the door as Jensen appeared at the top of the stairs.
“Landon!” Jensen said with a big smile. “You’re early.”
“Yeah, I thought I could help out. I knew Heidi had something big planned.”
“It’s good to see you.”
Jensen pulled me in for a hug. He looked happier than I’d ever seen him. It still weirded me out that my ex-girlfriend was the one who brought him that much joy, but I couldn’t begrudge him it. I wanted to be that happy, and all I’d been was depressed over the last year.
“Good to see you, too, man.”
“How is everything? You’ve been back for a while, and I feel like you’re a stranger.”
“I was in church yesterday,” I corrected him. I’d made sure to do that, considering how I’d left early so many times before.
Jensen grinned. “Yeah, that’s true. Just checking in on you. I’m the oldest. What do you expect from me?”
“Nothing more than this. PT has been great though. I don’t know how much progress I’ve made, but the therapist is a goddess.”
“I got the best.”
“I can tell. She knows her shit.”
“And Miranda?” Jensen asked coolly.
I glanced away. At this point, I hated talking about Miranda. Not that I had ever enjoyed discussing her with my family before, but now, I had to deal with the divorce. It was just messy.
“Still getting texts from her every day, and she says she’s refusing to sign the paperwork.”
Jensen sighed. “I was afraid of that. She’ll come around though.”
“We can only hope.”
“And the new job?”
I inwardly cringed. I didn’t want to bring up the fact that I wanted out of the job. I didn’t want to be Heidi’s boss, but I also didn’t want to be left without a job for a year while I was recovering. My mind couldn’t take it. I’d never slowed down a day in my life. I wasn’t about to start now. But, after everything Jensen had done for me, I couldn’t break it to him.
“An adjustment,” I finally said.
Jensen nodded. “I knew it would be, but you’ll make it work. You always do. I have to go get Emery now. Everyone should be arriving in the next couple of minutes. I’ll see you when I get back with her.”
“See you then.”
With a sigh, I watched him disappear. I loved my brother, but sometimes, his concern felt like an interrogation. He didn’t do it on purpose. He had always been there for us. He had been the one to raise us. He couldn’t even help it now.
I went back to blowing up balloons in his absence. A minute later, Heidi peeked her head back into the living room. Pink rose in her cheeks, and she looked slightly sheepish.
“Hey,” she said with a nervous little wave.
“What’s up?” I arched an eyebrow at her.
“I hate to admit it, but I was kind of eavesdropping.”
My mind flittered over everything that I’d said to Jensen, and I came back blank. I didn’t think I’d said anything incriminating. Jensen had been checking in on me.
“And?”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have.”
“What did you hear that has you blushing so furiously?” I set the balloons aside and stepped over to her.
We were alone in the house. We only had a few minutes before people would start showing up.
“I think I’m more embarrassed than anything.”
“About what?”
“Well…I didn’t know if I should believe what you’d said about Miranda on Friday.”
“What part?”
“That you were divorcing her.”
I cocked my head to the side and stared down at her beautiful face, those bright blue eyes, the unbelievably luscious lips. “You thought I would lie about something like that?”
“No. Not exactly. I was…cautious.”
“Cautiously pessimistic,” I accused.
She bit her lip and shrugged. Man, I wanted to kiss those lips. To bite down for her. The way she was looking at me. The blush on her cheeks. The way she gravitated toward me.
“Optimistic,” she muttered. “But nervous.”
“And now?”
“I believe you. I don’t think Jensen would have asked if you’d been lying about it all.”
“I’m not going to lie to you, Heidi.”
I ran my hand down her arm, and she shivered under my touch. I might have said that I would give her space when she asked for it on Friday. And I’d meant every word when I said it. But, fuck, being alone with her like this, having her look at me like that…it was enough to break any man.