“Em.”
Her eyes said enough to me without words. She asked, How’s Heidi?
Doing okay.
Good. I worry.
I know. I’m watching out for her.
She nodded her head at Jensen. You going to talk to him?
I sighed and nodded. Yeah.
Thank God. She breathed out in relief and sat back.
Jensen shot me a questioning look, but the service started before he could say anything. My mind was filled with the conversation that I knew I needed to have with Jensen, and I couldn’t seem to concentrate on what was being said. I also felt pretty shitty about leaving Heidi in my bed even if she was going to just sleep away the rest of the morning.
Luckily, the service was over soon enough, and the congregation stood and began to mingle. Emery jumped up and hurried over to her sister, Kimber, who was holding her youngest daughter, Bethany, and trying to corral Lilyanne. Austin fingered his pocket for what I guessed was a flask and tried to leave, but Morgan was smacking his arm and silently arguing with him. I knew it wouldn’t do much good. Also, I should probably help, but I didn’t.
Sutton was the one who came over. “Here, hold your nephew, you heathen,” she said, thrusting Jason into my arms.
I laughed and softly cradled the baby. He was completely passed out and hadn’t made a peep all service. And holding him in my arms like this made my chest ache. A family was something I had wanted ever since my father died.
“He’s too cute and little,” I told her.
“He’s adorable, and thank God. With how little sleep I’m getting, he’d better be.”
I laughed, and she grinned.
Sutton was the baby, only twenty-one years old, and, she’d somehow had her own baby before everyone, except Jensen. It was almost unfair. But I couldn’t begrudge her the happiness. She was still glowing with joy. We had all thought that Sutton’s shotgun wedding was because of this little guy in my arms. Yet she seemed to genuinely love her husband, Maverick. Against all odds, Sutton was the happiest of us all and the one with the least amount of baggage. Maybe because she had only been one when our mom died and eleven when our dad died, she didn’t have as acute memories of the pain. Either way, I envied her.
“What are you doing for your birthday?” I asked. “It’s coming up. Big twenty-two.”
“Ugh,” she groaned. “Jensen planned the freaking Charity Benefit for the same weekend. So, probably getting a babysitter and going to the dumb event.”
“I didn’t schedule the date for the Benefit,” Jensen said. “I wouldn’t have put it on your birthday, but Emery and I would be happy to babysit the night before if you would like a night out.”
Her eyes lit up. “You’re serious?”
“I know a thing or two about babies. We can manage.”
“You’re the best!” she said.
Maverick appeared at the sound of her squeal, and she filled him in.
“Thanks, man,” he said, holding his hand out to Jensen.
Jensen shook it and gave him a curious look. I was sure Jensen still believed that Maverick only wanted Sutton for her money, but it sure didn’t look like it.
Maverick took Jason from me, and I turned to face Jensen.
He raised an eyebrow. “You want to talk?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Outside?”
“Sure.”
We left the chapel together and wandered out into the brisk morning air. Lubbock had that strange sense of being desertlike. No matter how hot it got during the day, mornings and nights were always significantly cooler. Texas weather was strangely erratic.
Being around Jensen always made me realize how much I missed him when I didn’t see him. No matter that we lived in the same town again and he worked only a couple of floors above me, I never saw him. He was a loner by choice, which had only intensified post-Vanessa. I was glad that he had someone even if that someone had to be Emery. But I couldn’t talk; I was dating her best friend.
“I assume this is about Miranda,” Jensen said as we headed out to his truck.
“No actually,” I said. I hadn’t even thought about Miranda since she left.
“Oh?”
“I’ve started seeing someone,” I told him.
“Oh,” Jensen said with a sigh. “Already? You couldn’t wait until the divorce was finalized?”
“Yeah. It kind of happened unexpectedly.”
“And you’re telling me this…because it concerns me somehow?”
“I’m telling you this as my brother, all right? Not as the CEO of Wright Construction,” I carefully told him.
“Oh, boy, here it comes. Wright family drama. Lay it on me.”
“I’m seeing one of my employees.”
Jensen sighed and looked up at the clear sky above us. “Seriously? What did I do to deserve this?”
“You’re an ass,” I told him with a laugh.
“Fuck, Landon. Did you come to me because you wanted me to tell you how bad of an idea this is? And, God…don’t tell me who it is. Otherwise, I’ll be complicit.”
“I came to you for advice, I guess,” I told him. I really wasn’t sure what I’d come to him for. “And maybe a new job?”
Jensen laughed at that. “Advice and a new job? Jobs just appear out of thin air now? Grow on trees?”
“You’re the CEO. You can move me.”
“Well, you’re talking to your brother, not the CEO, and your brother thinks you’re an idiot for not being able to keep it in your pants.”
“Thanks, dick. It’s not like that.”
“I’m sure.”
“It’s not about the sex.”
“Don’t you know that rule number one is, Don’t fuck your employees?”
“Can you move me or not?”
“I really don’t want to know who this is, do I?” Jensen asked me.
I hesitated for a second and then shook my head. “No.”
“I’ll talk to Morgan,” he said with a shake of his head, “but I can’t promise you anything. If I were you, I’d straighten your shit out first. We don’t need to pay a fortune for the best therapist in the state of Texas because you lost your game while your head was wrapped around some girl you’d known for a couple of weeks.”
I opened my mouth to protest. I’d known Heidi a hell of a lot longer. But he was right; I didn’t need to tell him any details about who I was seeing. There was only one person on my floor who I’d known before getting the job, and deduction skills weren’t that difficult.
“Just stay away from her until we can figure this out, okay?”
“How long will that be?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I don’t know, Landon. Maybe, in a few weeks, you’ll find someone who doesn’t work on your floor, and we won’t have to move you at all.”
I gritted my teeth. “I don’t think that’s happening.”
“You fall for someone faster than any of us,” Jensen said, as if it were a crime. “You fell for Miranda this fast and married her six months later. Imagine if you had slowed down and gotten to know her. Maybe we wouldn’t be dealing with this shit at all.”