“She?” Nicolette asked. “Are you dating someone, Spencer?”
This might drive me back to drinking. “Thank you, Lisa. We’ll talk later.” Lisa closed the door behind her as she left. “I’m not dating anyone. Jordan is being an ass. Which I probably deserve, but let’s move on. Brett, did you need something?”
“Just dropping by to see how you’re doing.”
“Wouldn’t want to miss an opportunity to play the doting big brother,” Nicolette said under her breath, but everyone heard her. Her cheeks turned pink when she realized how far her voice had carried.
Brett’s face tensed, but he said nothing. He looked genuinely hurt by her comment.
Jordan looked away.
For the first time, Spencer felt sorry for Brett. “It’s not that we don’t appreciate it, Brett; we’re just not used to it.”
After a long moment, Brett said, “Well, get used to it, because we’re family, and I’m not going anywhere.”
“Why would you? You got everything you wanted,” Nicolette said. “Guilt-free.”
Jordan said, “I can come back later.”
Spencer put up an arm to block him. “Oh no. You wanted to stay.”
The ding of an incoming message echoed in the awkward silence. Spencer fumbled for his phone.
“Is it Hailey?” Jordan asked.
Brett stepped closer. “Hailey?”
“Do I know her?” Nicolette leaned in.
I had fun, too. Spencer was about to reply when he told himself that doing so would make it seem like he’d been waiting for her response. He stood there, frozen.
Jordan answered, “Hailey from college.” When Nicolette didn’t immediately recognize the name, Jordan put his hand over his heart and feigned agony. “Hailey.”
“Now I remember her. The one who used to hang out with you guys in the garage all the time.” Nicolette peered over to see what Hailey had written.
Spencer turned away and walked back to his desk.
Jordan shrugged. “I read the first message. She probably answered, ‘Hi, it’s Hailey.’ So far their dialogue isn’t exactly earth-shattering.”
“We should go,” Brett said, waving them toward the door.
“Are you kidding?” Nicolette sat down in front of Spencer’s desk. “Do you know how many of my dates Spencer interrogated? I distinctly remember him giving Todd Manx a lecture on why birth control wouldn’t be necessary because if I missed curfew he would remove his genitalia. I’m not going anywhere.”
“That’s hard-core,” Jordan said, sitting on the arm of Nicolette’s chair.
“I was serious,” Spencer said. And just because the last thing he needed was to see his best friend get his heart broken by his little sister, he added, “You don’t mess with a man’s sister.”
Nicolette rolled her eyes.
Jordan swallowed hard and stood up.
Brett stayed where he was, halfway to the door. Spencer didn’t like seeing his normally confident brother looking unsure of himself. I could throw him a bone. I am trying to be less of a dick. “Brett, what do you think I should say back? She said, ‘I had fun, too.’”
“Ask her to dinner,” Brett suggested as he walked over to stand with them.
“That’s unimaginative,” Nicolette said.
“Ask her to go in the simulator with you,” Jordan suggested.
“That’s creepy,” Nicolette countered.
“Have you already been on a date?” Brett asked.
“I took her to Mangiarelli’s for lunch today.”
Jordan chuckled. “Now that you have money, you sure know how to throw it around. Did you order a whole pizza or just a slice?”
“None of you are helpful,” Spencer said with a sigh.
S: Meet me tonight.
H: I can’t tonight.
S: Tomorrow then.
H: I have plans already.
“She doesn’t want to see me.”
“Ask her why,” Jordan said.
Nicolette slapped his thigh. “He can’t ask her why she doesn’t want to see him. What is she saying?”
Feeling about as ridiculous as a man could when he was sitting at his desk reading text messages to his family, Spencer asked exactly that. “I don’t get it. We had a real connection. I felt it.”
“I feel the same way every time I look at a centerfold.” Jordan sighed. “Then I remind myself they’re just one-dimensional, anyway.”
Nicolette slapped his leg again. “You’re such a dork.”
Brett took another step closer. “Wait.”
“For what?” Spencer asked.
“Just wait,” Brett said.
The longer they all just stared at each other, the more Spencer wished he hadn’t told them anything. Just when he was getting ready to wrap up all the fun, another message came in.
H: I could get a babysitter for Saturday.
“She could get a babysitter for Saturday,” Spencer announced triumphantly.
“She has a child?” Brett asked.
“She has custody of her niece.”
Brett went to stand beside his desk. “Tell her you’ll pick her up at noon. Close the deal.”
Spencer did, but then frowned when he saw her response. “She says she wants to meet me somewhere.”
“That’s not a good sign,” Jordan said.
“It’s because of her boss. She was telling me about the situation. The woman is a control freak with no boundaries. I hate the idea of Hailey working for someone like that. She wouldn’t even tell me her employer’s name. Jordan, can you find out where she works? You know, hack into something and just check if she’s safe there.”
Nicolette waved a hand in the air. “You think that would be respecting boundaries? I can’t believe you would ask Jordan to do something like that. I mean, that’s stalking.”
“Yeah,” Jordan said. “I’m offended that you’d even think I’d get involved in something like that.”
Really, Jordan? Like you haven’t done a complete social background investigation of every woman you’ve ever dated.
Brett said, “You could always help her find a new job.”
“I could.” He let the idea sink in and repeated more emphatically, “I could. I have a friend who owns a chain of department stores, and he owes me a favor. I’m sure he’d hire her.”
“I’d look into it,” Brett said firmly.
“After you ask her if she wants you to,” Nicolette corrected.
Jordan pointed toward the phone. “For now, you might want to just answer her.”
Brett said, “I have a two-hundred-fifty-two-foot yacht sitting in Boston Harbor.”
Jordan added, “I have a motorcycle. Sure, it’s not two hundred feet, but it instantly gets her wrapped around you and holding on.”
Shaking her head, Nicolette said, “Seriously?” She waited, but none of the men in the room had a response to that. She threw up her hands in surrender. “Of the two, I’d choose the motorcycle. It’s less pretentious. Take her for a picnic in Plymouth or on the Cape. Friends go for walks on the beach. And the beach can be romantic.”
Oh no, don’t get Jordan started.
“You like the beach?” Jordan asked.
Spencer sent him a look that shut him down. “The beach sounds good.” He texted the question to Hailey and waited. “She said yes,” he announced. “Looks like I’ll be borrowing your motorcycle, Jordan.”
“That’s fine. You can pick it up Friday.”