I took a drink of my iced tea, avoiding all three pairs of eyes, waiting for my opinion. I hadn’t exactly told them I’d been talking to Hannah since she left. After the way they’d all put their noses where they didn’t belong before, I hadn’t wanted anyone to know. And also, because I had no idea what any of this meant for us. All I knew was that I enjoyed talking to her every night, that even though she was all the way across the country, it made her seem not so far away.
“I didn’t see the game.”
All of them stared blankly at me, like I’d lost my mind for not having watched the Rangers play. Maybe I had. It definitely felt like it most days, lately.
“What the hell were you doing that you missed the game?” Aaron looked horrified as he asked me.
“Working.”
It was technically true. The game had already been going on for at least a couple hours before I made it home last night.
“You don’t DVR that shit?” Wes asked.
For fuck’s sake, why couldn’t these assholes just drop it?
“I was watching a different game.”
“What game?” Tucker asked.
“Yeah, what game? I’ve never known you to miss one of the Rangers’ games,” Aaron interjected.
I roughed a hand through my hair, then picked up my glass. “The Mariners,” I mumbled seconds before taking a big gulp of tea.
“Dude.” Aaron sighed with a shake of his head.
I rolled my head around, cracking my neck to relieve some of the tension from their interrogation. “What?”
Wes and Tucker both sat back in their seats, suddenly extremely interested in only their burgers and fries.
“You gotta either shit or get off the pot,” Aaron answered. “You can’t just keep moping around, pining after a woman who’s thousands of miles away.”
“When did this become a bro-vention, or any of your damn business?”
The three of them exchanged nervous looks across the table. What the fuck?
“Is that what this is about? Batting practice and all this male bonding time?” My jaw tensed with my muscles as I stared at them all. “You idiots are wasting your time.”
“Come on, man. You’re our friend. Can’t blame us for wanting to cheer your lame ass up.”
“Well, I’m fine.”
“Then why so attached to your phone lately? I can’t even count the number of times you’ve checked it since we’ve been together today. Move on or don’t. But if you’re not going to, then do something about it.”
“She lives in Seattle, asshole. What am I supposed to do?”
“I don’t know, but anything is better than nothing.”
“Yeah, well good thing I’m doing something then.”
“What are you talking about?”
I rubbed a palm over my face, already regretting what I was about to admit. “I’ve been talking to her every day since Monday. It’s why I’m checking my phone, ass. Because she’s supposed to find out if she got the job today.”
“No shit?”
“No shit.” I smirked.
“So, what does that mean? Are you guys giving it a go? Long-distance or something?”
“It means you assholes can start minding your own business.”
“Fat chance.” Aaron grinned, picking up his burger again.
That’s exactly what I was afraid of, and I knew it would only get worse once he told Leighton.
After my shower, I settled in on the couch with a beer and the remote. I flipped on the TV, trying to distract my mind. I was giving her one more hour, then I was saying to hell with it and calling her.
I didn’t even have to wait five minutes. My phone rang beside me, and I quickly picked it up, relieved as hell to see her name flashing on the screen.
“Hey, blondie.” I smiled as I answered.
“Hey! Guess what?!” she squeaked, her voice energized and excited.
“You got the job.”
“I got the job!”
I laughed. It was like she hadn’t even heard me. “Congrats, babe. I knew you would.”
“Yeah, well…I still can’t believe it. I’m going to be a buyer, not an assistant. I’ll have my own assistant!” Her words were slightly slurred with her excitement.
“You drunk, blondie?”
“Maybe a bit tipsy,” she admitted. “My parents took me out to celebrate. I just got home.”
My muscles relaxed with the mention of her parents and the fact that she was home safe. I was already working up all kinds of damn scenarios in my head.
“Adele and Phillip, right?”
“Yeah,” she sighed. “My mom wants to meet you.”
“So, you’ve talked about me to them?” I teased.
“Maybe.”
I heard the smile in her voice and the way her breathing was increasing. What’d I give to see it all in person, to hold her in my arms and touch her in all those little spots that made her moan and breathe a little harder.
Feeling the strain in my pants, I cleared my throat. I needed to distract my mind with something else before I ended up jacking off to just the sound of her voice and my memories of her.
“Well, I’d love to meet your parents someday, too.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, sweetheart.”
Carrying one end of the couch with Aaron having a hold on the other, we rotated it, getting it into place in my new living room before lowering it to the floor.
“That it?” Leighton asked, coming around the corner from the kitchen.
I glanced over my shoulder toward the front door. “Yeah, other than some boxes.”
Wes and Tucker carried in the last few, placing them just inside the door along the wall. Lottie was right behind them with my floor lamp for the living room.
It’d been almost a whole two months since Hannah had left. With Tucker’s paying construction jobs, he’d been a little delayed on finishing up the ranch house for me. I didn’t mind so much, since harvest was keeping me pre-occupied, except for the fact my lease was ending. Luckily, my landlord was an old family friend and let me stay a few extra weeks, since they didn’t have anyone new moving in any time soon.
Slipping my hands into my pockets, I glanced around my new place as everyone made their way onto the porch to crack open the beers I’d provided in exchange for their help moving.
Tucker was the only one to linger inside with me. “Hopefully you’re good with all the updates.”
“No complaints here. It’s nicer than any place I’ve ever lived before.”
I wasn’t exactly incapable when it came to home repairs, but Tucker was on a whole other level. The man just had an eye for it and was an insane perfectionist.
“There for a while I thought maybe we’d be moving you farther away from us instead of closer by.”
I shrugged, knowing he was referring to Hannah. The truth was, it had been getting harder for us to stay connected. With her new job, she’d been traveling a lot, and we barely spoke. The few times we’d managed, it was usually short conversations before she was being pulled a different direction.
“Look man, I know we’ve never been as close as you and Aaron…and I get you not wanting others in your business…but a little advice from someone who’s been there before?”