“Yeah, okay.” I knew I should just say no. It would come with too many questions from Mom.
Harrison stirred the ground beef again.
“Anyway,” Warren said, “I’ll head out. It was good to talk to you, Zander.”
“You too,” I replied, though I wasn’t sure it had been. No offense to Warren, but all his visit had done was stress me the fuck out.
A look passed between Harrison and Warren that I couldn’t read, but I didn’t think it was good. As soon as Warren let himself out, I said, “I can take that. I was supposed to be cooking you dinner.”
“You were? That’s sweet.” But instead of handing the spatula over, Harrison wrapped his arms around me, nuzzled my neck, and rubbed up against me. I automatically melted into his embrace. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too,” I admitted, even as the words tried to stick in my throat.
“I’m sorry that my friend is a nosy asshole. He’s just…interested in you.”
“I don’t mean to keep you away from your friends. If you want to spend time with them, just tell me and I can stay home.”
“I don’t want to spend time with them—okay, that came out wrong. I love them, but…” He nuzzled my neck again. “You have a better ass. And I like the way you cuddle…and ramble…and talk in your sleep. Did you know?”
“I don’t talk in my sleep!” I pulled back.
“You do, cute little mumbles about books and characters, and I think you might have explained personification to me the other night.”
I laughed. “I’m being serious.”
“So am I. I’d totally forgotten what personification actually is.”
I didn’t let my smile show, but I felt it inside my chest. “Harrison…”
“Zander…” Then, “Shh. I know. If I wanted to spend time with someone else, I would. And Thanksgiving, I don’t want you to feel obligated, but I would love to have you and your family here. I’m sure they want to see what your life is like in Atlanta.”
Yes teased my tongue again, but I didn’t know how to say it. “Isn’t that more of a boyfriend thing?”
He shrugged. “We can make our own rules. It will be a Friendsgiving.”
I nodded, more disappointment bubbling up inside me. “Maybe…?”
“Maybe works. It’s better than no.” He kissed the tip of my nose just as there was a knock at the door. My heart leaped, and Harrison must have seen it in my eyes because he grinned. “Go pass out candy, Zander. I’ll finish this up.”
“We can cook and hand out candy together.” I turned off the stove and tugged Harrison to the door with me. A goblin, a witch, and a football player stood there. I gave them bigger handfuls than I probably should have.
I was happy and thankful to be sharing this night with Harrison.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Harrison
“We have a shipment of parts that didn’t come in, an angry customer because they weren’t approved for credit, and a truck that was bringing in cars broke down in Tennessee,” Walter, one of the managers on duty, told me. Because of course when the shit hit the fan, everything had to happen at the same time.
“What would you rather I take care of? Whatever makes things easier on you,” I told him. I’d had shitty bosses before and had promised myself that would never be me. I wouldn’t sit in my office while others worked their asses off around me. I was the owner, yes, but to me, that meant I should work more, not less.
“I can deal with the customer if you want to handle the shipment and truck issues.”
“On it. Thanks for your hard work, Walter.”
“Thanks for being so great to work for.”
It took me a couple of hours to get everything sorted out. We really needed those vehicles, and the car hauler would be days in the shop, so we had to get another truck to take the load. There hadn’t been anyone in the area, so it took some finagling, but luckily, it was taken care of.
The parts thing was easier. While I had someone in service who could work on that, we were also backed up on repairs, so in times like that, I stepped in to do the jobs I could. Replace a transmission I couldn’t do, but making phone calls I could.
I was a little late getting out of work that afternoon, but I sent Warren a text to let him know. We were meeting at the gym to play racquetball.
He was there when I arrived, waved and held the door open for me to go inside.
“Don’t try and be nice, Warren. I’m still pissed at you.” It had been a week since his impromptu visit to my house just so he could scope out Zander.
“Sorry, I wanted to meet your boyfriend.”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” I replied as we headed for the locker room.
“Sorry—I wanted to meet the guy you’re fucking and totally in love with and whom you want to be your boyfriend but are too afraid to tell him.”
I looked at my friend and flipped him off. “Sometimes I don’t know why I like you.”
“Come on. This is fun. It’s like we’re kids again. Maybe you should write him a letter? Do you like me? Check the box for yes or no. You have a crush, and you’re too afraid to open up and share your feelings. It’s like you reverted to your twenty-five-year-old self.”
All I had to do was give him one look, and Warren cracked up laughing. I couldn’t say he was totally wrong. Zander made me feel young again, but… “I’m not afraid to tell him how I feel.” We were in the locker room now, on a bench, beginning to get undressed. “But I know him. You can’t rush Zander. He needs to come around to things on his own. He’s afraid of getting hurt. Plus, being serious isn’t what he wants. It’s not what we agreed to, which I’ve told you before. It’s not fair to change the rules on him because I’m the old guy who caught feelings for someone who’s not ready to settle down.”
Warren tugged on a pair of shorts. “You’re not old. If you are, that means I am, and I refuse to believe that. Second, even if that means you get hurt? Because you might, and that worries me. Wouldn’t it be better to know now? I mean, I think the kid—man—is crazy about you. He was jealous of me and didn’t like that I had a key when he didn’t.”
I wasn’t sure I agreed about the jealous part, but after that incident, when I mentioned again giving him a key so he didn’t have to wait in his car, Zander had taken it.
“Just because the relationship started out one way,” Warren continued, “it doesn’t mean you did something wrong because your feelings changed. I think you should tell him.”
“I think I still don’t like you.”
Warren shook his head like he didn’t know what to do with me. I got it because that was what Zander did to me. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself either. Warren had it right when he said I was like a confused new adult when it came to Zander. He turned me upside down, and goddamn, I liked it. The hardest part was, I’d always prided myself on open and honest communication, but in not telling Zander how I felt, I was doing the complete opposite. I’d never been so scared to be honest before. I didn’t want to lose him.