Page 14 of Veiled in Brick

Without another word, she thrust the phone in my hand. I mouthed, ‘Bitch,’ and reluctantly placed it against my ear.

“James?”

Claire darted up from the couch and into her bedroom, chuckling to herself all along the way.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” he crooned through the speaker.

Despite the possibility of the romantic gesture being a truthful one, his voice did bring a slight smile to my face.

I sighed. “You’re not a dumb man, are ya, Jay?”

Chapter 3

“You thought I bought you flowers?”

The relief that engulfed me was overwhelming to the point that I sagged into the couch with a thud.

“It was plausible,” I replied.

“Zoey,” James chuckled my name. “How dumb do you think I am?”

“Not,” I responded quickly. “Not dumb, really. But I was about to never speak to you again if it turned out to be true, so…”

“You hate flowers that much?”

The ambient noise of a car driving along a highway filtered in through the speaker as I questioned my response.

“Flowers are nice,” I stated. “The connotations are not.”

“And the connotations of these flowers are…”

I winced audibly. “Well, they’re red roses, so—”

“Ah,” he cut me off, “say no more; you have the Valentine’s Day deluxe edition staring you in the face, don’t you?”

I laughed at his usual sarcasm. “Please don’t tell me that’s the actual name of a flower arrangement from your favorite florist that you know by heart.”

“Haven’t bought a girl flowers in at least two years, Zoey,” he responded. “And considering your hate for them—”

“Not hate—”

“Your distaste for them—”

“Eh,” I considered the word, “more than distaste, but less than hate—”

“Considering your obvious commitment issues and the connection that you’ve made with flowers and commitment,” he offered, letting the sentence hang in the air. I bit the skin on the inside of my cheek, and he continued, “I will be skating on thin ice with flowers for a hot minute here.”

I smiled. “Good.”

“Thank God I got that one right,” he joked, steering the subject away with, “What are you up to?”

“You mean aside from questioning your existence in my life?”

“Uh huh.”

“Laundry, probably,” I told him. “It’s my day off. You?”

“I am driving.”

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