Page 57 of More Than Words

“He is. But I’m not asking him.” I knew I could tell my brother about Isobel, but I wasn’t ready for the shit I knew he’d give me over inviting a woman.

He nodded, slapping my shoulder before he started up the steps to the front door, using the handrail to pull himself up. His gait with the prosthetic was improved from the last time I was at home.

While he was distracted, I pulled my phone out of my pocket.

Adrian: Are you free Saturday afternoon?

Isobel: Trying to pencil in a booty call?

Adrian: Not exactly.

Isobel: Not a no either. But yes, I’m free.

Adrian: I’ll pick you up at 11.

Isobel: And we’ll be doing…?

Adrian: It’s casual. You’ll need sunscreen and a hat. Wear something red and sneakers.

Isobel: Casual as in business casual? I don’t remember ever seeing you out of a suit.

I didn’t remind her of when we went hiking in Maine, but I kind of liked it when she busted my balls. And did other things with them.

Adrian: We can save that for after work next week. But I’ll be wearing jeans and a Sox T-shirt.

Isobel: How will I ever recognize you without your cufflinks?

Adrian: I’m sure you’ll recognize your seat from last week.

Isobel: In your car?

Adrian: On my face.

She didn’t respond right away, so I tucked my phone back in my pocket, joining my family for dinner. I wasn’t sure how many we had left with Pops, so I wouldn’t take anything for granted.

The rest of the week in the office seemed to fly by with stolen looks and an abundance of self-restraint, at least on my part. The truth was, we were both too busy with our own projects to sneak away to talk about whatever was going on. Evan and Chase had gone quiet, but I was too distracted to track down my wayward author now that his book was going to print.

Sloane had been meeting with each of us to get a feel for how prepared our interns were for their interviews in the coming weeks. She’d also had several meetings with Isobel privately, and while I was dying to ask what they were about, I respected her privacy. If she wanted to tell me, she knew how to find me.

Saturday morning was already a bit of a disaster. Pops seemed to be more lucid, but Hutch was stuck doing damage control with his preteen daughter and bitch of an ex-wife. Despite him being stationed overseas for a good chunk of her childhood, Penny was a daddy’s girl. And when his ex’s temper came out, he was left to play mediator between the two of them.

That meant I was left to wrangle Pops into his game gear and get him in the car before I picked up Isobel.

She knew about my grandfather from our brief conversation in Maine, but I hoped his presence in my passenger seat wouldn’t be a total surprise. We really hadn’t dived into too much childhood emotional trauma at this point, so she didn’t know he’d spent most of my life as my only male role model.

It probably would’ve been easier to just tell her where we were going and with who, but I never did things the easy way. And part of me knew if she didn’t accept Pops, dating her wouldn’t work out, anyway. He was part of who I was, and while he’d likely be a bit of a cockblock on our first official date, I’d already told her I didn’t want things between us to be only physical.

“Where are yah takin’ me, Ad?” Pops grumbled from the passenger seat as I turned off the freeway towards Isobel’s neighborhood. “I know I’m losin’ my marbles, but even I know how tah get tah Fenway. Tha green monster is thattaway.”

“We’re pickin’ someone up, Pops. Remember Pen isn’t comin’ today?”

He frowned, and I watched him process what I’d said. Hopefully, today he didn’t have trouble remembering his great-granddaughter. It broke my heart when he didn’t, but the little sweetheart took it in stride when he had trouble around her.

“Ah. Yeah. She’s with the she-witch today. I remember.”

There wasn’t any love lost between my brother’s ex-wife and our grandfather. Respect was everything to his generation. And Hutch’s wife getting knocked up by her husband’s best friend while he served his country overseas was the ultimate disrespect. There was no way he’d ever look at her the same way again.

“He’s meeting us at the park. But I invited a friend from work to come with us to the game today. You haven’t met them before.”

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