Page 201 of Steamy Ever After

Great, now he could spend the next twenty hours dreading whatever that meant.

CHAPTER 23

Giovanni’s phone finally rang when he was thirty feet up a tree and unable to answer it. By the time he got back to the ground, he had two missed calls and no bars.

“Yo, Giovanni,” Finn yelled. “Where you going?”

“I gotta make a call!”

A chainsaw buzzed and Finn pointed to his ear, telling him he couldn’t hear what he said. Giovanni waved him away and left the site.

He had to drive into the damn town to get a decent signal, but it was worth it to hear Erin’s voice.

“Hey.”

He sighed. “Tell me we’re okay.”

She didn’t answer right away and that scared him. “We’re okay,” she finally said with little inflection.

“Where are you?” Screw work. She was more important. He needed to see her.

“I’m in a town called Clifton Heights.”

“Clif—Erin, where the hell is that? What’s going on?”

“I needed room to think.”

“About us?”

“About everything.”

He gripped his phone so tight the case creaked. “Forget what I said the other night. I was exhausted and in a shitty mood. It had nothing to do with you.”

“It’s not what you say, Giovanni. It’s what you do.”

He didn’t know what she meant. “Look, I’m trying to make some money. Maybe the lumberyard’s not for me, but it’s something until I find a better option. We’ll figure it out.”

“I don’t care about your money, so long as you’re not in financial trouble.”

“Then what?”

“I just want you to be happy.”

“Then come home.”

“I’m trying to figure out where that is.”

His heart stopped. “Well, I can tell you it sure as fuck isn’t a place called Clifton Heights.”

“I’ll call you tonight.”

“Erin, wait, how long are you staying out of town?”

“I don’t know, but I have to go. I’ll call you tonight.”

The line cut off. “Fuck!”

When he returned to the lumberyard his temper was fuming. Finn spotted him right away and sent out a whistle for him to stop like he was a goddamn dog or something.

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