Page 51 of Embody

Seventeen

JT

I’M IN Ameeting with a client I procured, my father on lead…when my phone vibrates in my pocket.

Could it be one of my buddies with some non-important bullshit? Yes.

Could it be my intriguing, obstinate in the most wonderful of ways, redhead? Yes, yes it could…which is why my father is about to be a seriously unhappy man.

I clear my throat, trying to rise from my chair with as much decorum as possible. “Gentlemen, I apologize for the interruption, but I have an important call coming in I must take. Please, continue on without me.” I rip my phone out of my pocket and walk briskly from the room, feeling my dad’s eyes burning a hole in my back.

As to not chance him storming out in the hall to inspect the phone call himself, I head straight for the men’s room, shutting myself in the far back stall.

And I finally look at my phone.

Totally worth my charade.

 

Bellamy: Not ready to pick a day to actually move, but if you’re free tonight after I get off work, we can go up and look at it so I have a better idea of what to keep IF I agree to this.

 

Me: What time do you get off work?

 

Bellamy: 7, so I can meet you at my place around 7:35. Does that work?

 

Me: Not even a little bit. I’ll pick you up. At work. At 7.

 

Bellamy: *sigh* You don’t have to do that, Jefferson. No sense in you making an extra trip. I’ve ridden the bus for a long time, it’s not a problem.

 

Me: See you at 7. Gotta go, meeting. Have a good day, and try not to argue with the customers. That pleasure’s all mine.

 

I shoot off a text to the apartment complex manager, telling him to have the key waiting for me at the front desk, then hurry back into the meeting.

“Everything all right?” My father asks in stern annoyance when I retake my seat.

“Very good,” I try for a blank expression ‘cause it’s creepy as hell how well he can read it if you show one. “Sorry again for the disturbance.”

He grins, actually grins, at me knowingly. “I’m glad to hear it. No apology necessary. Some things should always take precedence.”

He knows who it was and sounds as if he not only understands, but dare I say seemshappyfor me? After all, I’m emulating, or trying to anyway, everything I learned watching him my whole life. He’d answer his phone while still in the room, mid-sentence, and kick everyone out if my mom needed him.

 

 

I PULL UPoutside The Pit Stop at seven p.m. sharp, ready to show Lil’ Miss Sassy Britches her new apartment.

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