Page 68 of Eternal Hoptimist

“Imagine a unicorn and a manatee had a baby,” Seth said as though it were obvious.

“Naming a construction company after a fictional creature is weird but okay.” He shrugged.

“Narwhals are real.”

“But unicorns aren’t real. How could a unicorn and a manatee have a baby?” Ty threw a chunk of sausage at his brother.

Seth pinched the bridge of his nose. “That’s the part you’re latching on to? That unicorns aren’t real? Not the logistics of how a land-based horse-like creature could breed with what’s basically a whale?”

“Oh my god, theyarereal.” Ty gaped at his phone. “What the fuck! What else is real?”

“Ever seen a blobfish?” I asked, grateful for a reprieve before I had to admit who we’d agreed to hire.

“Or an angelfish?” Austin said.

“Who owns Narwhal Construction?” Dom’s voice was deadly calm.

Ty and Austin quieted immediately.

“Hayden Horic.”

“Oh shit.” Ty’s head whipped back and forth as his attention bounced between Dom and me while Austin mumbled something along the lines of, “Well, this is gonna be good.”

If glares could kill, I would’ve been ash.

Dom stood and began pacing. “No. We arenothiring that man. I refuse to work with him.”

“Anyone got popcorn?” Ty slung his legs over the side of his chair and dropped his chin in his palm as he followed Dom’s movements back and forth across the room.

“Dom, it’s a great bid. Even you said so. We’d be foolish not to accept.” I left out the unnecessary details that would only piss him off more.

“I don’t care if hepaysus for the privilege to build the fucking thing. We’re not working with him. Why is he still in town anyway? Is this some kind of prank?”

I’d never seen Dom that fired up in all the years I’d known him. Ireallywanted to know what happened between him and Hayden.

“We already voted on it. You said yourself that his bid includes everything on our wish list.” I was pushing it, but he was the one who always harped on budgets. It’d taken us ages to convince Dom to even go for putting money into this project. We couldn’t afford to turn Hayden away unless Dom had a damn good reason not to trust Hayden for the job. That would require Dom actually getting personal and telling us about what happened. I knew I walked a fine line between not causing my friend pain and not letting him be a stubborn asshole and hurt the brewery.

Dom stopped pacing and aimed an icy stare, sending a shiver down my spine. I could hold my own with him after years of normal friendship squabbles, but I never wanted to be on his bad side. He folded his arms over his chest and loomed over me. “When we started this business, we made a pact that all big decisions had to be unanimous. I’m not agreeing to this.”

I refused to be intimidated by him. “You already voted for it. You can’t let your personal feelings get in the way of our business.”

Dom’s nostrils flared. “Like how yours aren’t affecting our business? Leaving on busy nights to go hang out with the guy you’re ‘definitely not dating.’” His eyes widened as soon as the words left his mouth.

I stood and shot daggers up at him. Sometimes I hated how short I was. “That was un-fucking-called for, Dominic.” I let my voice go as steely as his. He was bigger than me, stronger than me, growlier than me, but I wouldn’t take his shit.

I’d barely gotten the words out when the double-sided, glittery, hot pink dildo thumped Dom in the back of his shoulders.

“Ow! Jesus.”

“Use the talking dick if you’re gonna be an asshole,” Ty snapped.

Dom picked it up, huffed, and dropped into his chair. Good thing we’d figured out how to navigate squabbles years ago. It wasn’t the first time we’d snapped at each other and said things we didn’t mean, and it wouldn’t be the last. We wouldn’t have survived college if we’d taken everything personally. I wasn’t mad at Dom. I’d made him stressed. Fortunately, we loved each other enough to forgive easily, which we’d gotten even more practice in while running a business together. Despite that, Dom owed me an apology, and I wouldn’t crack first.

Dom held the middle of the long dildo and tipped it from side to side. We were silent for several minutes as the tension slowly leaked out of the room.

“I’m sorry. That was uncalled for, and I didn’t mean it. You work your ass off just as much as the rest of us, and I’m glad you’re doing more than work.” He held eye contact with me as he spoke.

That was a lot of words for him to say at once. “Apology accepted.”

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