Page 198 of The Winslow Brothers

I roll my eyes, and he laughs.

“Fine. Maybe I was pacing…alittle.”

“Come on. It can’t be that bad. I mean, what? Are you here to tell me you want to quit?” He laughs at first, the presumed absurdity of his statement laying on his funny nerve. When I don’t say anything, though, his mouth drops open.

“Oh my God! Daisy Diaz, you’re not trying to quit your job, are you? Because I swear on everything, I will—”

“No, no, no,” I quickly respond. “I don’t want to leave. I… I just… I…” I pause, trying like hell to figure out a way to verbalize what I actually do need.

“Daisy girl, you’re making me nervous here. Stick your finger down your throat if you have to and ralph that shit up!”

“I’m not trying to scare you,” I say, but it comes off as more of a whine than anything else. “I just… I need to move to New York.” The words come off my tongue way more direct and harsher than I intend, and it doesn’t take long before I’m backtracking. “For a little while. Not, like, permanently. Just…three months or so. That’s it. That’s all I’m wanting to ask you.”

“Excuse me?”He furrows his brow. “You want to move to New York for three months?”

“Yes?” I respond, and when I realize how uncertain I sound, I swallow and reiterate with a firmer repeat, “Yes. That’s what I need.”

“And whyexactlydo you need this? Have you taken a position with the New York City Council? Applied to be an extra in the remake of Mary Kate and Ashley’sNew York Minute? What’s going on with you?”

“They’re remakingNew York Minute?” I ask, suddenly distracted.

“Daisy!”

I hold up both my hands in defense.Sorry. But to be fair, I am a child of the Mary Kate and Ashley generation.

“I have to go to New York because…”My whole career, my whole life, depends on it.“Well, you know I got married. And…I…want to…spend more time with my husband. We don’t know if we want to live on the East Coast or West Coast, and I figure this is a great way for us to figure that out. And, you know, we’re newlyweds, and we should be together and… Yeah, that’s pretty much why.”

“So, you want to move to New York to spend time with your mystery husband that you married in Vegas, whom I know absolutely nothing about? Am I getting this right?”

“Mm-hmm.” I suck my bottom lip into my mouth and then quickly add, “Obviously, I would be staging properties while I’m there. I want to work for you. That hasn’t changed.”

“Okayyy…” He pauses and runs confident fingers over his chin. “What’s this husband of yours’s name?”

“Flynn. Flynn Winslow.”

“And how long have you known Flynn?”

Like…a week?

“Uh…not that long.”

“He can’t move to LA?”

Well, no. He’s a resident of New York, and I sent in an application to Immigration stating that very fact.Obviously, though, I can’t exactly tell my boss that.

“It’s not a good time…” I pause and then quickly add, “For his job.Yes.His job needs him to stay for now. That’s why.”

“And what does he do exactly?”

Thank God, it’s something you actually do know about him!

I almost want to slap myself over how insane my life has become that I’m thrilled I know the answer to a simple question like this. About my freaking husband.

“He’s an electrical engineer.”And some kind of investment stuff that you haven’t gotten the full story on yet, so technically, you don’t even completely know this answer…

“Interesting.” Damien smirks. “And what made you decide to marry this mysterious electrical engineer in the first place?”

Obviously, he’s fishing for information. And I’m willing to bet ninety percent of that has nothing to do with work; it’s purely because Damien is a nosy little biotch.

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