Page 39 of Yours to Conquer

“Are you doing better now? I can stay the night if you want. We can snuggle together like we did when we were kids, but I have to draw the line at you drooling on the pillow.”

“No, it’s okay. You talked me off the ledge. I’m good. And I’ll have you know, Anthony has never said a thing about my drool.” I give her my best indignant look. My eyes shift sideways, and my head tilts. She laughs and hugs me.

“See you tomorrow, Em. I’ll show myself out. Oh, and I met your roommate earlier, and she seems nice.”

“I met yours, too, and I like him. Have a good night, Kat. Thanks for being there.”

She blows me a kiss as she walks out of my room. I look down at the bucket of ice cream I set aside to hug Kat. It’s more like chunky chocolate milk. Just looking at it makes my stomach roll. I climb out of bed and venture into the kitchen to dispose of it.

“Hey, are you okay?” Roxy asks from her perch on the couch.

“Yeah, just a tough day. What are you watching?” I walk to where she is sitting and take up residence on the other side of the sofa.

“Just reruns ofFresh Prince of Bel-Air. You can change the channel.” She reaches out to hand me the remote.

“No, I love Will Smith.” The theme song plays in my mind. I sit down just in time for a commercial.

“The Law Offices of Somerville and Sloan,” the commercial says. I look to Roxy and find her staring back at me. “A relative?” I knew Somerville sounded familiar. It’s a large law firm in downtown Los Angeles. They cover everything from ambulance chasing to corporate law.

“Yep, that’s my dad. You can see why he’s a disappointed parent. We were supposed to either become lawyers or marry well. I did neither, so they wrote me off.”

Wow, I thought I had it bad. “Do you have any siblings? I know what it feels like to be a disappointment to a parent. My dad never liked me,” I matter-of-factly tell her. The more I say it, the less it seems to bother me. Maybe I am moving past my horrific childhood.

“Yes, there are three of us. Roseanne, Roxanne, and Reanne. My parents thought they were so cute and clever. My oldest sister married a partner. My younger sister is in law school. I hang around gay men.” She shrugs and goes back to looking at the television.

The way she describes her life makes me laugh. She is funny. “I’ll be here tonight, but I’m going back to Anthony’s tomorrow. Will you need anything?”

“No, I’m fine. I start back to work on Friday. I took yesterday and today off to get moved in and organized,” she says. “I’ve got your cell number if I need anything.”

We spend the rest of the evening in companionable silence. Every once in a while, Roxy or I burst out in laughter when Carlton, Will, or Ashley does something crazy. Before I doze off, I decide to head to bed.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

I wake to the sound of my cell phone ringing. Right Said Fred plays “I’m Too Sexy.” That’s Anthony’s ringtone. I stretch and reach for it. He is way too sexy for just about everything.

“Hello,” I answer in a tired, gravelly voice.

“Good morning. Sorry to wake you. I just didn’t want to start my day without saying hi. I have meetings all day, and we probably won’t get to touch base until tonight.”

“Come home. I’m tired of sleeping alone,” I whine.

“I wish… how did things go with Kat last night? I talked to Damon, and he said you two were hanging out.”

“She brought me ice cream because I was down. I’m good now. There’s nothing a gallon of Rocky Road can’t cure. I’m sure it’s going straight to my ass.”

“I love your ass—I miss your ass. Actually, I miss everything about you.”

“I miss you, too. Tell me how things are going.” I sit up against the headboard and settle in for our conversation.

“I have a meeting with the accountant. There are some fairly large discrepancies, but they haven’t been going on for very long.The loss is negligible in the scheme of things. We’ll still be able to eat,” he teases.

“It’s awful that people you trust are stealing from you.” The idea of anybody doing something wrong to him pisses me off.

“Yes, it’s awful, but hey, at least we got good news about the drunk driving situation. Damon says they are wrapping up the investigation today. That’s one thing down.”

“That was very stressful. Hopefully, things will go more smoothly in Texas and you can come home early.”

“I’d love that, but I don’t see that happening at this point. I’ll get home as soon as I can. Speaking of home, did you decide to go back to our house?” I can hear the hope in his voice.

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