Page 87 of The Confidentiality Clause
She frowns. “I don’t think I’m awake enough to dissect all of that.”
I laugh. “I don’t think I am either.”
Ariel stands and stretches her arms up high with a low groan. “I’m going to go get a shower and see if that helps me wake up.” She bends down and gives me a soft kiss. “She’ll call back. She loves you.”
I muster a smile. “I know.”
But the truth is, I don’t. I’ve pushed everyone around me away for months. While I don’t think Sutton will stop loving me because of that, I do think it’s going to take more than a phone call to repair our relationship.
Once Ariel is in her bedroom, I call Marie.
“Can you get me a flight to Alabama? Sometime this afternoon. Possibly for Ariel too.” Hopefully Ariel will forgive me for not running these plans by her, and for cancelling our s’mores date.
“Can do,” she says. “I’ll send you the details when I have them.”
I hear her typing in the background.
“Thanks, Marie. Go ahead and give yourself another raise too.”
Her typing stops. “If you keep giving me raises, the company is going to go bankrupt.”
“We both know that’s not true, Marie.”
“Well, my husband would tell me to stop talking and take the money. So that’s what I’m going to do.”
I chuckle. “Good. Thanks again, Marie.”
“Just doing my job, Mr. Jones.”
She hangs up before I can tell her for the thousandth time not to call me that. She’s a couple decades my senior. The woman shouldn’t call memisteranything.
As soon as our call ends, the doorbell rings. I didn’t think the delivery guy was supposed to be here for a couple more hours, but it’s good that he’s here since I now have to go to Alabama. I open the door and freeze in place.
Sutton and Shaw are standing on Ariel’s front porch with grins on their faces. Behind them are Miles, Jason, and Emmett too.
“Surprise!” Sutton says, and throws her arms around me.
Surprise, indeed.
Chapter forty
Brock Jones
I open my mouth and close it as I try to process what’s happening. Sutton steps back after giving me a hug. Shaw grins and pulls me in for one next, slapping me on the back.
“What are you guys doing here?” I ask once the shock begins to subside.
“We were coming for an intervention,” Miles says as he gives me a half-handshake, half-hug. “But then Sutton said you might have taken a turn for the better.”
“We all moved our schedules around to be here, so figured we might as well make the most of it,” Jason says as he gives me a tight enough hug to crack my back.
Emmett stays back, nodding toward me in greeting. I guess marrying the love of his life hasn’t turned him into a total softie yet.
“You’re at Ariel’s house,” I point out and glance over my shoulder. She’s likely still in the shower, but won’t be for long.Not sure how she’s going to feel that a huge group of people have shown up on a day she’s not feeling well.
“We had just landed when you called Shaw,” Sutton explains. “Figured we could save some time waiting by coming straight here.” She peers over my shoulder. “Where’s my bestie? I need to interrogate you both since no one told me the news.”
“I tried,” I say in defense. “You didn’t answer my calls or texts.”
