Page 146 of Until August
I sagged against the wall, deflated and beaten, and watched him go. I wanted to call after him. Beg him to come back. Ask him to wait for me like he’d offered to do.
But I couldn’t. It wasn’t fair to him. So I let him go, my heart so heavy I could barely breathe.
I tipped my head back and looked up at the sky, not the least bit surprised that it was gray and cloudy.
August took the sun with him.
How many times could one heart break?
“What’s up?” Luca asked, stopping in front of me. I hadn’t even heard him.
I heaved out a sigh. “August quit.”
“Yeah, I pretty much saw that coming. I’m ready to step into his shoes.” He rubbed his hands together, excited by the prospect. Just as I’d offered him the job.
“Did you hear me?” I snapped. “August quit.”
“Yeah, I heard you. We all knew it was coming.” He shrugged. “I’m just surprised he stayed this long.”
What was it with my kitchen staff? They must have had a field day gossiping over this.
“I’ll miss him,” Luca said. “But he’s been training me for the job for a while now.”
I didn’t even bother commenting on that or asking how long this training had been going on. I was too crushed to really care. “You’ll have to prove yourself first. It’s not a given that you’re getting his job.”
“It pretty much is.” He puffed out his chest. “I’m the best you’ve got.”
I snorted. “No wonder your head is so big. You have to make room for that giant ego of yours.”
“My head isn’t big. It’s perfectly proportioned to my Adonis-like body.”
I sighed.
Dealing with my brother as my new righthand man would require all my patience. Hopefully, we’d make it through the night without killing each other.
He went inside, but I stayed at my post leaning against the wall, remembering the first night August had shown up here. The night I found out he was ‘Pistachio Guy.’
“You’re not so easy to forget.”
And I thought the same thing now as I did then.
Neither are you, August Harper. Neither are you.
It wouldn’t be the same without him.
Nothingwould be the same without August.
CHAPTERFIFTY-ONE
Nicola
December
“I want to spend some time alone with him,” Dylan said when he entered the room. “And why the fuck are you playing Christmas music?”
I didn’t respond or make a move. No way I was leaving Cruz’s side. They told me he would feel no pain. They assured me they would make him as comfortable as possible.
But what did doctors really know? What did anyone know unless they’d experienced it themselves?
