Page 64 of Bonus Daddy
But Sloane and Lo had insisted that I make a gesture.
Despite my apprehension, I couldn’t deny that this was perfect. Jess and the girls were huge fans, and seeing Lake Paige in Boston meant taking Jess back to the place where we’d fallen in love.
The thought of making her happy powered me through an almost sleepless night.
While I lay in bed, with the damn cat on my chest, my thoughts moved from one detail to another. I’d clarify with her that she was not obligated at all to spend any more time with me if it wasn’t what she wanted. There would be no pressure. Nothing like that. No strings. She was still a client, after all.
The concert was next weekend and technically sold out, but if I knew my sister, she could make it happen for me.
“Hello, my lovely brother.” My sister’s voice was almost drowned out by the chaos swirling around her. It wasn’t surprising. Dylan was the definition of a free spirit. My opposite in so manyways but also the person I cared about most. “You always call on Thursdays, but it’s Monday. Are you okay?”
I winced. She knew me too well. I may be a little too attached to my routines. Yet another thing to bring up with Dr. Johnson next week.
“Dylan.” I took a deep breath, gearing up to open the enormous can of worms this request would bring with it. “I need a favor.”
“Name it.”
“It’s Jess.”
The screech she let out all but pierced by eardrum. Eyes squeezed shut, I pulled the phone away from my face.
“I knew it,” she gloated. “I told you that garnet crystal I sent would do the trick. Finally. You’ve been so lonely and grumpy for so long.”
“Hey,” I grumbled. I had hardly been guarding a bridge for all these years.
“Hold on.” A rustling sound. Then, “Cortney!”
I pulled the device away again.
“Brian needs us.”
“Everything okay?” Cortney asked, his deep voice a little farther away, like Dylan had put the call on speaker.
My brother-in-law was careful and a planner. The exact sort of man I would have chosen for my free spirit sister. He also managed Boston’s MLB team—a team I’d been raised to hate my entire life, but we couldn’t win them all.
“Start from the beginning and tell us everything,” Dylan insisted. “It’s hard for me to read your aura over the phone, but I’m getting some deep green vibes.”
I walked them through the last few weeks, doing my best to remain neutral and impassive so as not to excite Dylan too much. If I let her get too far ahead of herself, she’d probably show up here tomorrow with her sage and smudge the whole place to clear out my love chakras.
“So you’re in love with her,” she declared.
“No,” I said sharply. “I don’t know. I can’t do anything but be her friend while I represent her. But I want to show I care. I want her to know I’m interested.”
“The ball is in your court,” Cortney finished.
“Yes.” I sighed. “I don’t want to be creepy or go too over-the-top, but I’ve worked hard; I can afford to do something special. So…” I blew out a breath. “She and her daughters are huge fans of Lake Paige.”
“Aw, shit. Hold on,” Cortney said.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling Beckett on the intercom. He’s gonna want in on this.”
Dylan had lived with her three best friends and their kids before meeting and marrying Cortney. Now that she and her friends had all found their partners, they were neighbors. Each had their own brownstone on the same street in Boston, equipped with a state-of-the-art intercom system so they could contact one another easily and keep track of their kids. Beckett technically lived next door, but despite the walls, there were not a lot of boundaries.
“I do not need Beckett Langfield to help me impress a woman,” I said through gritted teeth.
Cortney barked a laugh. “Normally I’d agree with you, but this time, you’re wrong.”
