Page 71 of The Thing About My Secret Billionaire
“Would the sanctuary fall apart without you for a couple of nights?”
I sigh and rest my elbows on the table. “I suppose Miller is pretty good at everything.”
“And how is he at taking care of the donkeys?” Paige sticks out her tongue.
“Stop it. That was all a mistake. I’ve got enough on my plate already with everything here, and now having to fly back to try to talk this big YouTuber into joining the Greenwich sofa campaign. I don’t need any man stress as well.”
“Is it stress, though?” she asks. “Or does it make you feel really fucking amazing?”
Well, the obvious answer is yes, of course it makes me feel really fucking amazing. But I also don’t know what the point of it is. There’s no saying that Miller will be sticking around here. And even if he does, I’ll be going back to Chicago permanently as soon as Grandpa can handle everything again. So there’s no way I’m getting involved with someone who’s clearly looking to escape their city for a more rural life. Why would I open myself to the potential upset of that?
“Your smile just answered my question,” Paige says.
“I wasn’t smiling.”
She nods dramatically. “It was one of those gooey, mushy smiles.”
“I don’t have a gooey, mushy smile.”
“I didn’t think you did either, until two seconds ago.” She rests her chin on her hand and leans in, looking more serious. “You can’t go on letting Brandon’s lies stop you from enjoying any man ever again.”
That’s not a topic I have the time or desire to delve into right now.
“Look.” I slap my hand on the table to jolt myself out of whatever reverie I’d just unwittingly slipped into. “I’ll tell Julia that I’ll be there for the meeting. I could get a flight to come out tomorrow night. The meeting’s the next morning, so I could maybe fly back the same day and only be gone for a little over twenty-four hours.”
“Make the flight later so you can at least come for a quick drink with me after work,” Paige says. “Then you can fill me in on all the hot dude details in person. That’ll be even more fun.”
I frown at her.
“And because I miss you like crazy, of course,” she adds.
“Okay, I’ll see what the options are and let you know.”
“Good. You better go find that man and get to third base before I see you. I wantallthe details.”
I glare at her. “Bye, Paige.”
She blows me a kiss and hangs up.
Hearing all about what’s going on with Miller isn’t the only reason she wants to hang out. I’d bet she also thinks that if we’re face-to-face over a few drinks, she can talk me into taking the practical option of selling the sanctuary.
I drop my head onto the table and breathea giant sigh. It’s at times like this I wish I had a sibling who could share some of the load.
There’s no point talking to my parents about it. They’d just tell me and Grandpa to do whatever we think is best. They’ve never been interested in the property. At least not with anything even remotely approaching the passion that Grandpa and I have for it.
Speaking of things Grandpa loves, where the hell is Thelma?
I look around the room again, no sign.
Behind the sofa. Nope.
Under the sofa. Nope.
On top of the kitchen cabinets? Nope.
I open the door to the bathroom in case she accidentally got shut in there. Nope.
She doesn’t usually go upstairs, but I scoot up there anyway in case she was nosing around with Miller’s family before they left.
