Page 87 of Idle

He pretends to hit an imaginary ball by swooshing his racquet in the air. “You’ve always gotten good grades and have been a worthy colleague. Never missed a deadline and were well prepared. I always had the feeling you were going through the motions, though.” He lowers the racquet. “On the show, I saw a man on a mission because he was all in. Not simply doing what was expected.”

I have nothing to add. Instead, I hold up the ball. “Ready?”

I give him exactly one second to get into position, then serve. The ball thwacks against the wall and speeds toward Xander, who returns. The game doesn’t deter him, though.

“I think you’re damn good at your job in banking. Others must agree, considering you’ve been promoted.”

Focusing on the game, I hit the ball—harder this time. He returns.

“I also think you should be working with your hands and wood. Creating more of the gorgeous furniture you showcased on the show. Maybe even carving more pieces.” He runs for the ball and makes the save. “How’s the Etsy shop going? It must’ve blown up since the show aired.”

My racquet doesn’t make contact with the ball and it bounces off the back wall. Shit. Walking over, I scoop it up and take a moment to catch my breath. “Closed it down, man.”

“What?” Xander’s response is faster than our volleys.

Shaking my head, I admit, “I didn’t see any reason to keep it open. My life is with the bank now.”

“Your professional life maybe. Not your heart and soul. Not your passion.”

“Enough.” Xander looks at me. “I lost the fucking show for our team. I wasn’t good enough. That’s all I needed to know to get my head set back on straight. I’m now an executive director at the bank, on my way up to becoming chief compliance officer. Like Homer.” Like Diana would’ve done. I bounce the ball, using my racquet instead of my hand.

“Dude. You’re wrong. First, from what I saw, you weren’t the one who lost the competition. If anything, Paige did. Love my cousin to death, but she took over projects that were over her pay grade and ignored items on her to do list she should’ve done.”

“You’re wrong. I let her do those things. I could’ve told her no.”

Xander’s head flies back in a loud guffaw. “Paige. We’re talking about my cousin here. The one who’s never heard the word ‘no’ in all her life.”

I told her no. Several times. “She would’ve listened to me.”

Xander’s head tilts. “You think?”

“It happened several times.”

He swings his racquet. “Well, this is a whole different game now, isn’t it?”

I let the ball bounce itself to the floor. “I don’t follow.”

“We were only messing with you.”

Now I’m all sorts of confused. “About what?”

“Theo and me.” Xander snatches the ball from the floor and resumes bouncing it on the head of his racquet. “True, Paige is his little sister. We’ve been raised like cousins. But I can’t imagine a better man for her than you.”

I cringe, as if the ball smacked me in the stomach. Hard. “What are you talking about?”

“C’mon. We’ve established we’ve known each other for almost a decade. I can read you. Now this is all making sense to me. You fell for her, didn’t you?”

My gaze follows the bouncing ball. “I don’t know what you mean.” My phone rings. Breaking game protocol—since we’re clearly not playing a real game anyway—I pick up my phone and check to see who it is. Spam call. Great. I block the number.

I’m about to shut off my cell when Xander asks, “Can I see that?” I try to hide my phone from him, but he’s too quick. “Thought so.”

He twists his hand so my wallpaper faces me. Looking back at me is the cute selfie I took of Paige and me eating ice cream on the High Line that I managed to snag off the Renovation TV phone before I turned it in.Busted.“You fell for her.”

Defeated, I rest against the back wall. “Sort of,” I mumble.

He joins me in holding up the wall. “She broke up with you when the show ended?”

“Other way around.”

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