Page 45 of Date and Switch

“This seems really odd.” Trish chewed her thumbnail while continuing to scan her phone. “I just don’t get it.

Dinner was pretty subdued after that announcement, with many disbursing back to their cabins before dessert was even served.

“Oh gosh, I have four missed facetimes from my sister.”

Back in our room, I’d grabbed my new iPad that Bryce gifted to me in L.A., to see if I could find any news pertaining to why the cruise was getting cut short, but immediately got distracted,

“What time is it in New York right now?”

Bryce turned his wrist to check the time, “It’s ten fifteen here so just after seven in the morning.”

Thankfully we had decent wifi and I was able to connect to Felicity on the first try.

“Hey, sorry I was at dinner. What’s going on?” I asked as soon as the call connected.

The moment her face came into focus I could tell she was not right, at all. Her eyes were puffy, her nose beet red—clearly, she’d been crying for some time.

“I’m so sorry to interrupt your dinner.” Her breath caught every few syllables. “It’s too early to call Mom, and Rex is such a hothead he’d fly off the handle and I know he’d go apeshit on Xander.”

Bryce had been passively listening from the bedroom while he undressed. The moment he’d heard about my brother going apeshit, he’d paused in his very specific process to stand between the two rooms and eavesdrop.

“Why would Rex go apeshit on Xander, Felicity?” My skin prickled with fear that something really bad had happened.

“He didn’t come home last night. He’s been working crazy hours. Once he fell asleep at work, so I was heading down the stairs to see if his car was parked in our spot.”

Her voice got watery and shook so bad I could barely understand the rest of what she said. From the few words I could comprehend she’d caught him coming out of the neighbor’s condo in 4C. The longer she sobbed out her story, the closer Bryce got to the iPad until he sat next to me on the couch.

“Oh, A, I’m so sorry. I wish I was there so I could be by you. Unfortunately, I’m all the way on the other end of the earth.”

“How close is she to your brother?” Bryce whispered, running a hand down my back.

“I don’t know, the average amount. He’s older than us so we’ve never been best friends with him—"

“No,” He chuckled, resting his hand on my leg, “I meant physically—like he must be in New York if she’s afraid he’d come and pulverize her brother as a big brother should.”

“He lives in Manhattan, Battery Park.” Bryce raised his eyebrows and whistled low. “Do you mind if I talk to her?” he asked.

“Hi hon.” His voice was soft and empathetic. Not that I expected him to not show those qualities, but she was pretty much a stranger except the few times he’d been sort of in view when we’d chatted before. “I know it hurts like hell right now. I’m not going to bullshit you. The pain is going to be so bad you feel like you’re drowning. I need you to do me a favor and call your brother, okay? He might be mad, and he might stomp around—but just remember he’s mad for you not at you.”

“I’m so sorry that you had to go through this, Bryce.” She continued to sob out barely coherent phrases.

He stood with my iPad and signaled he was taking the call out on the balcony. Not that I minded. It was actually pretty damn sweet. While he did that, I grabbed his iPad and started searching the news to see if I could find any insight into why the ship planned to change course.

Thirty minutes later, none the wiser on the reason for the shift, Bryce came back inside.

“I stayed on the line until your brother got there. She said she’d tried to get you again tomorrow night.”

He came and lay down, his head in my lap. He still wore his undershirt and dress pants, but didn’t appear to be interested in changing. We sat in silence for a long while, me running my fingers through his thick hair, him watching me watch him.

“Are you okay?” I asked him. “I would think a call like that could potentially knock loose some more heartache.”

“I feel a little bit better. Talking to your sister and sharing some of things we’ve talked about, the reasons why Sarah said she left me.”

The silence returning, hanging above us like an impending storm.

“Sharing in that burden with someone else who is looking at that kind of heartbreak right in the face, actually made me feel a little more settled, I guess. I don’t know how to describe it.”

Bryce had such a distinguished jaw. While when doing business, he preferred to be clean shaven, while in vacation mode he usually let his scruff go a few days before shaving. I loved it, Loved the abrasive feel of it against my palms, and all the other places on my body he’d tickle me with it.

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