Page 168 of Grand Love

The wheels of his desk chair grate across the wood floor, sliding until he appears at his bedroom door.

“Hi,” he mutters, running his hand through his hair and twisting his neck.

I’m surprised to find him so bright eyed. Especially after how I found him yesterday. “Hi… how are you today?” I ask, not going any farther into the room and putting off bringing up the real reason for being here. “You seem better.”

“Fine,” he says, quickly. “Working.”

I nod. “Of course, you have prints going out soon, right?”

“No. I cancelled them. I have something else I’m working on.”

I openly frown. Because what the hell? “You cancelled them?”

“Yeah. Do you want a drink?” His eyes blink rapidly and he shakes his head in frustration.

Joey stands from his chair, crossing to the kitchen and getting a drink.

“No.” I swallow the lump in my throat. Why is he acting like nothing happened? “I need to talk to you, Joey.”

“Yeah?”

I stand next to him at the sink, trying to figure out what to say. “I need to take a step back from our friendship.” My eyes burn with the words. “I need to focus on my family for a while.”

“Family?” he asks, nodding.

He thinks I’m being insensitive. “Just for a while, I’ll still be around. I just won’t be dropping in.”

“I don’t need you dropping in.” He gives me an awkward look that makes me frown. “Did you want something else?” He looks past me, flexing his fists before pointing past me. I follow his line of sight to his bedroom. “I got work.”

There’s a calm that comes over him. It’s as if he hasn’t even heard me. He was so upset yesterday and now he’s like this. “Yeah, that was it. I should have texted before coming, sorry.”

He slips past me, disappearing into his room.

I go to the door and open it, but something stops me from leaving.

Backtracking, I go to his room and walk to his computer chair. He’s working on an image on the screen. It isn’t clear what it is, but it holds every colour you could think of. “Joey.”

“Hmm.”

“I’m going to go now.” I pull the card with Vinny’s number that he gave me last year from my purse and slide it onto the desktop. “Will you call this number if you need anything?”

He looks at it, then to me. His eyes are emotionless, piercing straight through me. “Okay.”

Turning away from me, he starts working on the image again, as if I’m not here. My eyes blur with tears and I quickly lean down and wrap my arms around his body, resting my head on his. This doesn’t feel right. But I don’t say anything more. Standing straight and wiping my eyes, I leave his apartment, knowing I won’t be back for a while.

* * *

Vinny arrives shortlyafter seven to pick me and Ellis up. When I got back from Joey’s, Maggie was waiting at mine and I ended up telling her everything. She thinks I’ve made the right decision, which coming from Maggie means a lot to me. She agrees that Scarlet should go and check in with him in a couple days. It will make me feel better and I really do think it will be good for him to get help and support after the news about his brother.

“Hello, love,” Vinny says, rounding the bonnet and taking the two bags I had packed for me and Ellis. “You’re both staying at the penthouse tonight?” he observes.

I nod, taking a deep breath in. I need to try and push my emotions aside regarding Joey. I have my own life to fix. “Yeah, I’m going to stay in the spare room. But I think it’s a good step.” I bounce on the balls of my feet. “This is progress, Vin.”

He chuckles, placing a hand on my back and guiding me towards the car. “The spare room.” He shakes his head.

“Yes, the spare room.”

He gives me an amused look. Is it so hard to believe that we can stay away from each other? We did it for over a year.

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