Page 16 of Real Good Love
He’s exactly right. “I think what makes it harder is that I let her die thinking something horrible about her. That’s not something I’ll ever be able to change. It’s been driving me crazy.” A sniffle escapes, and I’m sure the tears will follow.
“Baby, I’m sorry. I wish I could hold you and tell you all the right things.”
I snuffle again. “It’s okay. I know it’s my fault. I just have to live with it.”
“She’d be proud of you, Banner. She wouldn’t have left you everything if she was holding a grudge.”
I think back to what the lawyer told me about Myrna changing her will almost weekly. “Or maybe she just didn’t have time to change her mind.”
“Stop, Bruce. Don’t beat yourself up over it. Learn from it. Honor her memory by carrying out her wishes.”
“How’d you get so smart about stuff like this?”
“I lost a lot of brothers, and death never gets easier. All you can do is try to do better in the future if you leave something unfinished in the past.”
The tears are drying up, and I go on to tell him about the romance novels and Jordana staying here with Sofia.
“I like dogs. I’ve always worked too much to have one, and I didn’t want to be the kind of business where I had one sleeping in the waiting room all the time. If Sofia doesn’t want to take her, you can bring her home.”
Home.He says it so easily because that’s what it is for him.
Is it mine now too? Because New York feels less and less like my home every hour that I’m here.
“I’ll ask her and let you know.”
“That sounds like a plan.” He yawns into the phone.
“You’re working too hard.”
“No such thing when you own your own business.”
“Did you even stop to eat?” As soon as my question is out, another thought follows. Emmy Harris better not try anything while I’m gone. We covered thepiesituation, but I wouldn’t put anything past her.
Logan Brantley is nobody’s fool and picks up on my tone. “What are you really asking?”
I’m not beating around the bush. “Did Betty Crocker Barbie try to bring you a picnic basket tonight because I’m not around?”
He laughs, and I want to punch him for it. “Jealous, Bruce?”
I force out a laugh of my own. “Of course not. I mean, no more jealous than you’d be if I told you I saw Brandon Sidewalk outside the hotel.”
Logan’s laugh dies. “That fucker who tried to put his hand up your skirt?”
It actually shocks me that he remembers that, and so quickly. “You remember that?”
“Of course I remember the list of guys I’ll need to take care of if I ever meet them.”
Something about his macho words gets me going. “Oh yeah? So you are jealous?”
“I told you, that’s my pie. I don’t share my pie with anyone.”
“And I told you I don’t share either.”
“You throw attitude at me like that when you’re around, it’s gonna be hard for me not to want to fuck it right out of you.”
Instantly my panties are soaked, and I remember Greer’s advice about filthy phone sex.
“Are you in the garage all by yourself?”
