“Are you serious!?” I screamed, “Are you freaking serious!?”
“I’d go out to California for six months for new employee training and to get a clear understanding of how the company functions. After that, I’d come back to Atlanta to be part of a team that will gain their presence on the East Coast. They said Atlanta, Chicago, and New York are the three cities that they want to expand into. Atlanta is the first. If all goes well, Chicago will be next, maybe in three to five years. New York after that.”
“Do they want you to open all of those offices?”
“I’m not positive, but it sounded likely. I think they want to see how things go with the first expansion before making any promises.”
“Holy cow. I’m speechless.” And I really was. This was so freaking huge for Hannah. A high pace technology company was exactly what she had always dreamed of. And now they were offering her a leadership position!? This was incredible. “So I’m assuming that you accepted their offer, right?”
“Actually… no.”
“WHAT!?”
Hannah laughed. “I told them about the other interviews that I had scheduled for this coming week and how I wanted to make sure that this was the right fit for me. I went ahead and completed all of the HR stuff so that I could formally accept without having to go back to California in the event that this does turn out to be the best fit for me. The CEO was actually pretty impressed that I asked for a week to consider the offer. He said that he would have done the same thing and would have actually been a little worried if I had accepted the first and only offer I had received.
“That was super smart of you. I’m glad he thought so, too. What did you think of the company? What about the people you’d work with?”
“I really liked it, Amber. Like really liked it. The company philosophy is right in line with what I envision for myself and the people were amazing. Everyone was so incredibly nice and welcoming. I was really impressed. I’m planning to keep an open mind for the other interviews, but honestly, I don’t know how they’re going to top this. It’s a dream job. I need to drive up to school and thank my professor in person. He always talked about taking his wife to this fancy restaurant… I think I’ll get him a gift card for there. I would have never had the balls to apply for this job on my own.”
After getting over the initial shock of Hannah’s news, I was so flipping excited for her. She had worked so hard during school to finish on top and really deserved this. I wasn’t going to hide my excitement that she’d be coming back to Atlanta, either. I felt like for the last seven years, I’d barely been holding things together. Treading water to make sure that Hannah was well taken care of and now there was finally something keeping me afloat. Between having Hannah back around and Tobie crashing into my life, I was beginning to see the beautiful sunrise peek through the clouds of my stormy life.
Tobias
“Fuck!” I slammed my fist against the sawhorse that was holding a few boards as a makeshift table. The force knocked over a water bottle, spilling the water all over the blueprints and my pants. “Dammit.” I shook the water off my hands and tried to swat the water out of my clothes.
“Who pissed in your Cheerios this morning?” Adam asked, setting the water bottle upright and shaking out the blueprints.
“I left my phone at home.” I scowled. I needed my phone today. I hadn’t been near Amber since Hannah got home Saturday afternoon and I was quickly becoming a grumpy asshat trying to survive without her. Random texts from her were the only thing keeping me from losing my mind right now. We needed to bite the bullet and tell Hannah soon or I was going to turn into the Incredible Horny Hulk.
Adam stared at me like I was out of my mind. “You punch a piece of wood because you left your phone at home? Damn man. Anger issues, much?”
I rolled my eyes, still trying to wipe the water off my clothes. I sighed. “No. Sorry. It’s just… nevermind.”
Adam didn’t need to know about the drama of trying to build a relationship with Amber while trying to keep things hidden from Hannah. The last thing I wanted was my crew thinking that I was some sort of pussywhipped douch who couldn’t control his emotions in check.
“Can I borrow your phone for a second?” I asked him.
“Sure, man.” He reached into his back pocket and handed me his phone. “Just don’t break it against the table if it doesn’t tell you what you want to hear.”
I held it up for him to see the broken case peeling off the edges and the shattered screen. “Seriously? I think I’d be doing you a favor.”
“If you don’t like my phone then you can always use yours… oh, wait! No, you can’t! Because you forgot yours and have to use mine. Dick.”
“Not as big of a dick as you are.”
“Damn right, I’m a bigger dick.” He grabbed the front of his pants cocked his head up, smiling.
God help us if Adam ever has to work in an office with an HR department that actually enforces rules. I don’t think he’d last two seconds before getting fired. I rolled my eyes and tried to swipe open the screen on his phone without cutting up my fingers in the process. I dialed Hannah’s number from memory.
“Hello?” she answered.
“Hey, it’s Tobie.”
“Hey. What number is this?” she questioned.
“I had to borrow one of my guys phones to call you. Are you busy right now?”
“No, not really. Why?”
“Can you swing by my dad’s house and get my phone? I left it on the kitchen counter. Do you remember the garage code?”
“Yeah. I remember it. You need it now?”
“If you don’t mind, that would be amazing.” I told Hannah the site location.
“Ok, I’ll be there soon.”
I hung up with Hannah and tossed the phone back to Adam, who was looking back down at the blueprints. It landed hard right in front of him. “Thanks, man. ‘Preciate it.”
“Seriously?” He picked up his phone and examined it for further damage before grunting and shoving it back into his pocket. “Asshole.”
Hannah found me standing by one of the forklifts when she got to the site. I gave her a huge hug, one because I hadn’t seen her since she got back from California, and two because she brought me my phone. She was a lifesaver and didn’t even know why.
“Here.” She said handing it to me. “There’s a text on there from Amber. What’s with that?”
I clicked the screen alive. Luckily, I have a PIN passcode set and the only thing visible was her name, but no details.
“Oh, uh….” shit, Tobe. Think fast. “She uh, called me to fix a leaking pipe over the weekend. It was a wet mess everywhere.” I laughed at my own joke. Hannah had no idea what I was really talking about. “I told her to text me and let me know if it happened again.”
“Weird… she never mentioned that… but why’d she call you?” She was looking at me as if I was the last person anyone would ever call to fix something around the house.
“Gee, I don’t know. Maybe because I work in construction and probably know how to fix a leaking pipe?” I shot back.
“I guess.”
“Anyway.” I needed to change the subject. Fast. “What are you doing Saturday? Wanna grab brunch?”
Hannah wasn’t listening anymore. She was staring with her mouth open at something over my shoulder. I turned to follow her gaze. Adam.
Shit.
“You never mentioned that you worked with Paul Bunyan,” she practically drooled the words.
My hand clapped over my face. “Trust me, Hannah. It was never worth mentioning.”
Her eyes widened as Adam tossed some bags of concrete over his shoulder. Remember the thing about him making it look like he was fluffing pillows? Yeah. Apparently Hannah thought it was pretty impressive as well. “Well, maybe you didn’t think it was worth mentioning… but damn.”
“Good grief, Hannah, close your mouth. You’re gonna to catch flies.” I shoved her shoulder. “He’s a dick anyw
ay,” I dismissed.
“I’d like to evaluate this ‘dick’ situation myself before any final judgements are made.”
“What the hell, Hannah?!” I shouted. Apparently loud enough to be heard. By Adam. Who was now looking at us. More specifically at Hannah. He dropped the concrete bags to the ground, making a big puff of dust and wasted no time sauntering over towards us.
“Holy shit,” I heard Hannah whisper under her breath as Adam got closer and she could tell just how big he really was. I groaned.
“Adam, this is my friend, Hannah,” I begrudgingly introduced them, “Hannah, this is Adam.”
He smiled at Hannah and reached his hand out for hers. Normal people would shake hands. But Adam isn’t a normal person. He’s a dick. So he took Hannah’s hand in his and kissed it. Because he’s a dick.
Hannah giggled. My head shot in her direction. “Did you just giggle!?” I glared at her. Hannah doesn’t giggle. Ever. She laughs and sometimes snorts but she does not under any circumstance giggle. This was not good. Not good at all. I mean, Adam is a good guy despite all the shit we give each other, but for Hannah? Nope. No, no, no. Not happening.
“Relax, man.” Adam tried to assure me. “I like making beautiful women giggle.” He smiled his charming fucking smile from behind his manly fucking beard. His fucking eyes were even smiling. Dick.
Hannah didn’t say anything. She just ogled at Adam like she was in some stupid teen drama on the Disney channel or something. Her eyes were all doughy and shit.
“Ok, ok...” I physically separated Adam’s hand from Hannah’s. “Don’t you have something you should be doing?” I directed toward Adam. He saw that it wasn’t really a question.
“Yeah. I need to go over there and move some more shit around that’s too heavy for you to lift.” He laughed his big booming lumberjack laugh and winked at Hannah. “Hannah, it was an absolute pleasure to meet you. I hope I see you again.”
“Likewise.” Hannah blushed. Holy Moses, woman. Get a grip on yourself.
Adam walked off back to the bags of concrete and made a big production about how easy they were for him to lift. I hated him right then.
“Are you done drooling?” I asked Hannah, my eyebrow cocked in disbelief.
Hannah came back to her senses. “Did you see how big he is?!”
I sighed, “Yes, Hannah. He is a very large person. Freakishly large. Obnoxiously large. And now you’ve met him. Can we please stop talking about him?”
“What? Jealous?” Hannah laughed at me.
“Don’t flatter yourself, Hannah. You’re lucky I tolerate you.”
“Whatever. You love me.” she batted her eyelashes at me, “So brunch Saturday?”
“Yeah, my treat.” Thank god we’ve moved on to a better topic.
“Good. Because I’ve worked up quite an appetite now that I’ve met Paul Bunyan.”
“Seriously, Han. Drop it!”
Amber
I answered on the second ring.
“Hey, handsome.” I smiled into the phone. It was time for our nightly phone call. Tobie and I hadn’t been able to see each other since Hannah had gotten home. The nightly phone call had become the one thing I looked forward to more than anything from the second I woke up each morning. It had been four days. Four days feeling like a piece of my heart was across the world instead of across town.
“Hey, beautiful. How was your day?” I craved to be near him again. The nights spent together while Hannah was gone made me realize just how much I wanted Tobie to be an intimate part of my life.
“It was alright. Work was busy. Sarah and I went out to lunch. That was fun.”
“You didn’t go see Luis, did you?” he sounded offended.
I laughed, “No, we didn’t go see Luis. I promise not to go without you.”
“Good. Otherwise you run the possibility of eating there twice in a day because if I get a hankering you’re going to have to go back for dinner.”
“I can think of worse things,” I joked. “How was your day?” I wanted to be lost in the sound of his voice. I wanted to hear all about boring construction stuff that I didn’t understand just to hear him speak. I had seriously considered asking him to read to me just so I could fall asleep to his deep soothing tones.
He sighed on the other end, “It was… interesting.”
“You certainly have my attention now. Interesting, how?” I sat up in my bed, pulling the covers up around my waist.
“Well, I actually forgot my phone at home this morning. So I called Hannah to bring it to me. Apparently you had already texted me and she saw it on the screen.”
“Oh, crap.” My heart dropped into my stomach. “Did she get pissed?”
“Actually, she couldn’t read the message. She just saw it on the screen. I was able to make something up before it became an issue. I told her that you had a leaky pipe over the weekend that I came over to fix and told you to text me if you had any other issues. She seemed to buy it. So crisis averted.”
I let out a huge breath. I hadn’t realized I had been holding it it. “I’m glad you thought of that so quickly. That could have been a disaster.”
“Yeah…” Tobie trailed off, “speaking of that, I think it’s time we tell her before things get out of control. I’d rather her hear it from one of us - or both of us - instead of finding out by mistake.”
I didn’t want to hear this. I knew it needed to happen. I knew it was wrong to be sneaking behind her back. Tobie and I had come a long way over the last few weeks and were a lot more confident about what ‘us’ meant. We were both on the same page about being exclusive and being serious about each other. But I didn’t want to throw a wrench in something so good. I was secretly terrified of ruining such a good thing.
Knowing Hannah, the likelihood of her jumping for joy at the notion that her sister and best friend were a couple was pretty, well… unlikely. What if the bomb dropped and it was such a disaster that Tobie decided that it wasn’t worth it? What if all of this lost its luster when it wasn’t a secret any more? What if he really only liked the idea of me? Stop it, Amber. Stop being so neurotic. Everything that Tobie has done has proved that this isn’t a fling for him. Trust him.
“I know.” I sighed, “You’re right. I’m really not looking forward to telling her, though. Even if she’s supportive, she’s going to be hurt that we didn’t tell her sooner.”
“It’s gonna be ok, love. You know why?”
“Why?”
“Because even if she flips out, I’ll still get to be with you.” Ugh. This man, I swear. He knows exactly what to say to calm my fears. If he got any sweeter I think I’d die.
“How is it possible that you are as wonderful as you are?” I swooned.
“Because of you.”
“I don’t even have a way to respond to that!” I laughed into the phone, “Do you always have to have the last word?”
“Yes.”
“Ok, then. You can have it. But only as long as you always end with something sweet.”
“Always.” I heard him shuffling on the other end.
“Are you getting ready for bed?”
More shuffling, “Yup.” My mind immediately pictured Tobie’s amazing body, fully exposed and stretched out on his bed. I groaned.
“I’m not going to ask any more about that because I need to get up early tomorrow for a presentation and don’t need to be up late talking dirty to you.”
Tobie laughed, a deep seductive laugh. “You’re ok with going to sleep with just the image of my face between your legs instead?”
“Don’t start,” I gasped, “Just don’t.”
“Mmm…” he groaned, “Ok. But I won’t promise that I’m not palming my long, hard cock just listening to your voice.”
“Tobie!” I hissed, “Stop!”
“Ok, ok,” he laughed again. How I love that laugh. I pictured that adorable dimple on his cheek. “Back to a complete mood-killing conversation.”
“Good.”
/> “So. Hannah. Do you want to tell her or should I? Or should we tell her together?”
I pulled in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “It should be one of us separately. If we go in together, she’s going to feel like we’re ganging up on her. She already had issues with me ‘mothering’ her when she was younger. I don’t want to poke that fire again.”
“Good point. So… I’m supposed to have brunch with her on Saturday… I could tell her then?”
“No, don’t do that. I want you to be able to have a nice brunch. You haven’t seen each other for a while. I’ll do it. I’ll sit her down Saturday night. That way we’ll be at home and she can react however she wants.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure.” I paused. The idea of telling Hannah by myself was terrifying, but I knew it would be best coming from me and me alone. “Can you keep your phone in your hand the whole time though in case I need you?”
“Babe. I’m probably going to be parked in your driveway.”
Chapter Thirty
Hannah
Bah! Where are my tweezers? I had looked through every drawer, container, and cosmetic bag I had. I swore I had them out in California… I hope I didn’t leave them in the hotel room. “Damn it!” I cursed out loud. I was going to be late for brunch with Tobie.
I ran across the house to Amber’s bathroom. She was out with Sarah this morning. Something about Sarah wanting to buy new furniture but Eric was terrible about helping with stuff like that. I don’t know. I was only half listening.
I started digging through the little baskets on her sink. If I were Amber’s tweezers, where would I be? I opened the drawer to the left of her sink…. nothing. Drawer on the right…. nothing… wait… what is this? A tiny envelope. Of course I was going to look. I’m a nosy sister. Don’t lie. You would too.
I tried to find flowers as beautiful as you, but nothing came even close.
I hope you like these anyway.
- Boyfriend
Ha! I knew it! Amber’s got a boyfriend! Aw, hot damn! Pretty legible handwriting, too. Impressive… wait… why does this look familiar?
Delicate (Sublime Series Book 1) Page 18