So flocked brunch bros b.., p.21
So Flocked (Brunch Bros Book 2), page 21
It was suspiciously quiet in the living room.
“No. I’ll buy new stuff so I don’t have to move anything.”
New stuff. New life. Onward and upward.
“Really? Wow. I have been stressing about this conversation for a week.” Another nervous laugh. “So, how do you want me to get your passport to you?”
“I need a picture of it right now,” she told him. “I’ll be back next week to pack my stuff, and then I’ll be out of your hair until September. Oh, and I’m probably going to have some stuff delivered soon, so can you make sure to check for packages?”
“Yeah, totally. I’ll take a picture of this and see you next week. Say hi to Graham and Eloise for me.”
Annie was not going to do that. Jake didn’t need to know how close he’d come to having Graham and Sybil show up in the middle of the night to dole out some vigilante justice after their breakup. Those two were way too protective of her.
“Will do. Have a good week.”
She plugged her phone back in. There was no way of knowing how long the picture would take to come through, so she’d deal with it before bed. Maybe after Jordy went to sleep so she wouldn’t spend an extra fifteen minutes convincing him that yes, the program would be reimbursing her plane ticket, and no, he couldn’t pay for it because she didn’t want to explain to her new supervisor why the Jordy Taylor had slapped down his credit card for her.
The living room was empty, her laptop open on the coffee table. Jordy wasn’t in his room, and the bathroom door was open. Annie frowned, turning in a slow circle. Where had he gone?
She found him outside, standing on the grassy precipice of the cliff. The sun was setting, the sky a wash of golds, pinks, and purples, and Annie stood still for a moment to take him in against the backdrop, to carve this view into her memory. Because he was beautiful, inside and out.
They were only guaranteed until the end of the week. After that, he would go back to Los Angeles, and she would go to Peru for the summer. Anything could happen between May and September, but for the next six days, Annie was going to bask in their happy bubble as much as she could.
Jordy lifted his camera to the horizon and took a few pictures, the click of the shutter getting lost in the sound of the waves kissing the rocks below. Annie wrapped her arms around his solid middle and rested her head in the spot between his shoulder blades.
“Testing out a retirement plan?” she asked, kissing his back.
“Trying to remember how to do this,” he answered, resting the camera against his hip and threading the fingers of his free hand into hers. “How’s the ex?”
“He’s fine. Staying in Seattle, apparently.” Annie boosted herself on her tiptoes and dropped her chin onto his shoulder. “Did you spend all your money on outdoor gear?”
“No, but I did get myself locked out of your student loan portal.” Jordy pressed a lingering kiss to her temple. “Remember how I said you couldn’t be a girl in my phone?”
“I do remember. Have you changed your mind and want my tits as your home screen?”
“Tempting, but I was thinking you could be the girl in my camera.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Annie asked, her voice a breathless whisper because her lungs had decided to pack it in for the night. Who needed oxygen, anyway?
Jordy looked down at his camera, “I don’t know. It sounded better in my head.” He sighed, the worried crease growing deep between his eyes.
“How did it sound in your head?”
“Like you deserve to be treated like art and not some girl that I fucked once.”
Annie was used to having all of her words hit her at the same time, but not her emotions. Love, joy, nervousness, confusion, and terror clamored for her attention, screaming to be acknowledged and released. She didn’t know where to start the sorting process or which one to give priority to, so she stayed silent and hid her face in his shoulder.
How was she supposed to leave him at the end of the week?
TWENTY-ONE
Jordy could feel Sybil’s glare burning into the back of his skull from across the coffee shop, but Annie wanted an afternoon coffee and he didn’t know how to say no to her. He didn’t want to say no to her. About anything. Whatever it took to make her smile, he would do it, even if that meant braving Sybil in the light of day to secure a chocolate muffin and a cinnamon latte in a porcelain cup that couldn’t leave Stardust.
“How’s the Wonka Factory?” Annie teased, pointing her fork at his iced coffee in a plastic cup that could have walked out the door. Sybil had asked him if he funded his dentist’s boat when he ordered it.
“She was stingy with the caramel.” Jordy took a sip. He liked his coffee sweet enough that he couldn’t taste the coffee.
“You could send it back,” Annie suggested, and he wanted to kiss the sly grin off her lips.
“See, I think you like me, and then you say things that would get me murdered.” He shook his head in mock disapproval. “Shameful, really. After I bought you shoes too.”
And a lot of other things. It was probably for the best he would be a thousand miles away when she saw all the boxes.
The bell over the door jingled, and something over his shoulder caught Annie’s attention.
“Mom?” Her voice jumped an octave, and she pushed out from the table so quickly that the small table caught him in the diaphragm and knocked the wind out of him.
“Oh, damn.” The older woman laughed as Annie hugged her tightly, rocking side to side as they embraced. Annie’s mom had chin-length brown hair threaded liberally with gray, deep smile lines, and a rock-solid slender figure at odds with Annie’s soft curves. She had to do marathons, or triathlons, or beat up bad guys on the weekends. “We were trying to surprise you.”
“I am surprised!” Annie hugged her tighter. “Where’s Dad?”
“Parking the car and complaining about the drive from Portland.” Her mom wiggled out of the hug and held Annie at arm’s length. “Let me look at you.” She looked her up and down, and then cupped her cheeks in her hands. “How do you get prettier every time I see you?”
Jordy relaxed, lowering himself back into his chair. After meeting Eloise’s mom Sandra, he’d been worried that conversation was going to go a different way.
A man wearing a maroon sweater entered Stardust, and judging by Annie’s excited squeal, that was her dad.
“There’s my girl,” he said as they hugged. “Your cousin picked a stupid place to live.”
“Oh, stop, Hugh,” Annie’s mom said, gently swatting his shoulder. “He’s all bent out of shape because of the drive.”
“I am bent out of shape. Five hours on a plane, and then that drive? Oof.” He stretched dramatically, oozing dad humor.
Annie grinned and scratched the gray beard on his face. “When did you decide to grow this?”
An exaggerated eye roll from her mom. “Your Uncle Dave bet him he couldn’t, so he had to prove him wrong.”
“I think it looks distinguished. I’m leaning into my tweed jacket phase.”
Jordy recognized the exact moment Annie remembered he was in the room. It was the crack about not growing facial hair. The lightbulb above her head could have lit up Times Square.
“Where are you sitting?” her dad asked, still trying to stretch his lower back. “I could use a cup of coffee.”
Annie looked from her parents, to Jordy, and back again. She couldn’t pretend they weren’t sitting together. Her purse was under their table.
“Um, over here.” She pointed to their table, and Jordy instinctively rose to his feet.
His palms were sweaty, and he scrubbed them on his pants. Meeting the parents wasn’t something he did, and he wanted Annie’s parents to like him more than he wanted a championship ring.
Be cool. Be calm. Don’t say anything stupid.
When they got close, Jordy stuck out his hand in the direction of Annie’s dad.
“Hi, I’m Jordan.”
He kept his eyes focused on Annie’s parents and tried to act like he didn’t see her looking at him like he had just introduced himself as Mr. Banana Pants.
Annie’s dad’s gray eyebrows rose. “Jordan who?”
“Jordan Taylor, sir.” His hand felt heavy hanging in the air.
“Jordy,” Annie emphasized his name, “is a friend of Graham’s, Dad. Jordy, this is my dad Hugh and my mom Wendy.”
Hugh finally took Jordy’s hand and shook it. There was an art to a good handshake: firm enough to say “Yes, I can and will protect your daughter with my body,” but not so firm that any bones got broken. A handshake could make or break a first impression. There was a flash of respect, so quick that if Jordy hadn’t specifically been watching for it he would have missed it, and then the men released their grips.
“Nice to meet you, Jordan,” Wendy said, offering her hand. In for a penny, in for a pound. Jordy took her hand and shook it the same way he shook Hugh’s, and allowed himself to breathe again when the corner of her mouth quirked. “You’re a friend of Graham’s?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Are you in tech, too?”
“No, ma’am.”
“What do you do?” Wendy asked, adjusting her small leather handbag on her arm.
“I am a professional athlete, ma’am.”
Annie put a hand between his shoulder blades. “He’s the quarterback for the Los Angeles Phantoms, Mom. He plays professional football.”
Wendy’s facial expression didn’t shift. “And how long have you been doing that?”
“Strictly professionally? Fifteen years. But I started peewee tackle when I was eight.”
Wendy regarded him critically. “What’s your opinion on CTE?”
This was why Jordy had tried to skirt around his actual career. Wendy had the sharp gaze of a woman who had more information in her pinky toe than he had in his entire body, and he never felt prepared enough to speak on neuro questions when he wasn’t so nervous he was sweating through his shirt.
“I don’t have an opinion, ma’am. It’s science. I’ve had two confirmed concussions. I understand my risks, the signs and symptoms of degeneration. There’s a whole team of smart people that monitor us. I’ve seen improvements in how we handle things but know we still have a long way to go as a sport.”
Hugh crossed his arms. “Sounds like you’ve had this conversation before.”
Jordy nodded. “And I never think I’m the person that should be talking about it.”
Wendy opened her mouth, and Annie cut her off with a strangled “Mom” through her teeth.
“What were your plans for the day?” Jordy asked, grateful for the chance to change the subject.
“I want to look around,” Wendy said, looking pointedly at her husband. “He wants to sit and do nothing.”
Hugh put up his hands defensively. “It’s not sitting around. I just don’t want to watch you sort through other people’s crap and call it antiquing. We don’t live here, Wendy. We have to fly it home.”
“He’s no fun,” Wendy said to Annie, and repeated to Jordy, “He’s no fun.”
“I mean, I don’t mind having no fun, if we wanted to split up,” Jordy offered. “There’s a brewery across the street if you’re interested, Hugh. Then maybe we could circle back up for dinner?”
“You don’t have to do that,” Annie said at the same time her dad said, “That sounds like a great idea.”
“Didn’t you want coffee?” Annie asked, but it was said as a hint.
Wendy picked up on it and looped her arm through her husband’s. “Yes, we did.”
“Tell the redhead you’re my parents,” Annie told them, and the moment her parents were at the counter and out of earshot, she turned on Jordy. “You do not have to hang out with my dad.”
Frost began to rapidly form in his stomach. “Do you not want me to hang out with him?”
Annie’s posture softened, and Jordy relaxed too, his insides thawing. “It’s not that. I just don’t want you to feel obligated to entertain him. He’s great, but he can be a lot and—”
“I want to, sweetheart.” He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring grin. “Besides, how else am I supposed to get embarrassing stories about you if I don’t go straight to the source?”
Dinner at the hotel was spectacular. Annie didn’t know who Jordy had talked to or what he had said, but a prix-fixe menu had been arranged for their table so they didn’t need to order and the wine kept coming until her parents were good and sloshed. Her mom’s neck was red and her dad’s cheeks were rosy, and they were both laughing about something that wasn’t that funny.
“Oh god, I’m going to pee if I’m not careful. Where’s the bathroom in this place?” her mom asked, putting her napkin on the table and looking around.
“I’ll show you,” Jordy volunteered, pushing back from the table. He hadn’t even finished his first glass of wine yet. If there was a definition for “best behavior” in the dictionary, Jordy’s picture would have been there.
When they were gone, Annie’s dad sighed contentedly and sat back in his chair, hands folded over his stomach.
“I like him, Birdie,” he said with a soft smile. “I like him a lot.”
A blush burned her cheeks until she was positive she was as red as both her parents combined.
“Dad…”
“Even if he is a bit older than I would have expected,” Hugh carried on, oblivious to her wanting to hide under the table. “And even if he did beat me at chess. Twice.”
Annie’s eyes widened. “He did what?”
“He beat me at chess. Twice. The first time I underestimated him, but the second time I was ready. And he beat me.” Hugh drained his wine glass, chasing the last few drops of red with his tongue. “I think he threw the third game so I wouldn’t feel bad about myself.”
Annie was too stunned to speak. She had grown up playing games with her parents. There weren’t any other kids in her house to play with, so her parents were her playmates. They’d taught her to play chess before she could read. Beating her dad once in a series of games was a major accomplishment. But twice? She’d never done that before.
“He asked about Jake,” Hugh said casually.
Annie picked at the remnants of her dessert with her fork, pretending not to be interested, even though her heart was supersonic. “What about Jake?”
“If we liked him and how we felt about the two of you breaking up.” Hugh eyed her dessert enviously, and Annie slid it toward him.
“What did you tell him?” After their initial meeting, Annie had never asked her parents how they felt about Jake. She’d been happy—or at least content—so she hadn’t sought out external validation.
“We never disliked Jake because we trusted you to make good decisions. But the last few years it was very hard to like him. We weren’t sad to see him go, but it was hard to know you were hurting.” Hugh sectioned the remaining dessert into even portions. “All we’ve ever wanted for you was for you to find someone who loved you and understood how special you are, Birdie. This one does.”
Wendy flopped back down into her seat. “Eloise’s attention to detail is incredible. Those bathrooms are amazing.” She looked around. “Where’s Jordan?”
“Jordy. He goes by Jordy,” Annie corrected. “No one calls him Jordan. I think you both scare the shit out of him.”
Her parents giggled. Actually giggled. They were delighted by the prospect that Jordy feared them.
Jordy sat back down, his hand resting on the back of Annie’s chair. “Did I miss something funny?”
“Bad pirate joke,” Hugh told him, winking conspicuously at Annie.
Wendy checked her watch and then elbowed her husband, making him miss his mouth with his fork. “Look at the time. It’s midnight back home. We need to get to bed.”
“Well, find the waiter so I can settle up,” Hugh told her, trying to dab chocolate out of his sweater.
“I already took care of it,” Jordy said, too casually for someone who had easily dropped three hundred dollars on dinner. Her parents had ordered expensive bottles of wine, nowhere near the same tax bracket as her “whatever is on sale” section of the grocery store.
“Jordan,” her parents gasped, and immediately began talking over each other about how he shouldn’t have done that, how if they knew he was going to do that they wouldn’t have ordered the third bottle of wine, how they were happy to pay at least half…
“It’s fine. You can get the next one,” he told them, in the tone of voice Annie recognized as “you will absolutely not be getting the next one.” He’d used it on her before.
They hugged her parents at the elevator, her mom mouthing “Oh my god” over Jordy’s shoulder, and her dad thumped him solidly on the back. Even if things didn’t work out between them, her parents might try to adopt Jordy.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Annie said as she buckled her seatbelt.
“Which part?” The engine roared to life and classic rock blasted through the speakers. Jordy turned it down. “Sorry. Your dad likes it loud.”
“All of it. Dinner, hanging out with my dad, nearly making my mom pee her pants because you’re so…you.” The crush of emotions overwhelmed her again, and a lump began to form in her throat while her heart felt so full it threatened to burst. “They love you, by the way. I think my dad would follow you into the pits of hell because you beat him at chess.”
“The feeling is mutual. Your parents are a lot of fun.”
Holding Jordy’s hand as he drove was so natural that Annie had stopped noticing she did it. He put the car into drive, then left his hand near the cupholders, and she took it. Every time they drove anywhere, this had become their routine. It struck her as he navigated the curve in the hill that led to the lighthouse that she only had three more days of holding his hand while he drove. Thursday. Friday. Saturday. Then on Sunday he would drive to Portland to catch a flight and Annie would drive back to Seattle, both empty handed.
“You’re really quiet,” Jordy noted as he flipped on the lights in the small house that had come to feel like their little home. “Are you okay?”
