I would have done it myself, but I wasn’t qualified.
Zach and I didn’t mention Dex again, but he was irritated that I had to work part of the weekend when I already worked so much as it was. What should have been a fun fling had turned into a relationship…sort of. We weren’t exclusive and we weren’t serious, but we spent a lot of time together.
At the end of the day, I walked into Dex’s office to deliver his lunch, and instead of packing up stuff to fly out the door or finish his charting, he relaxed into the couch, his head tilted back, his eyes staring at the ceiling.
“Doing okay?” I set the food on the coffee table.
He turned to me when he heard my voice. “Just kinda dreading something tonight…”
We didn’t talk that much anymore, and I was surprised how much that affected my feelings toward my job. I was still passionate about the work we did, but without that companionship between us, it wasn’t as fulfilling as it used to be. And I just missed him…in general. “What is it?” I sat on the couch beside him.
His fingers were interlocked on his stomach, and his head was still turned my way, his brown eyes visibly fatigued. “Daisy is introducing Mason to my parents tonight.”
“Ooh…” I knew Dex didn’t like Mason, even though he didn’t really have a reason. “Is that why your dad stopped by the other day?”
He nodded. “He’s having a hard time with it.”
“Well, I don’t think your dad is going to like him either.”
He released a sarcastic chuckle. “My dad’s hair is gonna turn gray overnight.”
“What about your mom?”
“My mom is cool. She’s not an overprotective asshole like the three of us.”
“You guys aren’t assholes… It’s sweet.”
He shrugged. “I talked my dad down, so it should go over smoother than it normally would. But yeah, he’s not thrilled about it.”
“I hope it goes well. Daisy’s a smart girl who can make good decisions, so I wouldn’t worry about it too much.”
“Yeah.” He sat up and looked at the meal in front of him. “Looks good.” He grabbed the food I’d brought for him, tamales with rice and beans, and he leaned back to eat it with his fork. “You have plans tonight?” He didn’t look at me as he asked the question, but his tone was different, like he was anticipating what I would say.
“Nothing big. Just dinner.” We were right next to each other, but it seemed like we were worlds apart.
Dex ate his lunch and didn’t have any follow-up questions.
I decided to change the subject to something that was easy. “So, a transplant. That’s intense.”
“Yeah.” He cut into his tamale and ate it in a couple bites. “It’s…it’s a pain.”
“I’ve never heard you describe a procedure that way.”
“Because it’s all or nothing, you know?” He scooped his fork into rice and beans and took a few bites before he continued to talk. “When something goes wrong in the operating room, there’re different procedures to keep the patient alive, to stall until you figure out exactly what the problem is. But when it comes to a transplant, if their body rejects it…that’s it. It’s not like you put the old heart back in. You can’t push drugs or voltage into a patient that doesn’t have a working heart. And even if the transplant is successful, the body could reject it later… It’s just a lot.”
“I never considered that.”
“It’s complicated.” He ate his food until his plate was empty and returned it to the coffee table. “But I try to think of it as, the patient has to take the risk. Otherwise, they’re going to die anyway. All I can do is make the transfer and leave the rest up to…science, God, not sure. But it’s out of my control.”
“Yeah.” Sometimes I couldn’t believe what Dex was capable of, the amount of responsibility that was constantly on his shoulders, because he behaved like it was weightless. He didn’t let the stress get to him, let it dissolve his smile. It was truly heroic, how much he sacrificed without complaint.
“You can get going. I’m just gonna catch up on paperwork since I don’t have plans until later tonight.”
I was free to go, to walk out of that office and live my life, but I just wanted to stay there. “You haven’t mentioned the Doctors Without Borders stint in a while. Is that still happening?”
“Oh shit, I totally forgot.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. “When is that again?”
“The beginning of April.”
He made the notes in his calendar. “Yeah, it should be fine.” He set the phone on the coffee table. “And you don’t need to come with me. You could take advantage of the opportunity to play catch up, or just go on a vacation.”
Was he letting me off the hook after what happened, or did he not want me there? “I already have my vaccinations, so I’m prepared…unless you don’t want me to come.”
“I want you to come,” he said immediately. “I just don’t want you to feel obligated, because you aren’t.” He reached for the paperwork that he’d dropped earlier and got to work like I wasn’t sitting there. “You don’t owe me anything.”
I sat across from Zach at another fancy place he’d brought me. He never wanted to stop by a deli or a Chinese food restaurant. It was always Michelin-star places, restaurants that didn’t have entrees for less than a hundred dollars. In the beginning, it was fun, but the dining experience always took several hours, they didn’t just have a plain burger, and I had to get dressed up every single time.
Zach talked about work a lot of the time, and I wasn’t entirely sure what he did. He seemed to buy companies and then sell those companies, kinda like flipping real estate. He was interested in monopolies, getting the upper hand on certain products before they became mainstream. “It was a pain in the ass, but I closed on that shit. Hard.” He cut into his steak and took a bite. “On Monday, we’ll get the acquisition under way.”
“So, why did you buy this company?”
“Because the value is going to spike after Donnelly’s fails to adapt to the new privacy changes.”
“But what do you like about the company?”
“What do I like about it?” he asked blankly. “Nothing.”
“Then what’s the point?” I genuinely wasn’t following along.
“To make money. To monopolize the market. To crush my competitors.”
“So, there’s nothing else to it?”
“Like what?” He swirled his wine then took a drink. “This is how you make money. You think ahead of the game, make your move, and beat the other sharks before they can smell the chum. That’s why they call me a business mogul.”
“But you’re already a billionaire. How do you stay so ambitious?”
“So, I can be a trillionaire.” He crossed his fingers. “Someday.”
I looked down at my fish and sliced through the tender meat and the wine sauce before I placed a bite in my mouth, the food not tasting as good as it did before. These expensive dinners made me full for days afterward.
“Did I say something?”
I looked up again. “Oh, no. I just…I guess I just don’t get it.”
“That people care about money?” he asked with a chuckle. “That people are obsessed with it? With the power it gives you?” He set down his glass and sliced into his meat again. “Money is everything. Just how it is.”
I looked down at my food again. “Not to everyone.”
Seven
Dex
We went to my dad’s favorite restaurant.
I guess he and my mom used to come here before they were dating.
I sat across from my dad, choosing the spot on purpose so my dad wouldn’t sit directly across from Mason…because he kinda had a staring problem. It was unintentional, and he didn’t mean to be rude or intimidating, but it just kinda came out that way. I wanted this to be a success, and even if I didn’t really like Mason, I would do the best I could to make sure this went off without a hiccup.
<
br /> We’d already ordered a few glasses of wine and an appetizer, and my mom looked at the menu like it was just a normal dinner.
My dad didn’t look at the menu once. Didn’t touch his wine. Just kept glancing out the window, as if my sister and Mason would walk by any moment and he would get the opportunity to size him up.
My mom eyed him before reaching for his arm and rubbing it gently. “Deacon, what are you going to get? The salmon looks pretty good. Comes with the rice pilaf you like.”
Dad ignored her—which was a first.
Mom exchanged a defeated look with me.
I gave a slight shrug.
Dad pulled back the sleeve of his shirt and looked at his watch, the watch that had belonged to my mother’s father, a grandfather I’d never met.
Daisy was fifteen minutes late, and while she was always a little late, it wasn’t a good idea to be late to this.
Mom spoke to me. “How’s Sicily?” It was a random thing to ask, but I could tell she was desperate to get my dad to stop dreading the inevitable.
I let it slide—given the context. “She’s good. We don’t talk as much as we used to.”
“I hope that changes, Dex.”
“Yeah, me too.” I missed her every day, even when she was right beside me. Catherine wasn’t on my mind, and I started to wonder if my brother had been right. I was too close to the situation to understand my own emotions, so I’d misinterpreted my own feelings. My obsession with Catherine might have been about closure and never about love. “I think I’m gonna try to talk to her again. I just wanted to give her some space, because the last time we talked, it was really intense.”
Dad snapped out of it and turned to me. “Sometimes, people just need some space to process their emotions. It gives them an opportunity to reflect on how they really feel.”
“Yeah,” I said. “And Derek made some good points.”
“What did Derek say?” he asked.
My eyes shifted past his shoulder, looking through the window at Daisy on the sidewalk. She stepped closer into my view, the phone to her ear, and judging by the way she swung her arms around and the look in her eyes…she was pissed.
Fuuuuuck.
Not a good sign.
My instinct was to point her out to my parents, but I realized that was not a good idea at all.
“What did your brother say?” Mom asked.
“Um, just that relationships aren’t easy in the beginning. They take work.” I fished my hand in my pocket and pulled out my phone. “And I’m obviously not in love with Catherine if I didn’t take her back… I’ve got to get this…important call.” I put the phone to my ear and stepped away from the table, talking like I was actually on the phone with someone. “Yeah, uh-huh… What time?” I kept up the act until I left the restaurant and walked past the windows. My parents probably noticed me in their view, so I continued to hold the phone to my ear and talk to no one until I was officially past their line of sight.
I put my phone in my pocket when I reached Daisy.
Her back was turned to me, so she didn’t see me. “So, you decide to wait until I’m twenty-five minutes late to dinner with my family to tell me this?”
Shit.
She continued to scream, oblivious to the New Yorkers on the street, who were just as oblivious to her.
“Wow…okay. So that’s it, then?” She stopped moving, her arm crossing over her chest, her body shaking slightly like she was so pissed, she might convulse uncontrollably. “You tell me you want to try to have something serious with me, and then you dump me as I stand outside the restaurant where my family is waiting? You’re such a fucking coward. Pathetic. No, I don’t accept your apology because I don’t need it. Go fuck yourself, Mason.” She slammed her thumb onto the screen and dropped the call before she rested her phone against her forehead, her eyes closed.
Then two tears streaked down her cheeks.
I felt like I shouldn’t be there, shouldn’t witness this, but I couldn’t walk away.
He left her…but I never would.
It was pure agony to watch someone I loved so fucking much suffer that heartache and humiliation, when she didn’t deserve it. If I could trade places with her, I would. If I could snap Mason’s head off and roll it down a lane like a bowling ball, I would. My hand moved to her shoulder.
She jumped at my touch, assuming she’d been alone. The look she gave me was indescribable, like she was pissed that I’d caught her with tears running down her cheeks. The ferocity slowly faded away, and she quickly wiped her cheeks to hide that she ever broke down in the first place.
“You don’t have to hide from me, Daisy. You don’t have to pretend.”
She watched the cars pass on the street, her arms still crossed over her chest, breathing through all the heartache and trying to dissolve it as much as possible, to return to her normally calm composure. “How much did you hear?”
“Enough.”
“Ugh, I don’t know what the fuck to do.” She threw her phone onto the ground, cracking the screen in several places. “He fucking humiliated me. He told me… Just forget it. Not worth it. It’s done…it’s over.”
My arm circled her shoulders, and I gently cradled her into me, pulling her close so she could rest her face against my chest, have a respite from the public as they walked by. My shirt could be her tissue. My body could be her crutch.
“Mom and Dad know?”
“No. I saw you through the window, but they can’t. I pretended to step out and make a phone call.”
“You’re a good brother, you know that?” She held on to me, relaxing into me.
I kissed her on the forehead. “What do you want to do?”
“I…I don’t know.” She sniffled into my shirt.
“We can go in there and have dinner with Mom and Dad…and not talk about it.”
She pulled away, her makeup a mess because her eyes were wet and my shirt had smudged things around. “What am I supposed to say?”
“You don’t have to say anything, Daisy. I know how you must feel, but family is the one place you don’t have to run from. Let’s just go in there and have dinner…and forget about it. Alright?”
She inhaled a deep breath and gave a nod. “You’re right. Fuck him.”
I reached into my pocket and pulled out an old napkin that I hadn’t used at lunchtime.
She took it and started to clean up her makeup while I grabbed her phone from the ground—it was pretty much completely busted—and handed it to her.
“Thanks. Do I look okay?”
I pulled out my phone and pulled up the camera, so she could see to fix her makeup.
She composed herself then handed it back. “Okay, let’s go. I’m pretty hungry anyway.”
I smiled and gave her a one-armed hug. “There she is.”
We walked back into the restaurant and headed to the table where my parents waited. In silence, they both watched us, their eyes on Daisy’s face. She’d dried her tears and fixed her makeup, but her cheeks were a little puffy, her eyes slightly red, and Dad would notice because it was his job to notice stuff like that.
I pulled out the chair for her, and then we sat down, our parents watching us both because they knew something wasn’t right.
Dad was silent, his eyes glued to Daisy’s face.
Mom shifted her gaze from my sister to me.
I shook my head—and that was all she needed to know.
Eight
Sicily
You wanna come over? It was Sunday afternoon, my only day off, and Zach wanted to utilize that.
I stared at his message but didn’t respond. I was on the couch in my pajamas, my mouth having a cotton-like feeling because I hadn’t brushed my teeth, even though it was past noon. I lay on the couch with my takeout container on the coffee table beside me. It was the one day I didn’t have to dress up or wear heels—and I enjoyed every second of it.
Then Dex texted me. Sorry to bother you on a Sunday, but I can’t
access the student portal. What’s the password again?
You’re working today?
Come on, I’m always working. And you’re one to talk. You’re probably doing something right now.
Actually, it was the one time I wasn’t. I gave him the password. How’d it go last night?
Oh…not well.
Your dad hated him?
No, he never met him.
What happened?
I guess Mason chickened out and dumped her.
I closed my eyes and gave a sigh of irritation, feeling so bad for Daisy. Why would anyone dump a drop-dead gorgeous woman who’s smart and fun?
Men are idiots. I’m finishing up some stuff then I’m going to go over there and bring a pizza.
That’s sweet.
You wanna come?
I almost took the invitation without thinking about it, because it felt so natural. It’s okay. It should just be you.
I know she’d be happy to see you.
If you think it’d be okay, then sure.
I’ll come by in an hour and pick you up. See you then.
K. I set my phone back on my stomach, realizing I needed to shower and get ready.
My phone lit up with another message, this time from Zach. You better not be working today. Sundays are reserved for me.
Dex was in jeans and a tee when he picked me up, laid-back like always. He’d shaved that morning, so his jaw was smooth, but his eyes didn’t have their usual brilliance. He didn’t invite himself inside. “Ready?”
“Yeah.” Since it wasn’t a workday, I stuck to a casual dress with sandals.
We walked side by side in the hallway, and Dex couldn’t stop staring at me.
“What?” I asked.
“I just…you’re really short.”
I made an annoyed face. “It’s Sunday. I don’t have to wear heels today.”
“That’s fine. I just…didn’t realize how little you were.”
The Doctor Who Has No Chance (Soulless Book 11) Page 6
