But God, his timing really sucked ass.
31
IAIN
Well, this was unexpected.
I’d been prepared for a surprise today, but it hadn’t been this.
With Holland set to leave her boss’s party around one, I had planned on making a few light work calls before she got into the city. Just a quick round to check in on some clients. I was in the middle of mollifying one about an apparently underwhelming endorsement deal when my intercom got a ring from the desk downstairs.
“Hello, Mr. Thorn. Adam Maxwell is here to see you.”
And just like that, my day—potentially my entire weekend—had been hit by the human path of destruction that was Adam Maxwell.
Sitting in front of him now at The Oxford Social, our third round of beers between us, I eyed him, letting him talk with the flirty waitress before checking my latest text from Holland.
HOLLAND: Trust me I want to. I really really do. But I’d feel terrible Iain
I winced.
Mostly because I knew she was being more rational than I was.
With Adam at my side since eleven this morning, I couldn’t call her, so we’d been texting, and for the past half hour, I’d been trying to tell her we could still go through with her plans. She’d spent a good week making them and it didn’t matter how low-key they were compared to Adam’s. They were still her plans.
And beyond all that, I wanted to be with her more than anyone in the world right now.
HOLLAND: He worked overtime this week so he could surprise us and it’s not like it’s just him. He had a bunch of your Stanford friends fly out from Cali and other parts of the country to celebrate you.
HOLLAND: Trust me there is nothing I want more than to be with you right now. But per your rules my birthday plans cost me about $12
I smirked at the sequence of laughing and silly emojis she added—I suspected for the sole purpose of making me laugh, because as disappointed as she was herself, she knew I was upset too.
Really upset, considering the first long text I’d sent her.
Which was why she was taking on the role of the calm one right now.
Because just as I took care of her, she always tried to take care of me.
HOLLAND: And Adam already went all out. Plus I think he’s having some kind of brotherly epiphany right now so I feel like it’d be terrible to hang him out to dry this weekend when we could easily make this up next weekend or another time. Right?
My chest expanded as I breathed in deep.
But then I let out an inaudible sigh and texted back “right”, because that was exactly what she was.
We had plenty of time to get to her plans since we’d agreed to extend our two weeks. To do this for as long as we wanted. Everything was fine and she was being perfectly reasonable right now. The adult. I just had to take a deep breath and reset my mind a little, because it wasn’t like I wouldn’t be seeing her tonight. I would still be seeing her as soon as she got back from the beach.
I’d just be seeing her in the presence of her brother.
Blinking, I suddenly frowned, finding myself with a brand new question.
But before I could ask, she beat me to it.
HOLLAND: How are we going to act in front of Adam?
A version of my question, at least.
Mine was whether or not we were going to tell him.