“Can this wait?” I say, answering his call. “I’m just about to leave.”
I try to keep the irritation out of my voice, but it’s near impossible. We may not get along, but I always try my best to be civil, especially since we work together. That and I don’t have the energy to fight it out with him anymore.
“Oh? Where are you off to?”
I shake my head, not sure if he’s trying to make small talk or if he’s just being nosy. Small talk has never been a strong point for him, so it’s probably just him being nosy. Either that, or there’s an agenda. I put the phone in my other hand and click in my seatbelt.
“To pick Grammy up. It’s the only way she can go to Jake’s wedding.”
“Okay, then I won’t keep you. I just wanted to remind you about—”
“You don’t need to remind me,” I cut in. “I have it sorted, okay? I’ll be at the conference, so you don’t need to worry about trying to replace me just yet.”
As much as you’d love to do that.
I glance at the time again. I’d been hoping to be on the road by now.
“Look, I really have to go. I’ll see you when I get back, okay?”
I end the call and toss the phone on the seat next to me and take off, my hands clenched tightly around the wheel. I shouldn’t have answered him. I should have just let it go to voicemail and dealt with it later, because all speaking to him has done is ruined my good mood. The thing that annoys me the most is that he didn’t even ask how Grammy is doing. It would have taken half a second for him not to be an asshole.
Becca is standing out front already when I pull up outside her place. I’m only half an hour late, which is actually better than I thought. I click the trunk and then get out to help her, but her things are already in there. She shuts the trunk and winks at me.
“If I managed to pack it and lug it out here, then I’m pretty sure I can throw it in your trunk,” she teases.
“Fair enough. I won’t bother to open the door for you then.”
I walk around to my door and open it, sliding inside, then I turn to watch the show. She lifts the door handle, but it doesn’t open. I give her a little wave through the window.
“Maybe try harder,” I suggest.
“You locked it.” She peers through the window accusingly at me.
“No, I didn’t,” I assure her. “It’s just a pain in the ass to open sometimes. You have to really jerk it just the right way for it to release…”
My voice trails off. Could I have worded that any worse? Becca struggles to keep the smile off her face. I reach over and open the door from the inside. “There.”
“Thanks. So, you must have loads of experience jerking it the right way, huh? Talent like that could make you a lot of money, you know.”
I laugh. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
It might be a better option than working for my father.
“Okay,” Becca says, rubbing her hands together. I smile back, because her energy is infectious. My foul mood from earlier is slowly melting away. “What’s the plan?”
“I was thinking we could fuck the ceremony off completely and just go to Vegas? We could go visit some strip clubs…” I grin at her. “Do Vegas, Becca style.” Her smile disappears as she scowls at me. “Kidding.” I chuckle. “I figured after the other night, you could take a joke.”
“Yeah, well, I agreed to come with you,” she retorts. “If that doesn’t show how accommodating I am, then I don’t know what does.”
I smirk at her. “I thought we covered that the other night too…” Her mouth drops open in shock as I laugh. “You’re really easy to wind up, you know that?” I say, shaking my head.
I could play with her mind all night. Among other things…
“Oh, before I forget.” I toss her a folded piece of paper. “Jake asked me to give that to you.”
She uncrumples the letter and reads it, a smile on her face.
“I haven’t seen or spoken to him since his party,” she murmurs. “Brooke wasn’t too happy with me, apparently.”
“So, I heard.” I smirk. “What did he write?”
She clears her throat.
“Thanks for getting me in the shit, you dicknob. Brooke is out for your blood. The only thing stopping her from ripping up your place card is the fact that your helping bring Grammy to the wedding. By the way, I can’t thank you enough for that. See you soon…unless you do something else to fuck my life up.”
“He did not say that,” I challenge her. She holds the letter up for me to see. I glance at it and laugh. She read it word for word. “You two have a very unique friendship.”