“I know you do. But you can do your work somewhere else, right? I mean, every company on earth has a marketing department.”
“I repeat—I am not quitting my job for a guy, especially a guy I have only been seeing for a couple weeks. Do you hear how insane that sounds? What if your sister called you up and said, ‘Hey, I met a guy a couple weeks ago and now I’m quitting my job and moving twenty-five hundred miles away’? What would you say to that? I can guess what you’d say to that.”
“I know what I’d say to that. I know exactly what I’d say to that.”
“Tell me, then. What would you say to your baby sister if she made that phone call?”
“I would say...” Kira paused and laughed. “I would say, ‘Is he a good man? Does he love you? Do you love him? Does he treat you well? Is he kind to others? Can you take care of yourself if the relationship falls apart?’ And if she answered, ‘Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes and yes,’ then I’d say, ‘You’re a grown-ass woman. If this is what you want, go for it.’ So let me ask you...what are your answers to those questions?”
“Kira.”
“Joey.”
Joey leaned forward and buried her head against her arms.
“I was so proud of myself,” she said. “I graduated high school and I moved to Hawaii for college.”
“It’s a big move. You should be proud of yourself for that.”
“Mom and Dad did nothing but worry about Dillon. That’s all they did when we were in high school—worry about my brother. And I don’t blame them. Kids tried to beat the shit out of him once a week his senior year. But I needed to get away from that. Age eighteen and I moved to an island in the center of the ocean.”
“Good for you, Miss Independent.”
“I got my own job, my own apartment. My family hasn’t even had to help me move since I live so far away. And now if I move back? I’ll be working for Dillon. And Mom and Dad are less than three hours away.”
“You like them, right?”
“I love them.”
“So the single only reason you don’t want to quit your job and move back home is because you’ve somehow convinced yourself you shouldn’t do that? Am I getting this right?”
“One week. I’ve been with Chris for only...one...week.”
“That’s not true.”
“Fine. It was actually ten days.”
“That’s not what I mean. You knew him in high school, right?”
“Right...”
“For how long?”
“Since I was twelve. But,” Joey said before Kira could counterattack, “I didn’t know him for most of those years. He and Dillon lost touch for a few years after high school. They only started hanging out again after Dillon hired him to do some work earlier this year. He could be a serial killer, you know. Did you think about that? He’s got the tools for it. And tarps. He keeps tarps with him in his truck.”
“Because he’s a contractor.”
“Or a serial killer.”
“You’re scared shitless, aren’t you?”
“God, yes.”
Kira’s laugh warmed Joey all the way from LA. Today was her birthday. Happy birthday to her. Heartache and impossible choices for her birthday. Just what she wanted.
“Are you scared shitless because you think you’re in love with Chris? Or do you actually think you’ve been sleeping with a serial killer?”
“He’s to die for in bed. But no, I don’t think he’s a serial killer.”