Haze

"Will he speak to us again?" I already know the answer to that. My father, although a proud man, is aware of his appeal to the younger women he courts. He knows that they're not drawn to his greying hair and sizable paunch. He may have believed otherwise before today. The fact that his fiancé took a check worth much less than I was prepared to offer is proof of her motivations.

Caterina Omari actually took our first offer, with little fanfare. I could almost hear her drooling over the phone. That problem is solved.

"He's coming into town next week." He taps out a message on his smartphone. "We'll do dinner. You can bring the woman who unearthed your personality."

"Fuck you."

"We're done." He gestures back towards the door. "I don't get to dismiss you often so I'm taking pleasure in this."

"How's Rowan?"

"Pregnant."

That pushes me to sit in the chair in front of his desk. "What?"

"You heard me old man." It's the nickname he hasn't since we were in high school. "I'm going to be a dad. Me? Wrap your mind around that."

I can't. Literally, I cannot imagine my younger brother as a father. "She's pregnant?"

"Three months pregnant." He beams. "We don't know yet if it's a boy or a girl, but I don't give a fuck what it is. I'm going to have a child, Gabriel."

I stare at him across the desk. He's only two years younger than me but every time I look at him I see the same eight-year-old kid who used to sit next to me on the stoop of the brownstone we lived in. He'd ask me about all the constellations and I'd point them out, one-by-one, while he sat quietly listening.

Somewhere between then and now he grew up. He got married and now, he's going to be a father. He'll be a good one; an honest and protective one. He'll be remarkable.

"I'm happy for you both." I stand again.

He reaches out his hand as an offering but I ignore it. Instead I round his desk, push his chair back and pull my younger brother into a warm embrace.

***

"Isla flashed her underwear to a customer, sir." Cicely shoots Isla a look across the boutique.

"Did she now?"

She turns towards where I'm standing. "I think that's breaking a rule, sir. She's always breaking the rules."

I study the receipts for yesterday's sales. "I should punish her for that."

"Just look at her now." She nudges her elbow into my side. "Her dress is practically falling open."

I tap my finger on the front counter. "Isla's sales are still the most impressive, Cicely. Yours could stand some improvement."

She grabs hold of my forearm as she peers down at the numbers. "I have to take care of everything, sir. It's a lot to manage all the employees."

"You're having difficulty keeping everything in check?"

Her body stiffens, her hand darting to the front of her dress. "No, I didn't mean that. Isla is just a handful."

"Indeed she is."

She waits a moment before she responds. "I saw her open her dress on the security footage, sir. She just untied it and there it all was. I can show you if you want."

The fact that she hasn't fired Isla herself is evidence enough that it was a woman Isla showed her lingerie to, and not a man. "I don't need to see it. I'll speak to Isla about it."

"What's going on with her? Is there something going on between you two?"

The question irritates me enough that I turn to face her. "Why are you asking?"

Her arms cross over her chest in a defensive way. "She breaks a lot of rules and never gets in trouble."

"She has yet to break a rule that would warrant terminating her employment, Cicely," I remind her. "You've broken rules as well. You didn't do your job the morning that refuse was found in the change room. If you had, it would have been a non-issue."

"What is it about girls like her?" Her hand flies in the air behind her head. "Why do men like you always want girls like that?"

"I have no idea what other men want." I look past her to where Isla is standing. Her face is lit up in a smile as she speaks to a customer. "I can tell you that Isla is not a girl. She's an incredibly complex woman and I'm honored whenever she spends time with me."

"Whatever," she mumbles as she walks away. "I seriously do not get the appeal."

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Isla

I scan my apartment one last time before I open the door.

"Isla." He grabs my shoulders before he leans down to kiss me softly. "You look beautiful."

He always says that. I think I could be wearing a burlap sack and a pointy hat on my head and he'd say the exact same thing. I'm not complaining. I like it. I'll never tire of it.