Текст книги "To Love Jason Thorn"

Автор книги: Ella Maise

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Текущая страница: 4 (всего у книги 22 страниц)

Chapter Eight Olive

My heart beating in my throat, I turned around to find Jason smiling at me.

“Not so fast, little one,” he said.

Grabbing his arm, I managed to pull him a few steps away. “What are you doing? They will recognize you!”

I chanced a look behind me. From what I could see of the three open mouths, it was already too late.

“So what? I want to meet your friends.”

“Jason. Are you sure you are okay? Shouldn’t you be…I don’t know, a little more concerned about being in public?”

“No one is around. It’s okay, Olive. Relax, I won’t embarrass you. I promise,” he said in a different tone.

My heart clenched. “It wasn’t that. I’m sorry. Let’s introduce you then.”

Lucy was the first one to close her mouth and grin like a cat that was about to bathe in the cream.

“You must be Lucy, the one who is facing a bloody death,” Jason said, giving her a sincere smile.

“Yep, that’s probably me.” Lucy had that starry look in her eyes when she finally shook Jason’s hand.

“This is Charlotte, and Marcus.” I took over when Lucy finally let go of his hand.

“Nice to meet you guys,” Jason said.

When Lucy glanced at me questioningly, I sighed, “Jason had a meeting after mine, and they were running late, and then he was in my meeting so he recognized me and offered to drop me off.”

That short but to the point explanation would only hold her off until we got into our apartment.

“You two know each other?” Marcus asked with a confused frown on his face.

Marcus was a completely different matter. He was my roommate and my ex, and the more my book took off, the more annoyed he got.

I felt Jason’s hand on the small of my back. It was a light touch, but it was enough to make my entire body buzz with excitement.

Stupid, traitorous body.

“Jason was my brother’s best friend. He used to practically live with us,” I said to Marcus.

“You never mentioned that.”

“I’m sorry? I didn’t think you would be interested in knowing that.”

Lucy cut in. “Oh, shut up, Marcus. I knew, and frankly, that’s enough. Would you like to come up?” she asked Jason, softening her tone.

“I would love to, but I’m afraid it will have to wait until next time.” Turning to me, he said, “Can I see your phone?”

“Why?” I asked suspiciously.

“I want to get Dylan’s number.”

Ah, right.It wasn’t like he would want mine. Nodding, I took it out of my bag and handed it over.

“Olive.” Getting my attention, Char touched my arm. “I’m dying to hear what happened at the meeting and if you said yes, but I have to meet with my study group…” She glanced down at her watch. “In half an hour. I’ll catch up with you when I get back, ok?”

“Sure, we’ll talk when you get back.”

Blowing us a quick kiss, she slipped away.

Before I could ask Jason why it was taking so long to get Dylan’s number, Marcus caught my eyes, shook his head, turned around, and left.

“What’s wrong with him?” I asked Lucy, making sure Jason couldn’t hear.

“Who knows? He is in one of his moods, I guess. Don’t worry about him.”

Jason handed my phone back, our fingers touching for a quick second.

Those old, childish butterflies I’d thought were long gone? They all came back with a vengeance, which scared me more than anything that had happened that day.

“I put my own number in there and I want you to call me whenever you need anything, ok?”

As if I would ever repeat that mistake again.

“Since I have a feeling you won’t do that, I’ll make sure to text you as soon as I start reading the book. I’ll let you know what I think.”

“You’re not going to let it go, are you?”

His grin grew bigger. “Not a chance in hell, little one.”

After he said goodbye to Lucy, he looked at me one more time. Then, cupping my face yet again, he pressed an unexpected kiss on my forehead, rendering me completely speechless.

“I’ll see you soon,” he said, and then he was gone.

“Now,” Lucy started as she hooked her arm in mine and started dragging me toward our building. “I’m gonna hold my tongue until we take those stairs up, get in your room, close your door, and lay next to each other on that bed. That should give both of us enough time to take in what just happened. However, when our hearts finally stop going haywire over that fine piece of ass, you’ll answer every single question I ask. Is that understood? Nod if it is.”

I nodded.

***

“Wait a minute. He pulled you out of the meeting? But did you say yes before he dragged you out? Is this awesome movie happening or not?”

I was just as baffled as she was. “It looks like it is.”

We were sitting next to each other on my bed, facing the window that looked out to an already darkening sky. My room was only big enough to fit a queen bed and a small closet/dresser, but since my bed was slightly bigger than her full one, it was our regular meeting spot for late night talks and snacks.

“And why are we not more excited about this huge, huge life-changing thing? You’re kinda making it sound like it’s nothing.”

“Seeing Jason eclipsed that little nugget. Oh, Lucy.” Closing my eyes, I sighed and fell back onto my pillows. “I acted like a total idiot. I was mortified when I saw him walk in that door, but then why did I feel that rush when he grabbed me by my hand, or when he looked at me as if he was really seeing me? Why did…” I struggled to find the right words. “Why did my heart feel like it was burning?” I threw my arm over my eyes and released a sigh. “But then I remembered how much it hurt to read what he thought of me that night, and I couldn’t look him in the eyes. I called him Mr. Jason Thorn for crying out loud! I made a complete fool of myself in front of everyone.”

Lucy gently lay down next to me and I opened my eyes to look into her stormy gray ones.

“But the waterfall trick worked, didn’t it? You were all calm and collected until Hotness Overload walked in and your ovaries exploded along with your heart.”

I smiled. “That’s one way to put it, I guess.”

“Do you still love him?” she asked after a long beat of silence.

I chuckled. “Along with millions of other women. Who doesn’t love Jason Thorn?” Lucy ignored my answer and pointedly kept looking at me until I gave up. “He is not the same kid who slept right across from my room, Lucy. I’m not in love with him like that any more.”

“I don’t believe you, my green Olive.” She bopped my nose with her fingertip.

“It doesn’t matter whether you do or not. I doubt I’ll see him again any time soon.” I patted her arm. “Don’t worry though, I’ll take you to see his next movie. You can still salivate while you are watching his abs. Isn’t that coming out like next month?”

After seeing and talking to him again after so many years, wouldn’t it be a solid kick in my stomach when I saw him kiss his costar? And right when I was starting to get used to seeing him in a lip lock.

She sighed. “No, still two months away. And anyway, it’s not the same as seeing him face to face. Do you think he would’ve taken his shirt off if you’d asked nicely? I’m forever ruined after seeing him show that dimple to you and then kiss your freaking forehead. If I didn’t know you still loved him—”

“I don’t love him.”

“I would’ve jumped on him and quite possibly licked that dimple while my hands accidentally wandered to places every girl would give their firstborn to get a peek at.” She did a whole body shudder.

“Ahh, don’t be disgusting.” I made a funny face at her. “And don’t do that to any guy when I’m around, please.”

“Why? Licking is a natural urge. When you think of it, you actually start to learn how to lick properly when you are just kid. All those lollies and ice creams you licked to death? That was just training. Do you think he wouldn’t love it if you licked his dimple and let your hands roam around for bit?”

“He sees me as his sister, Lucy. Of course he wouldn’t like having my tongue anywhere near his face, or my hand for that matter.”

“Says who?”

“Says every guy who’s had a best friend’s little sister fall in love with him. When you think about it, it actually does sound a little annoying. There he is trying to have a family moment, which he didn’t get at his own home, and there I am popping up wherever he goes, sticking to him like a glue. He was just nice enough not to say anything to my face.”

Lucy turned fully toward me, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “Maybe he’ll fall in love with you this time around. Then I could see his abs any time I wanted. Damn, I could quite possibly get away with copping a feel.”

“I’d say don’t hold your breath. I gave up on that dream exactly seven years…four months, and some days ago. Not that I’m counting or anything.”

Lucy snorted. “Of course not.”

My phone pinged with a new text message and before I could even lift my head off the pillows, Lucy was off the bed and digging into my handbag.

“Who is it?” I asked. “Is it Char? Can you text her back and remind her to buy toilet paper on her way back? There was no way I was going to ask the Jason Thorn to stop at the grocery store to buy some toilet paper. Why are you smirking, Lucy? What did she say?”

“Oh, I have a feeling I’m going to love this,” she replied with an evil grin on her face as she typed away an answer.

“What are you talking about?”

She threw the phone at me, almost breaking my chin in the process, and ran out of my room straight to her own.

Perplexed, I looked down at the text message I had gotten…and evidently answered.

Jason: The Marcus guy, your boyfriend?

Me: No, just the ex. I’m one hundred percent single.

 

“I hate you so much!” I yelled as I heard the answering cackle coming from her room. The phone pinged with a new one again.

Jason: Good. I don’t like him.

 

Quickly, I typed back.

Me: Why on earth?

Jason: I didn’t like the way he treated you.

Me: You only saw him for a few seconds, how would you know how he treats me?

Jason: I have eyes.

Me: How surprising. I hadn’t noticed.

Jason: Just got off the phone with your brother after talking to your parents. All is good. He says hi. After dinner, I’m going to download your book and start getting ready for my upcoming role.

Me: Glad you were able to patch things up. Talk to you in a few years.

“Olive?” I heard Lucy yell from the safety of her own room. “The suspense is killing me!”

“I still hate you,” I yelled back.

“Oh, I love you too, but, I meant what is he texting?”

“You’ll never know.”

She came out of her room and gave me the most innocent look with those pouty red lips and innocent eyes.

Just when she was about to sit down next to me, Marcus appeared at my door.

“Olive, can we talk for a second?”

I straightened up and invited him in.

Lucy eyed Marcus for a few seconds before she looked at me and said, “I’m going to hop in the shower before I go to bed, I have an early class in the morning. Before I sleep, I’m gonna stalk your Amazon ranking for a while. Talk to you later my green Olive.”

They threw each other hostile glances as Marcus entered my room and Lucy got out. It wasn’t that Lucy hated Marcus as a person—they’d actually been friends with each other longer than they had been with me—she just hated the fact that Marcus had dumped me because he thought I was spending too much time with the fictional characters I’d created in my mind. He never thought I would actually publish, let alone be successful on my first try as a writer. Honestly, neither had I, but that wasn’t the point.

Closing the door, he crossed his arms across his chest and leaned back on the wall, watching me with silent eyes. When he didn’t like something, he always did that. Always stared you down until you squirmed in your seat before he actually opened his mouth to let you know what was wrong.

“Is this what you want to do with your future, Liv?”

Oh and also, he never ever called me by my full name. He found it ridiculous.

“What do you mean?”

“Char said you skipped a class today.”

“Yes,” I said slowly, wondering where he was going with that. “I had a meeting.”

“Is that what’s important to you now? Hanging around movie stars and squealing with Lucy?”

“I know one movie star, Marcus, only one, and Jason insisting on giving me a ride home isn’t exactly hanging around a bunch of movie stars. Like I said downstairs, I was seven years old when we met him, as a family, not just me. He was barely eleven twelve himself. He was like a second brother to me.”

I wondered how many times I would have to lie with a straight face before the day would end. But it wasn’t exactly a lie, was it? He did see me as his sister. It was me and my heart who had muddled the waters in my own head, and all of that aside, I still cared what Marcus thought of me.

Despite what Lucy and Char thought, for the short year we were together, I’d been all in with Marcus. He was intelligent, interested in me, confident in himself, and had a vision for his future—one I wanted to be part of. Having a relationship with someone I already shared a house with had been oddly exciting. And the sex? That was good too, especially when we were sneaking around Char and Lucy.

It had felt like we were right for each other until he decided to slowly tear me down and mold me into something I wasn’t ever going to be.

He quirked his brow. “Are you sure? You didn’t look like someone who had seen her long lost brother to me down there.”

“Why do you do this to me?” I asked, genuinely curious.

He tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

“Question my every move. Undermine my decisions. Make me feel like I couldn’t possibly do anything right in your eyes. I published a book, Marcus. People are actually reading it. A lot of people are reading it. A fucking movie studio wants to option my book. Why can’t you be happy with me? For me? Why are you bringing me down like this?”

“That’s not what I’m doing, Liv,” he said, coming to sit down next to me. He lifted his hand as if he was about to grip my thigh, but then let it rest on the bed, next to my knee. “You lost so much weight while you were trying to write this book. Hell, sometimes you didn’t even have time to shower before your classes, let alone hang out with me. Our relationship ended because of this book, because you were more in love with your fictional characters than you were with me. Even when you are not writing, you are lost in your dreams.”

“That’s not why it ended, Marcus. I’d been writing this book for years, long before you, but you already knew that. When we started something, you knew how much it meant to me, finishing this book.”

“Maybe that’s what you want to believe, but it’s not what happened, Liv. I thought once you published, you would take things easier, patch things up between us, but now I can see that it’s changing you for the worse.”

Shocked, I responded, “I’ve skipped one single class. How could it possibly have changed me, Marcus? And even if I was skipping classes left and right, you also know that I’m enough on top of my classes that I’m graduating early.” Neither one of us said anything for a short time. Then I softened my voice and tried again. “Did I unknowingly do something that would make you think like this? If that’s the case, if I did something or said something that hurt you, I’m sorry. No matter what happened between us, you know I care about you.”

“I cared about you too, Livy.”

Past tense.

He rose from his seat and stopped by the door. “When you decide to come back to reality, I really hope it won’t be already too late.”

“I’m sorry to hear you think like this, Marcus. Truly, I am.”

When I didn’t say what he was obviously expecting me to say, he nodded curtly and left me alone in my room.

Feeling slightly angry at him for somehow managing to pull me down when I had every right to feel excited about my accomplishment, I jumped out of my bed, pulled the drapes shut, and turned off the lights.

When I was comfortably snuggled under my covers, I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the fact that Marcus still had enough power over me to get under my skin.

Soon enough, I fell into a fitful sleep where I was still a little girl who dreamed and wished for things she could never reach.

***

When a door slammed shut with enough force to wake the dead, I startled awake with a gasp. Catching my breath, I had to blink a few times to get my bearings and realize that I was in Los Angeles and not in my childhood home. Patting the bed in search of my phone, I gave up when I couldn’t find it and instead got up to check on Lucy.

“Lucy,” I whispered and knocked on her door quietly. When there was no answer, I opened it and saw she was already deep in sleep. Closing her door, I padded down to the kitchen to grab a water bottle and get back to my room before I came face to face with Marcus, just in case he was the one who had slammed his door.

When I was safely back in my room, I turned on the lights and finally found my lost phone down on the floor by the bed.

Seeing the two notifications for new text messages from Jason, my heart decided it was time to have a heart attack. I hugged the phone to my chest, took a deep breath, and exhaled. Wanting to be alone in the dark, I turned off the lights again and got back in bed. My phone was still tightly clasped in my hands.

Just like it was years and years ago, I thought.

Now that there was nobody around and I was all alone with my thoughts, everything that had happened that day seemed like a dream. Seeing Jason’s name light up my screen was doing inexpressible things to my heart.

Before I could work myself into hyperventilation, I opened his texts.

Jason: I can see why you didn’t want me to read this.

 

Oh shit!

 

Jason: Are you awake?

My heart stuttered to an almost stop.

Does he hate it?

He hates it.

The last text had been sent fifteen minutes ago.

I contemplated saying, Yes, I’m awake, but decided against it. We had seen each other, talked to each other enough for a day. I didn’t want him to see me as the old Olive who trailed after him to get his attention.

If he wanted to say how much he hated my book, tomorrow was just as good as any day.

Chapter Nine Olive

Someone poked my cheek. “Wakey wakey, sleepyhead. It’s time to get up.”

“Go away,” I murmured, digging my head deeper into my pillow.

“It’s almost nine o’clock,” whined Lucy above me. “You have to get up.”

I opened my eyes and saw Lucy’s upturned face looming over me with an overly bright smile. Quickly, I closed my eyes shut.

“You’re like those annoying house cats we always watch on Facebook,” I mumbled. “Why do I have to get up? I don’t have a class today.”

“Because we need to get out and celebrate yesterday’s meeting. And I’m not a cat—I’m offended, woman. I’m a cute puppy everyone wants to take home.”

Unable to stop myself, I yawned again and reluctantly opened my eyes. Thankfully, she was no longer inches away from my face.

“What time is it?”

“Nine.”

“We’re celebrating at nine in the morning? Whose brilliant idea was that? I’m gonna say no. Come back at a reasonable hour.”

“Come on, Olive.” She pulled at my covers. “You don’t have a class, but I do. So get up, get up, get up.”

“Jesus, you are like a five-year-old.”

“If you don’t want me to dump a bucket of cold water on you, you’ll get up, get yourself together, and be by the door in less than half an hour.”

“Fine,” I snapped as I swung my legs down and pushed at her shoulder. “Get out of my way.”

She clapped her hands. “That’s the spirit I was looking for!”

In twenty minutes, I was all ready to go out, but neither Lucy nor Char were ready.

“I’m about to go out and celebrate on my own,” I yelled, standing by the front door.

“I’m coming!” Lucy yelled at the same moment Char opened her door and slipped out of her room.

“You have a class, too, Char?” I asked, noticing the big bundle of books she was carrying.

“Unfortunately, yes. Then I have another study session with the girls.”

“You sure are working hard lately. Is there anything I can help with?” Char was a shy and sweet blonde who was an English major like me, but unlike me, she had no interest in creative writing.

“That’s nice of you to ask with everything you’ve got going on. I might take you up on that offer when finals are getting closer.”

“Of course. Actually, it would help me a lot, too.” As much as I hated giving in to Marcus’ words, I didn’t want him to be right about what he said, especially when I was so close to graduating early.

“Your book is still doing amazing on the rankings!” A jumping and screaming Lucy came barreling toward me.

“Here we go again,” Char muttered with a smile in her voice as I braced myself for impact.

Two seconds later, Lucy’s arms were around my neck and we were jumping up and down, celebrating her excitement over my book for the…thousandth time? If it wasn’t already the thousandth, we were surely getting pretty close.

The truth was I was staying away from checking reviews and rankings and all that stuff because I was scared shitless that all of it would tumble down on me at any moment. Lucy was like a bloodhound anyway; she had refreshed those pages almost every hour, on the hour ever since the book had gone up on Amazon two months before. My fear was also the reason I was trying to lock down my excitement about the possibility of seeing Isaac and Evie on the big screen. Once Dream Catch Studios provided me with the contract—if they were serious about it—and I signed it…then I would either sit down and cry for a few days—happy tears, of course—or I would pull a Lucy and go crazy all over the town—naturally, with her by my side.

“Still in the top hundred?” I asked, the slight tinge of hope in my voice more than clear.

She flicked her hair over her shoulder. “Try top five, woman. You’re still killing it.”

I’d stayed as the number one bestselling book on more than a few platforms for almost six weeks, and I was still in the top five after two months? I gave in to the urge and completed another jumping session with Lucy, not noticing Marcus leaning against the doorframe and watching us.

Then we were out of there to celebrate with lattes and croissants.

It was well worth every damn calorie that went straight to our hips.

***

It was almost four o’clock when Jason’s name flashed on the screen of my phone. I was alone, sitting in our living room, staring blankly at an empty word document, trying to figure out which direction my mind and heart wanted to lead me this time around. Needless to say, neither of them was speaking to me at that moment.

Urging my heart to stop fluttering around like a wild bird in my chest, I took a deep breath and answered the call—at the same time wondering if it was weird of me to get so worked up over a simple phone call.

“Hi.”

“Hey, little one. I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”

“Nope. How can I help you?” I asked before tipping my water bottle against my lips to wet my suddenly parched throat.

“So formal.” He clucked, and I could almost see him shaking his head as a small smile stretched across his face. “Soon enough, I’ll win you over. You already loved me once; I’ll make it happen again.”

Sputtering water all over the cheap Ikea coffee table that was stationed in front of the couch, I coughed until I could speak without gulping breaths.

“What?” I wheezed out when what I wanted to say was, Oh, Jason, I’m still head over heels for you, maybe even more so.

“What’s going on, Olive? Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah,” I replied in a rough whisper. “Just water down the wrong pipe. I’m fine.”

“Well, okay. You scared me; I thought someone was strangling you.”

“Yeah, nothing that exciting.”

“Being strangled is exciting to you?”

“Not for me, but definitely for some people. Don’t knock it ’til you try it and all that.”

He seemed to think about it for a second, then cleared his throat before speaking again. “Ok, we are not going anywhere near that. You shouldn’t even know about stuff like that.” I did a ladylike snort but he ignored me. “You never answered my texts last night.”

“Yeah, I didn’t want to bother you.” I got up and went to stand next to the window, counting the cars that passed on our street.

“I was the one who texted you; why would I be bothered when you actually went ahead and answered them?”

“It was late. I just thought you would be occupied, or out. Why did you say you were calling again?”

“You’re terrible at trying to change the subject smoothly, little one. From now on, you can answer my texts whenever. I forgot to tell you yesterday, but please make sure no one else gets my number from your phone, all right? It’s pure hell when somebody gets a hold of it.”

“If you are worried about my friends, don’t be. Lucy is the only one who knows my password and she would never do anything like that. She might’ve looked a little crazy with all the jumping and screaming yesterday, but she isn’t someone who would steal your number and then bother you.” I paused and thought about it for a second. “However, she might grope you if she ever sees you again so you can worry about that if you want to, but that’s as far as she would go. Still, if you are regretting giving me your number, I can delete it right now.”

“This trying to get rid of me thing is a huge blow to my ego, little one. I hope you’ll stop before you do some permanent damage.”

“I didn’t mean to sound…well, mean, I just don’t want you to worry about it.”

Feeling too wired to just stand in one place, I started pacing the living room from wall to wall. Why wasn’t he just telling me what he thought of the book? Even if he’d read a few pages, surely he would have an opinion on it.

“I’m not worrying, and the reason I’m calling right now is because I wanted to let you know that I talked to Keith, the guy from the movie studio, and they will send the optioning agreement to my agent instead of directly to you.”

I stopped my pacing. “What? Why would they do that?”

“Because I don’t want them to take advantage of you. Tom will go over the contract for us then we’ll meet at my house so you can sign it if you are happy with everything they are offering. Just let me know when you’ll be free and I’ll arrange it. It needs to be in the next few days because I have to leave for Canada on Friday. I’ll be out of town for a few months.”

“Oh,” I mumbled, mostly to myself. That little piece of news settled down in the pit of my stomach, so I bit down on my thumb and tried to come up with the right thing to say. “This is too much, Jason. Despite what I said yesterday, I’m sure you don’t have this kind of time on your hands to babysit your old best friend’s little sister.”

He coughed and roughly cursed on the other end of the line.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Yeah. Sorry. Look, this isn’t about Dylan. This is about you. Wouldn’t you let Dylan help you if he was in my place? At the very least, you can see me as a stand-in for your brother. I won’t let anyone take advantage of your work, Olive. You’ll get what you deserve and nothing less.”

What he’d just said hurled me back to my heartbroken fifteen-year-old self again. It looked like no matter how much I grew up, he would never see me as anything but a sister.

I dumbly nodded and realized he couldn’t see me through the phone so I forced my mouth to open and give him the words.

“Thank you, Jason. I appreciate it,” I said, in a dull tone. “Uh, I have to go right now. My friends are waiting for me, but I’ll text you to let you know which days I’ll be free. You can arrange the time according to your schedule. I don’t want to be a bigger burden then I already am.”

“Little one,” he said, softening his tone. “You couldn’t be a burden to me even if you tried.”

“Thank you. Goodbye Jason.”

Before he could say anything else, I ended the call then powered off my phone completely.

It was a childish and stupid move, but I didn’t want to risk hearing his voice again on the off chance he decided to call me back while I was busy feeling sorry for myself.

Later that night, after I had a long talk with my mom, I learned that she had asked Jason to look after me. Since he was being cast as Isaac, she had thought we would be working together. I had to explain to her that I wouldn’t be involved in the filming process.

After doing some research on the subject, I’d already learned that no director wanted the author to get in the way of how he wanted to shape the movie. He was the big dog and it would mean nothing to him whether the author was happy with the process or not.

Details of the movie aside, I wasn’t sure how I should feel about Jason helping me out as a favor to my family.

I spent some time thinking about what I should do…okay, maybe not a lot of time. After all, who in their right mind would pass up the chance of spending more time with Jason Thorn in his own house? I mean…come on. Even though I wasn’t as brave as Lucy and wouldn’t grope him at first contact, there would be no stopping me from ogling his body and that damn dimple of his.

I was done feeling sorry for myself.

“Bring it on, Jason Thorn,” I muttered with a renewed confidence in myself. After all those years, I’d become the master of loving him from far away. It would be stupid of me not to take advantage of our situation.

Reaching for my phone, I sent him a quick text letting him know that I had no classes on Thursday.

After I went through my nightly routine and returned to my room, his answering text was sitting pretty in my inbox.

Jason: I’ll pick you up at 6 PM and we’ll wait for Tom at my house. Until he can join us, please try not to bruise my ego more than you already have, little one.

I fell asleep with the biggest grin on my face.