Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 69910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
I snort the snort of all snorts. “You clearly haven’t worked in a corporate setting before. There’s always competition between departments. People don’t like working together. They like being the star of their own show.”
“Maybe. But what if we were all working together? What if we were there too?”
“What? That would involve going back. You seem to just want to be out here, living in your fantasy land and swimming in your pool of money day and night.”
His eyes crinkle. He looks way too handsome when they do that. I spin around, walk to the fridge, and grab the container of OJ. I hate juice in the morning, but whatever. Apollo doesn’t know how it makes my stomach burn. He makes my stomach burn. This is the lesser of two evils. At least I don’t have to look at him while I’m searching for a glass and pouring. Then, with the glass in my hand, I study the window after, pretending to be thinking.
“I like swimming,” he admits. “Day and night, certainly, but not in money. That would be deadly for papercuts.”
“Ha fucking ha.”
“Seriously. If you think it’s our only chance of helping our dads get along, I’d be willing to temporarily move back to Dedind.”
“You used to say it was called Dedind for a reason. Because no one went anywhere there.”
“That was just me being a dumb kid. I didn’t mean it. You can’t hold what I said when I was like seven years old against me.”
“How do I know what you think now? You live in this fairytale house. Of course, you’d think Dedind is disgusting, or at least beneath you. You thought everyone was beneath you. That’s why you never came back.” I don’t mean for that to slip out.
The room is both supercharged and utterly still. I feel like I just crash-coursed something I was always meant to stay away from. And fuck, it’s not a good feeling. I want to take it back. I feel so utterly vulnerable now. I’ve flayed myself open like a total tool.
I can hear the soft footsteps coming across the kitchen. Soft enough that, without looking, I know Apollo is in bare feet. His voice is just as soft, and it’s too close. He’s too close. I don’t move. I can’t move. I have to stand my ground, even if it’s the shakiest ground I’ve ever stood on.
He doesn’t make excuses. He doesn’t even comment on what I said. Instead, his words are gentle and even. “Our dads will be here soon. They were closer than brothers, and now they’re worse than enemies. They’re rivals. My dad wanted to destroy yours. That’s the most malicious thing from the most loving man I know. What happened at that card game might not be fair or right, but we’re here now, and it’s up to us to make this work. Despite the past, can we do that? Can we be that unbeatable, unshakable, extremely awesome, possum, blossom, moss on ‘em single unit of epicness that we used to be, even if it’s just for a few hours today?”
He’s using our childhood terms. Our code. He doesn’t tell me that I’m being petulant or call me a problem. He doesn’t call my dad a problem, even though he was the one who left to begin with and basically initiated this whole feud. It’s not his fault, but he did take that first step.
I sigh with my whole body. It was inevitable that we both arrive at this point. We both want the same thing, and we’ll only get it if we work together, like it or not, past or not, card game or not. We’re here now. The past years have been ugly, to say the least. I know how much my dad misses his old best friend. No one understood him the way John did. They had a lifetime together, a history, years and years. Giving that back to him would be the best gift I could ever offer him.
I just need to get over myself.
I shut my eyes. This isn’t surrender. It’s just a temporary truce.
“Alright.”
CHAPTER 7
Apollo
“No. Nope. No way. If he’s here, I’m leaving.”
All of Patience’s dad’s happiness evaporates into a cloud of ragey-rage the second he spots my dad out by the pool. Gerry’s outburst causes my dad to leap out of the zero gravity chair where he is sprawled out in tropical floral swim trunks and a T-shirt with a computer doing a jig on the front of it. I got it for him a few Christmases ago. Anything with tech-related objects doing a dance is pretty awesome in my books. His pineapple banana smoothie goes flying out of his hand, and it lands with a squishy plop on the concrete surrounding the pool.
“Dad…” Patience puts her hand on Gerry’s shoulder. “Please, just hear us out.”