Page 79 of Just Like That

I watched my brother’s girlfriend swivel back and focus on work like her flippant comment didn’t just rock me to my core.

Focus on the wrong things? Please. I focus on what needs to be done.

Loosen the reins? If I do, everything goes to shit.

Spurred by determination and stubbornness, I dove into my day.

Four meetings later, I was officially back on my game. Three multimillion-dollar deals were closed, and one holdout was playing hard to get. I wasn’t worried. He’d call by Monday, and his fledgling company would be purchased. He’d get that vacation home in Aruba, and King Equities would maintain that JP King was the man who got it done.

It dawned on me that maybe Veda was right when it came to solving my problem with Hazel.

I’d been focused on the past and forgotten to look at our situation like everything else. A business transaction. The only thing left for me to determine was whether it was a merger or an acquisition.

A merger meant Hazel and I had to come together to provide for Teddy. An acquisition required one of us to gain control and the acquired company no longer existed.

I rubbed the sudden, sharp stab that poked my rib.

Well, that couldn’t happen.

Hazel made it too easy to forget that if I looked at the facts, they were simple. Because of Teddy, we were stuck together.

Any feelings that had started to develop for her needed to be tucked away before they became a problem I couldn’t handle.

You can’t build a future on the ruins of the past. Everyone knew that.

At the very least, I hoped that for Teddy’s sake, we could manage to be friends. I didn’t have many of those outside the business world, and those were surface-level, at best. My life was unfolding in ways I had no control over, but I refused to be an outsider while everyone happily moved on without me. If that meant focusing on a friendly merger with Hazel, then so be it.

I had to make this right with her.

With a new goal of winning Hazel’s friendship, I pulled down my driveway with a renewed sense of energy. It was late and the house was dark, but there was a comfort in knowing the brick and glass had been transformed.

Within a matter of weeks, the two of them had turned it into a home.

A dim light shone through the back window of Hazel’s skoolie. The curtains were drawn, but I could make out her figure as she rustled around on the inside. I waited for her, leaning against my car with my arms folded.

After an eternity, she bounded down the steps of the skoolie. Her steps halted when she saw me and startled.

“Shit!” she screamed, her hand pressed against her chest.

I raised my hands. “Sorry. Just me.”

She smirked. “Good. For a minute there I thought it was a big, scarybear.” The plain, mocking look she shot my way rippled through me.

I didn’t mind that she teased me. That was what friends did ... right?

“Look ...” I kicked a blade of grass with the toe of my shoe and tried to find the words. “I know things have been ... different.”

When I sneaked a glance, her arms were crossed and one eyebrow was lifted. “You mean since you’ve been avoiding me?”

I chuckled. “Fair enough, but you asked for space, and I tried to give it to you.” I sighed. “Look, I don’t know what I’m doing here. Teddy, you ... these are uncharted waters. I know it’s complicated with your sister and we still haven’t gotten the paternity results.” She moved to interrupt, but I stopped her. “Regardless ... I don’t like lurking around my own house.” I shoved a hand in my pocket and stepped forward. “And I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that dinners with Teddy are always entertaining.”

Her chin raised and I fought the urge to get lost in the chocolate-and-caramel hues in her eyes.

“He misses you too.”

The idea of being just friends with Hazel nearly dissolved in the heady, coastal air. I had stared at her for a beat when curiosity won out. “Is he the only one?”

A small snort pushed out of her nose. “The absence of your scowls has not gone unnoticed.”