When he released me, he grinned and held his hands out to his sides, his green eyes lit up from the inside out. “Surprise! Dane said you’ve been feeling a little homesick, so he suggested I make the trip out if I had time.”
“He did that?” My heart swelled and skipped a beat, but I tried to play it cool. If Rick saw me swooning about his best friend, I’d never hear the end of it.
He nodded in response to my question, his brow furrowed in curiosity as his gaze swept over my face. “Yeah, he did. They must take employee satisfaction pretty seriously around here. He even offered to buy my ticket, but I needed to come for a follow-up on that meeting from a few weeks ago sometime anyway.”
“What was that for again?” I asked, trying to remember if he’d ever even told me.
He laughed. “A supplier. Their head office is here, but they do farm-to-table distribution in different states.”
“Sounds cool,” I said. “It sucks that you can’t just deal with their local offices, but I’m glad they made you come here for the meetings.”
“I offered to come here because it lets me spend some time with you and Dane while I’m at it,” he said, sliding his hands into his pockets as he looked around. “Is he in? I thought we could go to lunch and I wanted to find out if he’d like to come. I didn’t want to ruin the surprise though, so he doesn’t know I’m here.”
I pursed my lips while I tried to remember if he was in the office. “The problem with surprises is that people don’t know they’re supposed to keep time open for you. I think he’s out for the day. Mr. Killen hasn’t been in much since France and I’m pretty sure Dane has gone out to his house to see him.”
“Why hasn’t he been in?” my brother asked, not seeming too disappointed that he wouldn’t be seeing Dane for lunch. “Well, that’s okay. I’ll see him next time. You’re the one I wanted to see anyway.”
Since I didn’t want to discuss Mr. Killen’s medical condition or what had happened in France while in the office, I ignored his question and focused on the statement he’d made after it instead. “Ah, are you missing your little sister?”
“Nope,” he said cheerfully, smirking at me as we walked toward the elevator. “Rumor has it she’s been missing me, though. How’re you doing, Leah? Dane said the transition has been tough on you.”
“Wow, you two really do gossip like two little old ladies, don’t you?” I punched his shoulder without breaking step, and it felt so good to be able to do it again that I couldn’t contain my smile.
Rick rolled his eyes at me, scoffing as he clutched his chest. “We gossip better than little old ladies, I’ll have you know. Whatever we do, we do it best.”
“Oo-rah,” I cheered lightly. “Or whatever your old football chant was.”
He shook his head at me, feigning a deep, disappointed sigh. “It wasn’t oo-rah. I think the Marines use that and I’m pretty sure it’s considered disrespectful if civilians say it. We had a battle cry, not a chant, and if you don’t remember it, you don’t deserve to know it.”
“Whatever shall I do if you refuse to remind me of a battle cry I’ve never used in my life and never will?” I pressed the back of my hand to my forehead but then smiled at him. “Unless, of course, this whole modeling thing doesn’t work out for me and I end up trying my hand at football.”
“On the bright side, even if you do try your hand at football, you still wouldn’t need to know that battle cry,” he said. “You’d have to play for like a middle-aged team and not a high school team.”
“Says the guy who’s three years older than me,” I retorted.
Rick shrugged, but there was laughter in his eyes when he glanced down at me. “Sure, but I’m not the one looking to start a football career at this stage of my life. Now, as much as I’m enjoying the banter, are you ever going to answer my question?”
“What question?”
He pinned me with a pointed look as we climbed into the elevator. “How are you really doing, Leah? Whenever we talk on the phone, you say everything’s good, but when I talk to Dane, he sounds worried about you sometimes.”