voice. Before he got sick, I’m positive he’d have been buying more stock in Holland Pharmaceuticals.
“Do you want some water, Papi?”
“No, I just want to listen to your voice.” He smiles at me.
I squeeze his hand. “I’ll read to you anytime you like.”
“Your date tonight, it’s with the Stone boy again?” he says, interrupting my reading the paper to talk personal life.
“It is.”
“He treats you well?”
Even as sick as he is, he still manages to pull off the stern father voice.
“So far so good.” I squeeze his hand again.
“Make sure it stays that way. I don’t like his father. He’s conniving, and the apple usually doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
I frown. I wasn’t aware my dad even knew Garrin’s father, beyond the point of knowing of him. I think back to Garrin’s exchange with his dad at the museum benefit. “I don’t get the impression that they’re close.”
He squeezes my hand, though not with as much force as he used to. “That’s probably a good thing, princesa.”
I continue reading to my dad until my mom comes in to tell me that Garrin has arrived for our date.
“I have to go, Papi.” I scoot off the bed and lean down and kiss his cheek.
“You have a good time,” he says, his eyes already drifting closed, giving in now that I’m leaving.
I turn and exchange a worried glance with my mom. She follows me out into the hall.
“He seems so tired,” I say as we walk down the hall.
“The doctor said it’s to be expected after his first treatment.”
“When will they know if the treatment is working?” I ask.
She reaches for my wrist and stops me. “Let’s take it one day at a time, all right, sweetheart?” I press my lips together and nod. “Now, you have a wonderful evening. You deserve it.”
“Thanks, Mom.” I lean in to give her a hug.
“I’m going to go back to your dad,” she says before walking away.
I make my way through the expanse of our house to the foyer, where Garrin stands with his phone in his hand, looking down at it. He’s wearing a long dark gray cashmere coat, but it’s not done up, so I can see the slate dress pants and black button-down shirt underneath.
My heels click when I reach the marble floor, grabbing his attention.
“You look gorgeous.”
His eyes eat me up and I mentally congratulate myself on a good outfit choice.
After much deliberation, I decided on an ivory sweater dress with a turtleneck and over-the-knee brown suede boots. My dark hair is down and in waves, and I did a dark brown smoky eyeshadow.
“You look nice too.”
He licks his bottom lip and all I can think about is kissing him again. The flutter in my belly tells me that I won’t be satisfied until it happens tonight. I cross my fingers we’re on the same page.
Garrin helps me on with my coat, and I grab my purse before leading me out to the drive where his black Lamborghini Urus is parked.
“No Langley tonight?” I ask when he opens the passenger door for me.
“I wanted you all to myself.”
He smiles, a rare occurrence, and closes the door to walk over to the driver’s side.
Garrin’s smile makes me feel like a teenager, and I remember the feeling of being young and hopeful about all the possibilities that lay ahead.
We chitchat on the way to the restaurant—a nouveau French one that just opened last month. I’ve heard that it takes months to get a reservation here, but I shouldn’t be surprised that Garrin was able to secure us a table with only a few days’ notice.
Once we settle in our seats and the waiter has brought us our drinks, we settle into a conversation about what we’re both dealing with at work. The conversation is comfortable and flows well. When he mentions working from home the previous night, it reminds me of something I’ve been curious about.
“How did Titans’ Tower come to exist? It’s an unusual setup.” I sip my wine.
“We came up with the plan in high school—we’d all live in the same building, party, do what we wanted, but make it so that it was a good investment should we ever decide to sell it or turn the rest of the building into condos to sell.”
I set my wineglass back down on the table. “So, most of the floors just sit empty?”
He nods. “Except for each of our living quarters, the Titans’ Den where we all meet up, Margaret’s living quarters