Chapter Three
Roxana woke up alone, as she did most days when Jason had a contract scheduled.
His position as a forensic accountant came in sporadic bursts.
Some corporations only needed him to snoop through their books for a few days.
Others could take a few weeks. She didn’t think he enjoyed the job as much as he appreciated the nature of the position.
He once told her that numbers didn’t lie.
With meticulous attention to detail, he could unravel secrets.
Numbers didn’t hold the same lure for her, but she appreciated their standardization. One always equaled one. Five hundred dollars was five hundred dollars. A variation required detective work, which had to be more interesting than he let on.
Or maybe not, considering he had a ten-hour drive to Tulsa, Oklahoma, today, while she planned to go completely off-script and take off part of the day in honor of her newly engaged status. Roxana held up her hand, still unable to believe what had happened the night before.
The scent of percolating heaven wafted from the preset coffeemaker.
Roxana jumped from bed as her cell phone rang with the recurring Monday-morning call from her brother.
She only wished she could tell him in person, but Roxana never knew when he’d be able to leave the Middle East. “Hagan,” she cried, certain he’d just pulled the phone several inches from his ear.
“I have the absolute best news to tell you.”
He laughed in that way that came with a roll of the eyes. “You scored Bieber tickets?”
Thrilled that Hagan was in a good mood, Roxana threw herself back into bed. “Do you even know me—”
“Baskin-Robbins brought back your favorite flavor?”
Roxana had too much energy to stay in one place.
She popped up and grabbed her housecoat on the way to the kitchen.
Not that she’d needed the caffeine, but if anything, she appreciated their normal Monday routine of catching up while she had her coffee.
Since Hagan had settled down with Amanda, he’d been less concerned with painting Roxana a rosy picture of his job.
It wasn’t as if she thought he had been frolicking from tourist attraction to tourist attraction, but the gritty details took an adjustment on her part.
Given his playful questions, he didn’t have an update that would turn her stomach upside down. “That’d be nice,” she said as she poured her coffee, “but no—”
“Amanda told you Netflix has every episode of She-Ra?”
“Hagan,” she snapped. “Listen to me!”
“Did you say something?” he deadpanned.
“Gah, you’re a pain in the ass.” Roxana sat at the kitchen table. “I have a major, mind-blowing announcement. Think you can give me a second to make it?”
“I guess,” he teased. “Hit me with your good news.”
She couldn’t stay seated and pushed out of the chair. “I’m getting married!”
Hagan didn’t say anything.
Roxana scowled and checked that the international phone call hadn’t disconnected. “Hagan? Did you hear me?”
“Say again?”
He’d better have just asked because the call glitched. “Jason and I are getting married.”
“The hell you are.”
For the first time in her life, Roxana didn’t know what to say. Even if she had, she wasn’t sure she could talk with her jaw hanging to her knees. But then a geyser of angry aggravation doused her shock. “What did you just say?”
Hagan made an exhausted noise, something that sounded like a groan and a growl rolled into an unhappy burrito of brotherly exasperation.
She could almost see him pressing a hand to his forehead, pacing as he searched for some ridiculous reason to explain what had just come out of his mouth. “You’re not getting married.”
No explanation. Hagan had doubled down, and she couldn’t believe her ears. More than that, she couldn’t believe he’d act this way. “Where the hell do you get off pissing on my rainbow?”
“You barely know Jason.”
“Barely know him?” Roxana ground her molars. “In the past three years, Jason’s made it to more Thanksgivings and Christmases than you have.”
Hagan sucked in a breath as if she’d slapped him.
Roxana didn’t care. “And since when do you pull the patronizing, wannabe paternalistic, man-of-the-family bullshit?”
“You’re too young and—”
“How old do you think I am?” She smacked her palm onto the kitchen table that had seen Roxana from baby food in a highchair to spoon-feeding her wheelchair-bound mother. “Better yet, how old do you think you are?”
“Older than you.”
“You’re an asshole.” Tears burned the back of her throat.
“Both of us were forced to grow up too fast. We skipped the fun, carefree years of college and everything else so we could handle what we never should have had to do.” Her breath shook, and the hell if she was going to let an angry tear slip free.
“You know what it feels like to have met your person. Don’t act like I don’t deserve that too.
” Hagan’s continued silence gave her a chance to pull herself together.
“You’re supposed to want good things for me. ”
“I do, Roxana.”
“Doesn’t sound like it.” Hurt surfaced in her voice, and she wished it hadn’t. Hiding behind biting words and sarcasm was easier. She bit her lip. “I’m really happy, and that should make you happy.”
“I’m always happy for you. Hell…” Hagan let out a long breath. “I don’t want anyone to hurt you.”
“Jason would never hurt me.” Roxana wished she could snap her fingers and start their phone call over. The best she could do now would be to smooth over the conversation and make her brother laugh. “Besides, I shook a Magic Eight Ball, and it said the future would be hunky-dory perfect.”
“Ha,” Hagan grumbled.
“Was that some kind of alpha, protective grunt, or do you have something more to say?”
He cursed under his breath. “Does Jason make you happy?”
Hagan’s out-of-character, overbearing concern was almost endearing. Almost. “Yes, Hagan. If you opened your eyes and ears, you’d know he makes me very much.”
“The real kind of happy? That no-bullshit, farting under the covers for the rest of your life kind of happy.”
Roxana gagged. “That’s disgusting.”
“That’s love in the real world, kid,” he countered.
“Who knew you were such a beacon of sound relationship advice?”
“Well, consider me the gold standard.”
Roxana snickered. “I’ll be sure to ask Amanda how she feels about your definition of love and happiness.”
“Christ, this phone call is getting better and better.” Hagan inhaled a deep breath. “As long as you feel happy and safe with him.”
Roxana laughed at her brother, who routinely jumped out of perfectly good helicopters. Hagan could never understand how secure and loved Jason made her feel simply by offering stability. “He’s everything to me.”