Chapter 24
T HE WORST PART about any vacation was how quickly it flew by. Before Daniel knew it, he was waking up with only a week left.
The bed beside him was already empty, but that wasn’t shocking. Brantley had always been an early riser, and with the mornings by the beach, who wouldn’t be?
Sitting up, he stretched his arms over his head and then got to his feet.
The sun was already filtering through the curtains as he walked over to them to pull them open.
The distant sounds that only came from the beach had him closing his eyes and enjoying the relaxing wake-up call that was so far removed from his usual alarm blasting in his ear.
“Good morning.” Brantley strolled into the bedroom dressed in pressed slacks, a perfectly tucked-in shirt, and a tie. He was heading in to school today.
“You know, you’re going to spoil me with this. And when I get back home, I’m going to hate making my own coffee.”
Brantley grimaced, and Daniel immediately wished he could take his words back as he reached for the offered mug.
“Sorry.”
“No, that’s okay. It’s reality, right?”
“Right,” he said, looking out the window again.
As Brantley came up to stand by his side, he bumped their shoulders together. “At least we still have the week. I have final exams today and then I’m done and we can work out what we want to do for the rest of your stay. Sound okay?”
Daniel worried his lower lip with his tongue and then nodded. “Sure.”
“Okay. Well, I’m going to head out.” Brantley leaned up to kiss his cheek, where he said softly, “It really is okay,” as he ran a hand down his arm and then squeezed.
“Okay.”
“I’ll see you in a few hours? Think you can amuse yourself until then?” Brantley slung his bag over his head and body and smirked.
“I’m sure I’ll think of something.”
When Brantley ran his eyes down over him, Daniel swore he felt it like a caress.
“Well, don’t do anything that would be more fun with two. I don’t want to miss out.”
Daniel raised an eyebrow and then did something Brantley had always done to him. He pointed to the door. “Time for you to go. Out, professor.”
“See you soon, Finn.”
As Brantley walked out the door, Daniel turned back to the window and took another sip of his coffee. It had been made exactly the way he liked it.
Damn, he knows me well.
Thinking he might lie out on the deck before the sun became too hot, he finished his coffee and then got some clothes out for the day. Just when he was about to head outside, his phone went off and he groaned.
Normally, he would’ve let it hit his voicemail, but with the news he’d received last week, he needed to answer in case there were updates on anything regarding the partnership.
The last he’d heard was from Todd when he’d called to congratulate him and tell him they were expecting the other two partners, Harry McNamara and Scott Ackerman, to fly in from New York the week after he returned to meet and go over everything.
Grabbing the phone off the bedside table, he recognized the number immediately.
“Well, hello there, Moira. How are you this morning?”
“Very well, thank you, Daniel. You sound happy.”
“I am happy, thank you very much.” He chuckled at her observation. “Enjoying the relaxation only the beach life and great company can give you.”
“Oh, I bet. I haven’t been to a beach in…gosh, in years.”
“That’s a damn shame. Does your boss not give you vacations?”
“Ha. Ha. My boss is wonderful, but he’s a very hard worker. Maybe on my next vacation I will find a beach and a hot man to lie on it with.”
He smiled, thinking about how wonderful this week had been while doing just that. “Well, let me tell you, it’s been a fantastic way to unwind—that’s for sure. Another week and I’ll be ready to get back to the grind.”
“About that…” she said.
He frowned. “About what?”
“The extra week… Mr. Leighton needs you home early.”
Sure he hadn’t heard correctly, he asked, “What do you mean early?”
“I know. I explained that you had an extra week to go, but he insists. Mr. McNamara and Mr. Ackerman are flying in tonight and want to meet with you. He told me to tell you to ‘be back here no later than this evening.’ His words, not mine.”
His mind was racing as he rubbed a hand over his forehead and squeezed his eyes shut. No, no, no. This can’t be happening. Not now. Not fucking now.
“But I have a week left. I’ve earned this vacation, for fuck’s sake.”
“I know,” she said, a wince in her voice. “But you’ve also earned this partnership.”
If it had been any other time, he would’ve dropped fucking everything, hopped on the next plane, and been out of there before she could finish talking.
But it wasn’t any other time.
It was his time with Brantley.
His two weeks. Their only two weeks.
Fuck .
“How long are they going to be there? Surely I can come back in a day or so.”
“They called the meeting for tomorrow morning. He wants you on a plane and back in Chicago tonight.”
“Fuck.”
There was dead silence on the other end, and when he realized how odd this all must seem to Moira, who thought he’d be a little annoyed but thrilled, he pulled himself together.
“I’m sorry. I just wasn’t expecting to have to cut this trip early. Tell him I’ll be home tonight. And in the office,” he said, but the words sounded detached, as though they were being delivered by a robot.
“Okay,” Moira said quietly, sensing his mood. “Do you want me to book the flight for you? There’s one at two forty-five, so you’ll be back home by this evening. Does that work?”
As if in a fog, he nodded, but words wouldn’t come out. All he kept seeing was Brantley’s face and the smile he’d given him as he’d left earlier.
“Daniel?”
Shit. “Yes. That’s fine.”
“Okay. I’ll email you the confirmation and see you tomorrow.”
He didn’t bother responding as he hit the end button on his phone. He just stood there in the middle of Brantley’s bedroom in a daze and wondered how the hell he was going to tell the man who’d just left that he would be leaving as soon as he walked back through the door.
brANTLEY RUSHED TO pack up, get in his car, and drive home as soon as the final exam was over. It was a nice feeling to be going home to someone, and it was even nicer that it was to Daniel.
After grabbing his bag from the passenger seat, he slung it over his shoulder as he climbed out of his car. Then he headed up to the front door. He’d been trying to think of things they could do once he got home, and he’d decided to see if Daniel wanted to drive over to Little Havana.
He threw his keys on the table and then walked down the hall.
He checked the kitchen, where he dropped his bag on the counter, and then the living room, but Daniel was nowhere in sight.
When the curtains swayed from the door he’d slid open before he left, he grinned.
But when he peered around the curtains and scanned the patio, again, no one was there.
Frowning, he turned back toward the hallway leading to his room and made his way down there.
It was the only other place—unless Daniel had gone for a swim.
But as he passed the open bathroom and stepped into his bedroom, Brantley found Daniel sitting in his wicker chair, dressed in grey suit pants and a pressed white shirt.
His feet slowed at the odd choice of outfit for a relaxing day, but then his eyes fell on the suitcase by the chair.
It was packed, zipped, and standing vertical with the handle half extended, and that was when he froze in place.
He hadn’t said a word, but as if he sensed him, Daniel raised his head, and the eyes that landed on his were distant, detached.
That expression was the one Daniel had first arrived with.
Not the easygoing smile he’d flashed before he’d left this morning, and Brantley suspected that whatever was about to come wasn’t going to ease the fist tightening its grip around his heart.
“Hello,” he said, needing to know what the hell was going on and fast, or he was likely going to fall apart.
Daniel got to his feet, and instantly, the stiff shoulders, the tense posture, and the hard line of his jaw told Brantley one thing: their time had come to an end. What he couldn’t work out was why ?
“Hello.”
The clipped and cold word had him automatically defensive.
“Going somewhere?” he asked, glancing at the suitcase and then back at Daniel.
“Yes. I have to go home.”
“To Chicago?”
“Yes.”
“Today?”
“Yes.”
The word was final, and he was struggling to understand what the hell had happened since he’d been gone.
“I thought you still had a week…”
“I do—did,” Daniel corrected as he locked eyes with him.
Brantley wanted to shout at him to tell him more. “But now you’re leaving?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
Daniel looked at the watch he’d put back on and swallowed. Fuck . Brantley didn’t want to hear this—he was positive.
“My taxi will be here in about ten minutes.”
Ten minutes? Jesus, so soon. “Why?” he finally demanded. He didn’t care if Daniel looked like he wanted to throw up. He wanted to know what the fuck had happened. “Did I do something?—”
“No,” Daniel said with absolute finality.
Brantley made himself walk farther into the room and went to reach for him, but Daniel shook his head and moved his hand away. The refusal was a razor-sharp knife to the heart.
“It’s work. I have to go back for a meeting.”
Brantley blinked several times and then asked, “A meeting? You’re on vacation. Can’t they have it without you?”
“No.”
“Why not?” he asked.
“Because it’s for partnership.”
He narrowed his eyes, and when his mouth opened, Daniel was already there, answering his unasked question.
“ My partnership. They offered it to me last week. I got a phone call from the office, and then my boss called to confirm it and?—”
“The day we went out to celebrate,” Brantley said, finally piecing it all together.
“Yes. But I… The meeting with the other partners wasn’t supposed to happen until I got home.”
“In another week.”
“Yes.”