Page 40 of Chasing the Dream

“Gabe? Are you listening?”

“Huh?”

“I don’t think you’ve heard a word I’ve said for the last five minutes.”

“Sorry. I zoned out, but all your ideas sound good. I wouldn’t change a thing.”

She smiled warmly, and then his phone rang.

He glanced down at the display and said, “Pizza’s here. Be right back.”

As he walked out of the conference room to meet the delivery person, he inhaled deeply, grateful for the reprieve. Lately, it was becoming harder to work with her without his mind drifting off to places it shouldn’t go.

It must have been because they’d been spending so much time together. First the swimming, then the dancing, and now working together on this project. It was too much. But after their meeting with Bryan this week, he could go back to concentrating on his own projects, and Morgan could hang out with Maria as she was meant to.

A few minutes later, he returned to the conference room with their food and found her standing and looking out the window, her phone pressed to her ear.

As he was setting the boxes on the table, she turned around and mouthed, “Maria.”

He nodded and started doling out food on the paper plates the pizza place had provided. He’d just set a pepperoni slice on her plate when she said, “Hold on, and I’ll ask him.”

She covered the speaker with her hand. “Your parents invited us to their house this weekend. All of us.”

Uh-oh. How am I going to get out of this one? “Um…”

“Maria said you have to come because you haven’t seen them in a while and it would be rude not to.”

Maria’s muffled voice came through the phone, and Morgan lifted it to her ear again. She listened for a few seconds and added, “She already told them yes.”

“Hand me the phone for a sec.” He stalked toward her with his hand out, and she looked at him apologetically while she gave him the phone.

“Since when are you my social director?” he snapped.

“We haven’t been up to Flagstaff in quite a while, and they want to see Morgan.”

Turning to look out the window, he growled. “Why can’t you two go?”

“Why are you being so stubborn about this? It’ll be fun. We’ll show Morgan around, go hiking…”

He ceased listening and struggled to come up with a valid reason not to go. He tried to get up to Flagstaff every few weeks or so, but since Morgan had arrived, he hadn’t thought much about it. He understood why his parents would want to see her, but if he went, that meant spending an entire weekend with her—just what he’d been trying to avoid.

“Fine, but next time, ask me before you say yes on my behalf.” Then he disconnected the call even though Maria was still talking.

Returning to the table, he handed Morgan her phone. “Sorry about that.”

“You don’t have to go because of me, you know.”

“It’s not that. It’s just, I don’t like Maria telling me what to do.”

Morgan smiled, and he noticed a dot of pizza sauce on her upper lip. He was dying to lean forward and lick it off, but that would hardly be appropriate. He must have been staring at it, though, because, she swiped her tongue over her top lip before speaking.

“As I recall, you used to boss her around, and sometimes me too.”

“I’m the older brother. That was my job.”

“The tables have turned.”

“Obviously. How do you like the pizza?”