Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

G iovanni's phone finally rang when he was thirty feet up a tree and unable to answer it. By the time he got back to the ground, he had two missed calls and no bars.

"Yo, Giovanni," Finn yelled. "Where you going?"

"I gotta make a call!"

A chainsaw buzzed and Finn pointed to his ear, telling him he couldn't hear what he said. Giovanni waved him away and left the site.

He had to drive into the damn town to get a decent signal, but it was worth it to hear Erin's voice.

"Hey."

He sighed. "Tell me we're okay."

She didn't answer right away and that scared him. "We're okay," she finally said with little inflection.

"Where are you?" Screw work. She was more important. He needed to see her.

"I'm in a town called Clifton Heights."

"Clif—Erin, where the hell is that? What's going on?"

"I needed room to think."

"About us?"

"About everything."

He gripped his phone so tight the case creaked. "Forget what I said the other night. I was exhausted and in a shitty mood. It had nothing to do with you."

"It's not what you say, Giovanni. It's what you do."

He didn't know what she meant. "Look, I'm trying to make some money. Maybe the lumberyard's not for me, but it's something until I find a better option. We'll figure it out."

"I don't care about your money, so long as you're not in financial trouble."

"Then what?"

"I just want you to be happy."

"Then come home."

"I'm trying to figure out where that is."

His heart stopped. "Well, I can tell you it sure as fuck isn't a place called Clifton Heights."

"I'll call you tonight."

"Erin, wait, how long are you staying out of town?"

"I don't know, but I have to go. I'll call you tonight."

The line cut off. "Fuck!"

When he returned to the lumberyard his temper was fuming. Finn spotted him right away and sent out a whistle for him to stop like he was a goddamn dog or something.

"Yo, where the hell did you disappear to? You don't take off in the middle of a shift when you have a whole crew depending on you."

Giovanni snapped, spinning around and pointing a finger right in his face. "I'm not—" His words cut off as he reeled in his fury. "Forget it."

Finn's eyes narrowed. "Careful, cuz."

Giovanni shoved past him and stalked toward the benches where he'd left his cleats.

"You wanna tell me what's going on?"

"Just another day in paradise."

Finn grabbed his shoulder, jerking him back hard. "Enough. How about you tell me what your issue is and we start there?"

"I don't have an issue."

"Try again."

His frustration spiked until the pressure burst out of him in a sigh. "Everything's a mess. My comedy sucks. I hate climbing trees. And Erin's run off to some town I've never heard of!"

Finn cocked his head. "Erin left?"

Giovanni threw up his arms. "She's been gone for two days."

His cousin chuckled. "Okay, well, that's two days, Giovanni. Sometimes people need to get away."

"It's not like that. I know her. She's all over the place. The other night…" He couldn't go there. Not with Finn.

Finn read something in his eyes and said, "She puts up walls."

"Yeah." That was the understatement of the year.

"Do you love her?"

He looked at his cousin, wondering what answer he hoped to hear. "I'm crazy about her."

"She's never going to be like other girls, Giovanni."

"I prefer her that way." He liked having her all to himself. "I want her to have friends, but I don't care if she doesn't. I just want to make her happy."

"Well, are you—making her happy?"

"I'm trying."

Finn sighed. "You can't take off in the middle of a shift like that."

"I hate this job, Finn. I hate the cold weather. I hate the weight of work boots on my feet. And I hate climbing trees."

"Then why are you here?"

"I don't know!"

There was so much pressure from his dad to take over his portion of the family business, but he'd never be like Ryan or Finn. He just didn't care about it the way they did.

"I've got four brothers," Finn said. "Not all of them joined the family business and that's okay. It's not for everyone. I mean, have you ever watched Colin try to climb a tree? He's not rescuing any stranded kittens anytime soon."

Giovanni laughed. "He can't be any worse than me."

"You're pretty rough. But you can do things that half those guys can't do. You're selling out seats and getting up in front of hundreds of people and making them laugh. I could never do that."

"They're not laughing so much anymore."

"It's the material, not the comedian. Trust me. You're funny, Giovanni. You don't have to put on an act. You just have to get out there and be yourself."

Erin had said something along the same lines, but he wasn't sure people would enjoy stories about his boring family life. There was so much competition. He thought he had to deliver something edgy and dark. But maybe he was better off talking about day-to-day life. He could do a whole hour on his family's Sunday dinners alone.

"Look," Finn continued, "If you need the work, the job's yours. But you have to be present. People depend on you, and someone could get hurt if your head's elsewhere. But if you want to leave, I won't take it personally."

He couldn't leave without a better option. "I'll stay until I figure something else out."

Finn nodded. "Good. Now get your ass back up in that tree because you can't leave it the way you did."