“Different? What is that supposed to mean?” I asked, replaying what he might have heard while Cara had been in my office. Besides the weird comment about my childhood, which I’d said after hanging up with my nosy brother, I thought I had been fairly professional.

At least on the outside.

Inside, my head had taken a trip to the fucking strip club. And Cara had been my ultimate fantasy come to life.

“He said you were, um… nice-ish to her,” she said, phrasing each word with a bit of uncertainty.

“Nice-ish?”

“His word, not mine. But he basically said you weren’t as big of a jerk as you normally are. In Roman terms, that means you were actually kind of nice. So, this brings me back to my original question. Who’s the girl?”

“I told you! And I can be nice. I’m nice to you.”

“Yes, you are,” she said fondly. “Now, we just need to work on the rest of the world.”

There was a scuffle and a laugh, and suddenly, the sweet voice of my sister-in-law was replaced by the husky deep one of my younger brother.

“Sorry, she was taking forever, and if I had to hear her flirt with you one more time, I might have just lost my dinner.”

I chuckled silently.

“Can’t help it if your wife recognizes the true stud in the family,” I said with ease.

He, as expected, ignored my comment and proceeded to ask, “So, what my wife was trying to say is, who’s the chick, and how long have you had a thing for her?”

“Since when do you say words like chick?”

“Stalling tactics. Nice. But that shit doesn’t work with me.”

“Like I said, she’s just an assistant.”

“Picturing her naked yet?”

“For fuck’s sake!”

He laughed. “Just trying to get to the nitty-gritty here. Okay, interesting. It’s just that I’ve never heard you so worked up over another human being before.”

“The only reason I’m worked up is because it’s eight o’clock here on the East Coast, and I haven’t eaten since noon.”

“Testy.”

“I’m hanging up,” I warned him.

“Okay, but call back when you want some advice.”

“Never happening,” I growled back before hitting End on the phone.

I looked around the room, still dark from me stumbling in the door as I’d answered the phone.

Gazing out the windows, I took in the skyline of Manhattan. The lights flickered like stars from apartment buildings and late-night employees burning the midnight oil in corporate office buildings.

Life went on.

Even three thousand miles away, in a house somewhere on the beach, my brother and his family snuggled in for another blissful night together.

But, here… life stalled.

Here, it was stagnant. A void.

Just like me.

Are you proud of me, Father?