“This is a big job for both of us. Could push us into an entirely different market, so if it feels like I’m playing it safe, that’s why. I still don’t believe a lighter stain would appeal to our prospective buyers, but find me some comps at that price point, and we’ll revisit this in a few days.”

A bright smile split her face, and my little sister was damn cute when she got her way. “I’ve got some great ideas, hermano. I know that these rich academic types like that dark masculine look, but we can start new trends, you know?” she rambled as she followed me back toward the door.

I stood at the top of the front steps and looked out at the neighborhood as my sister continued to chatter on behind me. It wasn’t quite fall yet, but I could already see that the leaves on the trees that lined this quiet street were beginning to yellow. The air had that crisp bite, a warning that a Chicago winter was definitely coming, and if you wanted to get out, now was the time.

I had lots of thoughts about getting out lately.

I wanted to sell all of my shit — including my company — and book a ticket to Charleston. Drive straight to that Victorian Charleston single crowded with lush greenery two blocks from the Ashley River. Find the cat-eyed woman who owned it, the same woman who’d stolen my heart fifteen years ago, and beg her to keep me forever.

Juana wasn’t wrong. My head couldn’t be further out of the game than it had been since I came back from Charleston. But that was how I felt every time I came home from there, wasn’t it? Like all of it was some hot, sticky, drunken fever dream that happened outside of reality. This trip felt even more otherworldly because I’d sacrificed myself to a benevolent goddess who devoured me only to spit me out.

Sigh.

That wasn’t fair to her.

I knew what it was before she led me up to her bedroom. We both did. But like a child, I’d gone in overeager and expecting a different outcome. It wasn’t her fault that she was better at accepting reality than I was.

“So, where are you headed?” Juana asked. “We could get some drinks before dinner.”

“I won’t be at dinner tonight. Jared and Brandi invited me over to their new place.”

My little sister came to stand next to me. “I still can’t believe someone married his arrogant ass.”

“Brandi is actually perfect for him. You’d be surprised,” I said with a raised brow.

“If you say so,” she grumbled.