Chapter 19
Shane ended the call and stared at his fridge. He was tempted to leave Alisyn another message, but what good would that do? She wasn't answering his calls and if he left another message, he'd just look desperate—even though he was. He'd been a fool to take off like that, and now she was furious at him. Just like she should be.
The phone rang in his hand. His throat closed up, but he answered anyway. "Alisyn?"
"No, your dad."
Shane's stomach twisted. Why hadn't he looked at the caller ID? "What do you want?"
"What do I want? What do I want?"
"That's what I asked," Shane muttered.
"You take off in the middle of the night without a word, and you want to know what I want?"
"Did I forget to leave a tip?"
"Don't get smart with me. I told you to leave my nanny alone, and look what happened."
"What?" Shane asked.
"She left!"
"Alisyn left? What do you mean?"
"Just what I said."
Shane laughed. He didn't just chuckle, but he laughed so hard he couldn't keep his eyes open.
"What in the blazes is so funny?" Dad demanded.
He wiped his eyes, unable to stop the laughter. "I did exactly what you said. You told me to leave her alone—so that's what I did. I left without a word. Then she left." He gasped for air, laughing all the harder. "If I'd have stayed and defied you, she'd still be there. Happily, might I add."
"I fail to find the humor in this. Carrie is out of her mind trying to figure out what to do."
Shane laughed even harder. His stomach started to ache, but he couldn't stop. He slid to the floor and clutched his middle.
"Have you lost your mind?" Dad exclaimed.
"Maybe." Shane continued roaring. His day had gone so terribly wrong. There was no way it could get worse now that Alisyn had taken off. The only thing he could do was keep laughing, no matter how much the ache in his belly annoyed him.
"You'd better find a way to fix this."
"And maybe you should stop being an arrogant jerk." Shane ended the call and clutched his side, which now hurt worse than his stomach.
Once he finally calmed down, he called Shayna.
"I just talked to Dad," she answered.
Shane burst out laughing again.
"Apparently he wasn't exaggerating about your laughter."
He tried to catch his breath. "Everything has gone so terribly wrong today. Pretty sure I'm fired and now Alisyn left."
"And that's funny?"
"Not in the slightest." Shane sucked in a deep breath and tried to stop laughing. "What am I supposed to do?"
"About what? Dad? Alisyn? Your job?"
"I don't care about Dad or my job."
"You don't know where Alisyn went?"
"She won't answer my calls." He swallowed a chuckle.
"I told you last night you were stupid for leaving like that."
"Thanks. Really helpful. What am I supposed to do?"
The line was quiet.
"Shayna?"
"I'm thinking. Be quiet."
He sighed, the maniacal laughter finally subsiding.
"You know what you need to do?"
"No. That's why I'm asking you."
"Listen up because I'm only saying this once."
"I'm listening." Shane grabbed a pen and paper from the counter.
"You need to get your butt down to Romance and do whatever it takes to get her back. Beg and plead if you have to. You two are meant for each other—I've never seen you so gaga over anyone, little brother. Don't mess this up."
Shane rolled his eyes at the little brother comment. "Beg and plead? You think that'll work?"
"After what you did? It's your only hope."
"Okay." He wrote beg and plead on his paper. "Anything else?"
"Tell her how wonderful she is and how stupid you are."
"I think that's taking it a little too far."
"If you don't admit to being an idiot, there's no point in even trying."
"Fine." He scribbled more notes.
"Now get your scrawny butt down there."
He twisted around and craned his neck toward his rear end. "It's not scrawny."
"Just go." The call ended.
Shane took a deep breath and stared at his phone. His heart nearly leaped into his throat at the thought of making the phone call, but Shayna was right. He had to do it.
He called Alisyn again. As expected, it went to voicemail. His heart fluttered at her recorded voice.
"Hi, it's Alisyn. You know the drill."
Beep.
Shane cleared his throat. "Hi, Alisyn. I can't blame you for ignoring my calls. Like I said in my note, I'm sorry. What my note didn't say, though, is what an idiot I am to have left like I did. I wasn't thinking—I was just mad at my dad, and I stormed out like a stupid fool, not thinking about you. I'm really sorry that I hurt you. That's the last thing I ever want to do. I'd never hurt you on purpose. Never. Even though we've only known each other for less than a week, you mean more to me than anyone else. It's crazy, but it's true. I'm coming down to Romance right now, and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. I really am sorry."