by Vivian Wood
“Well, one of the girls was pregnant. Five months pregnant.”
“What? So wait, is Aiden—”
“No,” she said. “He’s not a dad. The girl didn’t look pregnant at all, and apparently didn’t know she was pregnant. Aiden had only been fooling around with her for about six weeks.”
“So whose baby was it?”
“No clue,” she said with a shrug. “But he’s just glad it wasn’t his.”
“Yikes.”
“Yeah. The whole thing slowed Aiden down, though. Both him and Elijah were off the market for almost a year. It was pretty great, actually,” she said. Lily raised her head skyward and let another patch of sun shine down on her skin. “A lot of brother and sister and brother time. That was two years ago.”
“I guess your father’s death probably had a pretty negative effect on their dating lives, too.”
“Yeah,” she said softly. “It certainly hasn’t been a priority, that’s for sure.”
He thought she blushed slightly, but couldn’t tell.
“I didn’t mean you,” he said quickly.
“I know,” she said with a small smile. “But it seems like dating really isn’t our family’s thing. Although, I did see Aiden with a girl a few days ago, and I swear Elijah has to be seeing someone. So maybe they’re back on the prowl.”
She hitched her backpack up higher and rested her hands on either strap.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because he’s never home. And when I call him, nine times out of ten he sounds like… like his voice is muffled. You know?”
“Huh,” Cade said. Neither Elijah or Aiden had said anything at all about that at the firehouse.
Not like you’ve really asked, he reminded himself.
He’d been so caught up in his own situation, getting stuck with a shrink instead of actually fighting fires, that he’d taken his friends’ support for granted. Cade felt shame wash over him as he thought back over the past couple of weeks.
Why did I think I could come back and everything would be just like it was when I left? They rounded a bend in comfortable silence, and Cade heard a bubbling trickle.
“Hey, you hear that?”
“Oh! We’re almost to my favorite waterfall,” Lily said. She picked up her pace. “I wasn’t sure if it would be active, since we’ve had such a dry spring. Come on!”
She grabbed his hand and pulled him off the main trail toward a deserted path. Cade held his breath and willed himself not to think about her skin on his. Or how it made his heart start to beat something wild through his entire body.
Lily stopped short at a ledge and sucked in her breath. She rested her hands on a low, stony wall that looked like it hadn’t been maintained in decades.
“Look,” she whispered, and nodded down. Twenty feet below was a cove framed in moss. Water poured into it from rocks and fallen logs to pool together in a natural swimming hole.
“You aren’t scared of getting wet, are you?” Lily asked with a grin.
“Wait, what?” he asked. “Are you crazy? It’s—”
“Don’t be a baby,” she said as she slipped off her backpack. Lily dropped the bag and began to inch her way down the slope with a hand on the ledge.
Cade took off his own pack and followed close behind. Sprays of water to the face were reminders to keep his eyes on where he was going—not on Lily’s body that was even easier to admire without the backpack.
“Jesus,” he said as he felt a foot slip beneath him. He regained traction and steadied himself.
How was she doing this?
A dozen steps later he reached the bottom, but she was nowhere in sight.
“Lily?” he called. “Come on, this isn’t funny.”
“I’m in here,” she said, and he squinted. The outline of her body was barely visible in the alcove.
“What is this?” he asked.
Inside, it was surprisingly dry. Quaint, even. The stone wall ended in a bench with room for maybe four people.
“My secret place,” she said with a smile. Lily ran her hands through her damp hair, but the short locks had already started to dry. She patted the seat next to her. “Cool, huh?”
As he sat, he realized her white t-shirt was almost transparent. Through a pink bra, her nipples were hard.
“Oh,” she said, and crossed her arms, embarrassed.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t—”
“Jean-Michel got these t-shirts as a joke for everyone at the bakery one year. It’s stupid.”
“It’s fine,” he said with a smile. He hadn’t even seen what the shirt said, but at least she didn’t realize what he’d really been staring at. “And yeah, this place is awesome.”
She laughed and relaxed. Lily scooted closer and Cade felt himself sit up straighter.
“See there?” she asked, and pointed to the exit of the cave. “In the summer, you can see …”
Cade tried to listen, but all he could focus on was her. How close she was, how the dampness of her skin made her glow. That she smelled like strawberries, and how she had an adorable cowlick that stuck up on one side.
Before he could stop himself, he reached out to touch the tendril. Lily grew quiet, but she didn’t move away.
What will one taste hurt?
Cade bent toward her and she lifted her mouth to his, an offering. Lily’s arms wrapped around his waist, pulled him closer. Close enough that he felt her breasts press against his chest and those nipples rub against him. He hardened instantly as a growl erupted from deep within his chest.
As one of his hands cradled her head, the other wandered to her waist. The dampness of her t-shirt clung tight to her skin. As he inched his hand underneath, he was shocked by how warm her stomach was. He made his way to her breasts, grazed a thumb across her nipple through the thin satin fabric.
“Fucking waterfall, dude.” The voices of approaching hikers made them both freeze.
In the darkness of the alcove, he couldn’t tell if the look in Lily’s eyes was fear, embarrassment, or intrigue.
Maybe all three.
“Shit,” she said, and tugged down her shirt.
As she scrambled to make it look like nothing had happened, he couldn’t figure out if the hikers had just ruined his hookup, or saved him from making a terrible mistake.
Another terrible mistake, he reminded himself.
What the hell is wrong with me? Usually after he’d had a girl, all interest was lost. So what’s the deal? Why does Lily have this hold on me?
Lily led the way out of the alcove, and he squinted into the sunlight. As they passed the hikers, a group of teenagers, he gave a cursory nod to the one who made eye contact.
The silence lasted fifteen minutes before Lily broke it. “So about what happened back there—”
“Forget it,” he said and cut her off.
Something in his voice must have warned her to listen. Neither said a word all the way back to the car.
10
Lily
Lily opened the doors of the European pastry shop and was welcomed with the scent of the familiar comfort foods.
“Lily!” Renee called from a little table against the window.
“Oh my God, you’re so tan!” Lily said as she squeezed her best friend tight.
Renee felt slimmer, tauter. She carried the glow of Italy with her, the hairs on her arm bleached blonde from the foreign sun.
“I can’t believe you’re back,” she said as she released Renee.
“Well, kind of,” Renee said with a small smile.
“What do you mean?”
“Two strudels,” the waitress said as she slipped the desserts onto their table.
“I mean…” Renee said as they sat down and whipped open the thick white linen napkins, “I’m going back.”
“But I thought it was just one term,” Lily said.
She slid the hot spiced dessert between her lips and nearly moaned out loud. Jean-Michel refused to have anything other than
authentic French pastries in his shop.
Meeting for strudels was her tradition with Renee, and even after months of not having one it seemed the dessert would always have a hold on her.
“It was,” Renee said. “But I met someone.”
“What? Are you serious?” Lily leaned forward. “Who? Someone in the program? Or—”
“Ew, no,” Renee said. “A local, but acqua in bocca, okay?”
“And what does that mean?”
“Keep it to yourself. I’m not telling anyone here.”
“Why not?”
“I just don’t want all the gossip.” Renee neatly put down the fork after just two bites and gingerly sipped at her espresso.
“Since when do you drink espresso?” Lily asked. She noticed that Renee had ordered the usual almond milk latte for her.
Renee shrugged. “Too much fat in lattes.”
“It’s almond milk.”
“Still. Besides, the coffee here is terrible. I didn’t realize it until Italy.”
“Here, as in this shop? Or Salem?”
“As in America,” Renee said. “You should travel, Lily. It’s so incredibly eye opening.”
“I’d like to think I have a decent palate,” Lily said, feeling defensive. “After all, I went to culinary school.”
“Yeah, in Portland,” Renee said. “One of the guys I dated in Italy? He learned how to make pasta at this nonna’s home in Ravenna—that’s a town in Italy—”
Lily did her best to keep her eye rolls internal.
If this is what traveling does to you, I think I’ll pass, she thought.
Renee had always had a penchant toward snobbishness since they’d met in sixth grade. Lily wasn’t sure if it was spending so much time apart with Renee traveling in grad school, or if she’d always been that way and Lily hadn’t noticed.
“What?” Renee asked suddenly.
“Nothing,” Lily said quickly. She grabbed the latte and took a purposeful long swallow.
“You don’t seem very interested in hearing about my trip. Or the new person I’m dating.” Renee cocked her head to the side.
“You just told me you didn’t want gossip around this mysterious new boyfriend of yours. So how am I supposed to know how much you want to talk about him?”
“Who said it was a boy?”
Lily almost spit out the borderline too-sweet latte, but she held it together.
“Sorry,” she said. “I just assumed—”
“People in America are so closed-minded,” Renee said. She gave a sad shake of her head. “I mean, who cares? Chiodo scaccia chiodo, right?”
“I don’t know what that means,” Lily said pointedly.
Renee sighed. “It means you’ll get over it, okay?”
“I don’t have anything to get over. But when your best friend of almost fifteen years has always dated guys, and she casually mentions that she now has a girlfriend, you have to expect some kind of reaction.”
And I think a reaction is exactly what you were going for.
“Marco is a guy. Okay?” Renee asked. “I just don’t like when people automatically assume that you’re straight. In Italy, nobody cares. Love is love. There aren’t all these games, people will say non posso vivere senza di te on the day they meet.”
Lily rolled her eyes, unable to control it anymore.
“Maybe it’s for the best that I don’t visit Italy,” she said. “Because what you’re saying really isn’t impressing me.”
Renee crossed her arms and leaned back in the chair. “That’s fine,” she said bluntly. “Because you’re too much of a prude for European tastes anyway.”
“And what is that supposed to mean?” Lily was aware of how the coffee had coated her tongue.
She leaned forward and stared into Renee’s light blue eyes. Her best friend looked simultaneously like a total stranger and like the girl she’d ceremoniously buried her Barbies with in seventh grade to declare themselves official teenagers.
“Forget I said anything,” Renee said. She uncrossed her arms and became enchanted with her espresso.
“No,” Lily said. “You brought it up, I want to know.”
“Non sei capace di tenerti un cece in bocca—fine. Look, I just meant that you’ve never been with anyone. You know? Sexually, I mean. You dated Tim forever, and you haven’t even bothered to look for anyone since then.”
“That’s not true!” Lily said.
She was flustered. How long was Renee going to throw that in her face?
“I have been looking, but you don’t know how the dating scene is in Salem. If you can even call it that—”
“You were in Portland for culinary school. Probably absolutely surrounded by men. And not just men, but future chefs who probably had the exact same interests as you. And nothing? For two years?”
“Do you know what patisserie school is like?” Lily asked. She shook her head.
Of course you don’t, because for those two years you didn’t even bother to ask. You just loved having a free apartment in downtown to stay at on the weekends.
“Classes started at four in the morning. I was in classes sometimes for twelve hours a day, then working at Voodoo during the graveyard shift to make ends meet. Dating wasn’t particularly a priority.”
“You always have an excuse. For everything,” Renee said. “Ever since eighth grade when you made up that ridiculous reason for not going to the spring formal with Todd.”
A flood of words built up in her throat, but Lily commanded herself to stay calm. “I just have high standards. You should try it.”
“Yeah, right,” Renee said with a little laugh. “Your ‘standards’ are just a defense mechanism. You don’t want anyone to get over that hurdle.”
“It just so happens that I … I have a crush on someone.”
“Someone real?” Renee asked suspiciously. “Or is this like when you decided Eric from The Little Mermaid was your soulmate?”
“Yes, someone real! His name is … well, it starts with a C.”
“Ohhh. Connor? Isn’t that the name of the delivery guy at the bakery? You sneaky little slut.”
“Connor? Gross, no. And that guy’s name was Omar. And no, before you ask, it’s not the delivery guy. “
“Christian? Your landlord? Wait, no, Cody. I think you mentioned someone with that name last Christmas? Oh my God, is his name Christmas?”
“You’re ridiculous.”
“Lo ami. So, tell me about him, then.”
Lily blushed. She opened her mouth for the big reveal, but realized Renee hadn’t ever met Cade. It was the one crush she’d kept to herself even in middle school and high school.
At the time, she’d thought it was because Renee would laugh at her and how ridiculous it was. Now she thought maybe it had been because Renee would have gone after him. “He’s one of Elijah’s friends.”
“EJ always had hot friends,” Renee said. “Tell me the physical details. Hair, eyes, height—”
“About six foot two. Dark hair and eyes. He’s a firefighter, so—”
“Oh my God, really? Like an actual firefighter? EJ met him at the station?”
“Uh, yeah, like an actual firefighter,” Lily said slowly. It wasn’t technically lying if I just fail to mention we met as kids.
“He must be freaking hot then. But you know what the most important thing is, right?” Renee leaned forward conspiratorially. “Whether or not he’s packing heat.”
“Renee!”
“See?” Renee said. She leaned back again, smug. “That reaction right there is why you wouldn’t do well in Italy. You’re such a prude!”
“I can’t help it if some of us are more modest than you, Renee. And anyway … I happen to know he is.”
“Wait. What?”
“I hooked up with him three years ago.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Tell me everything. Do not leave out a single detail. Three years ago? Isn’t that when you broke up with Tim—”
“It was
amazing,” Lily said. She felt not only eager to stop Renee from doing her calculations, but relieved to finally be telling someone about it. “He was amazing,” she added. “And he was there when I needed him …”
“Holy shit! I can’t believe you did that! And that you didn’t tell me,” Renee said.
Lily could hear the hurt in her friend’s voice.
She was still in there, the crazy girl who stood up for me in seventh grade when that group of eighth grade girls made fun of me for not having any boobs.
“How could I not know?” Renee asked.
“We were both about to move,” Lily said. She grasped for an excuse, any excuse. “And it was around graduation, and your grandparents were coming in and everything. I was going to tell you. I wanted to tell you. But, I don’t know. It didn’t exactly end the way I thought it would. Besides, it’s like … kind of taboo.”
“Because of EJ?”
“Yeah. Elijah loves him like a brother, but … well, this guy kind of sleeps around. A lot.”
Renee wrinkled her nose. “He sounds like a player.”
“And he gets into fights,” Lily added. “One time, when he was in high school, we were all hanging out at the big library downtown. Waiting for Elijah to return some book. And Cade got into a fight with another dude over a girl. I was freaking out on the inside, but Elijah just shook his head and said, ‘That’s the shit I’m talking about’ to me. ‘That’s why you’re going to be smart, and not date somebody who talks with their fists, right?’”
“Whoa,” Renee said. “That’s heavy. That’s, like, some serious foreshadowing or something.”
“Yep. So … yeah, Cade is off limits.”
“I wouldn’t say off limits,” Renee said. She sipped her coffee slowly. “I would say he’s a prime candidate for a secret hookup.”
“Right, because I’m such a great liar. And I’m also really good at hiding things from my brothers.”
“Is Cade the jealous type?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Why?”
“If he’s as much of a hothead as you say, you should try making him jealous,” Renee said. “Trust me. If he gets all ragey about that, you’ll know he feels something for you. Especially since he’s such a ho-bag, too. He wouldn’t care about just anyone he’s been with. But if he gets jealous …”