by Eva Luxe
Carly smiled at me. I reached across and took her hand, squeezing it.
We arrived at 27 Restaurant where I had arranged with the guys to meet for brunch. On Sundays, they served eclectic, a la carte brunch dishes and cocktails, and the atmosphere was amazing. I had the idea the place used to be an old house, and it had been made up with wooden plank floors and light walls with French windows. It felt like you were dining at home.
Brian and Hanson were already there. We greeted them, and I watched Carly hug Lacey and Stacey. She seemed more relaxed around them now. It wasn’t only because we were all dressed in casual clothes, where last night had been very dressy. It was also because she knew them a little and because my friends were welcoming and very liberal. They weren’t judgmental at all, and it was very easy to like them.
We sat down and talked about the night before. The paper was full of high praise for the Florida Sharks and their generous donations.
“It helps with your image, picking you back up,” Hanson said. “Lacey is pleased.”
“I’m glad,” I said. “I got a tongue lashing from Kina when it happened.”
Just as I spoke of Kina, Jacob and Kina arrived. We greeted them all again and sat down. I looked at Carly, but she was already in deep conversation with the women. I could relax and enjoy myself.
Brunch went well. It was great hanging out with my friends in an environment that had no pressure. When we trained together, and it was football season, we spent time together, but it wasn’t the same. Now, we were relaxed and comfortable, we didn’t have to watch what we ate too much, and we could drink a few drinks if we wanted to.
Seeing Carly around my friends also made me happy. I liked her in my life, living alongside me. I had missed having her around. Moving away hadn’t stopped the pain of losing her. It had only been a distraction.
“How are you two holding up to the media pressure?” Jacob asked.
“We’re doing okay,” I said. “It’s a little overwhelming for Carly. She told me she’s struggling with the whole thing, but I think we’ll be alright. It seems to be blowing over faster than I thought it would.”
“That’s because it’s your first real scandal. Trust me. When it’s a habit that you get in trouble with girls, you don’t get away from it so easily.”
I laughed and shook my head. Hanson had had a terrible track record when he met Lacey. She had been assigned as his PR Manager because he was caught with a different woman—or women—every weekend. They had fallen in love, and it was only because Lacey is such a handful that Hanson calmed down at all. The man had never shied away from a challenge.
“Well, I’m not planning on making it a habit,” I said. I wanted things to stay comfortable between Carly and me, and if she was already feeling overwhelmed, bad publicity was the last thing she needed.
Brian nudged me. “So, this is the one, huh?” he asked.
I shook my head, smiling. “I don’t know,” I said. “We’re taking it slow.”
“Really? Looks to me like there’s nothing slow happening there. You’re whipped, man.”
I laughed. “No, it’s not like that. I mean, I like her. But I don’t know if I love her. You know? We were high school sweethearts, but that was a long time ago. We’re all grown up now.”
“Don’t even start with me on the whole high school sweetheart thing,” Brian said. “Trust me, it can be your soul mate.”
Brian and Stacey had been sweethearts before she’d lost her memories through a terrible head injury. They were more than fine now. He had never given up on her, she had regained her memories, and the rest was history.
“I don’t know, man,” I said.
The guys exchanged glances, but I ignored them. I didn’t know what was happening or how I felt. All I knew was that I had Carly with me now, and that was enough. I would only focus on this day that we had together.
My friends were sure I felt something for her, and they weren’t wrong. I did feel something for her. But was she my future, the way they’d all found theirs? I wanted her to be, but I didn’t know how she felt about things. I was just happy that Carly was in my life again, even if we ended up being friends.
It was the second time I’d thought about it that way, and I felt sick to my stomach again. I didn’t want us to be friends. I wanted so much more with her. She had never been the kind of girl I could just be friends with. But if that was what it came down to, being friends would be better than nothing at all. And I would rather have her in my life on those terms than lose her again.
I pushed the thoughts away. We weren’t there, anyway. I didn’t know if we would go there, eventually, but we weren’t there now.
“Are you doing okay?” I asked Carly toward the end of brunch.
She was smiling, her eyes sparkling, and she wasn’t nearly as unsure and wilted as she had seemed earlier.
“I’m having a great time,” she said. “I really like your friends.”
“They like you, too,” I said. “Do you want to have them over for dinner tonight?” Carly nodded excitedly. “We would have to cook for them. I don’t have my chef on call when I’m not training.”
Carly laughed. “Don’t worry, us common folk can cook. It’s the one thing I’ll be able to do in this place and feel comfortable about. We’ll do it together.”
I kissed her on the forehead and nodded. When I extended the invitation to my friends, they all accepted right away.
When we left the restaurant, we drove home, and Carly insisted on making a list of things we needed to buy. She wanted to make chicken— apparently, it was her specialty— and she wanted to make a special kind of salad that needed sourdough bread and olives and all sorts of things my chef would have known much better than I did.
Carly was in her element, going through recipes on her phone and deciding what to make. I hadn’t known this side of her when we were kids. We hadn’t had to do things like this, then. I took a mental note of her love for food and cooking, and I was happy that she had found something that made her feel at home here.
We went to the store together and got everything on her list. Olives, cherry tomatoes, basil, red onion, French bread, and ingredients for Coronation Chicken, whatever that was.
When we got back home, we started cooking. I let her tell me what to do, and she danced around the kitchen like it was her domain. When I watched her put the ingredients for the salad together, I realized I loved her. A big part of me had always known it, but now I knew for sure that it was the forever kind of love. I realized I wanted her in my life just like I wanted her in my home. Until this moment, I hadn’t known where we were headed or what it was what I wanted, but I suddenly knew.
I wanted her to be mine, for good.
Chapter 21 – Carly
This was the first time I’d hosted something as large as the dinner party Brad and I were throwing. We had six guests coming, so we would be eight in all. And I loved it. I loved playing house and getting everything ready. I loved cooking for so many people. Brad gave me free rein in his home, and it was so much fun.
I set up the dining room. Brad had an eight-seater table made of dark wood and polished until it gleamed. The chairs were the same dark wood with white suede seats. A matching buffet stood against the wall, and I set the table with wine red placemats. Silver charger plates were beneath the white plates that I had put in the heated drawer. Silver cutlery and a flower arrangement finished it all off.
When our guests arrived, I took the girls through to the dining room to brag about what I’d done. I was proud of myself.
“This is stunning,” Lacey said. “You’re cut out for this kind of thing.”
I smiled, trying to hide how great I felt about what I’d done.
“You should do this more often,” Kina said. “I know I’m in. And I know we sure enjoy the excuse to get a babysitter and have an adult night out— or, rather, in.”
“You haven’t even tasted the food yet.” I laughed.
Kina a
nd Stacey both shook their heads.
“Based on the smells coming from the kitchen, I doubt it will be anything but amazing,” Stacey said.
We laughed and chatted together, and I felt so much more at home and comfortable than I thought I would. These people were the kind of friends I could see as my own one day.
Stacey leaned in close to me. “So, you have to tell us what’s going on between you and Brad. We’re tired of speculating.”
I blushed. How was I supposed to talk about something I didn’t even know myself?
“I have to admit, I haven’t figured that out yet. So much has been going on, and I’ve been feeling so overwhelmed, I haven’t had much time to sit down and think about it.”
“That’s understandable. I know what that kind of confusion feels like. I had amnesia for five years, and being dropped back into a life I didn’t know at all hit me so hard.”
I asked about her amnesia, and she told me about the accident that had taken her memories and how Brian had worked to help her remember and be her friend because it was what she’d needed.
“I know what it feels like when the fame gets too overpowering. I was in the papers once, naked and scandalized, too.”
I’d had no idea. After that confession, I felt like I could deal with it if she’d been able to. Maybe it wasn’t so bad. These three women— each of them wonderful in their own way— had to deal with it daily. If they could do it and still be happy, why couldn’t I?
“For now, I’m taking it step by step,” I said. “I have no idea where we’re going, but I know right now, I’m happy. Everything else, I’ll have to deal with when it comes my way. I’m sure the thing on the news will still bite me in the ass. I’m shielded here, but as soon as I’m home, I’m expecting it to hit me.”
Lacey and Kina both nodded.
“These things have a nasty way of getting to you,” Kina said.
“Trust me, we’ve seen the worst of the worst,” Lacey added. “But the one thing you always have to keep in mind is that no matter what they say about you, there will be a new scandal by someone else tomorrow, and it will be all about them and not you. The stories blow over as fast as they pop up.”
It was a relief to know. “It’s so nice of you to help me through this,” I said. “It helps to know that I have friends on the inside.”
“You know it,” Kina said.
It helped that I knew how things worked. I was grateful that Kina and Lacey were willing to give me tips. It made me feel like they cared about Brad and by extension, cared about me.
“You know, he’s head over heels for you,” Kina said.
I shook my head. We were back on that. I had hoped that the topic of the media would distract them from my relationship with Brad.
“I don’t know about that,” I said. I still wasn’t sure if what we had was a glorified fling or if it was something more. Brad was hot and rich, and he could have anyone he wanted. A lot of them, too. Why would he settle for the small-town girl from his past?
“I know about that,” Lacey said. “We see the guys all the time, and we know what it looks like when a man is gunning for a woman.”
Kina agreed, but I wasn’t sure. Brad wasn’t like the others. Our history wasn’t the same as theirs. “Maybe you don’t know Brad well enough. We had been something once upon a time, but now? I’m not so sure. We were kids. You know what love is like, then, a fairy tale.”
“Mine was a fairy tale, and it still is,” Stacey said.
She had been in the same boat as I was, sort of. She understood a little more. But she was convinced that happy endings existed, and I was still scared to take it as a given.
“Listen, sweetie,” Kina said, putting her hand on my arm. “We might not have grown up with him like you did, but we have known him since he was selected for the Sharks, and I can tell you now that he hasn’t ever looked at a woman the way he looks at you. And for a famous man, that’s a lot of women to reject.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. It was sweet of them to try to talk me through this.
I excused myself, and the women joined the men in the dining room with glasses of wine while I walked to the kitchen to check on my food. The dinner was coming along well. I was happy with how it turned out.
The girls had been great about what they’d told me, but they were already in this life, used to it and comfortable in it. I didn’t know if I could fit into this life the same way.
I wasn’t sure if I belonged to this world. I was in my element now, doing what I did best, but that didn’t mean I could deal with the rest of it. I could cook, but could I handle the media? Could I live like this, always wondering if someone would be taking photos of what I was doing?
I thought about Brad and how we had spent time together today, doing the shopping for our dinner party and cooking together. It had been different than it had been before. Everything else that we’d done had reminded me of when we’d been together as kids, but this had been different.
It had been us in a new way, and I’d liked it. For something like that with him, I could give this life a shot. Maybe I could try it out and see how it worked for me. I was willing to do that for more of what we’d had today. It was new, and it was special.
“Do you need help?” Kina asked, coming into the kitchen.
“I think I’m okay,” I said, putting the lids on the pots on the stove. “We’ll eat soon.”
“Well, then, let me help you with a top off,” Kina said and filled my wine glass again. I smiled, taking it from her.
“It’s not always easy to spill the beans when you’re being hounded by all three of us. But I wanted to show you something.”
She took her phone out of her bag and came to me.
“I don’t think you saw this,” she said. She gave the phone to me, and I looked at the screen. It was open on an article about the event I had attended with Brad. They talked about some celebrity couples and also mentioned us. There was a beautiful image of us as well. I stood with him, and we were laughing about something.
“It’s a beautiful photo,” I said.
Kina nodded. “And a good article. Don’t you think?”
“Yeah. They had covered it beautifully.”
I gave Kina’s phone back, and she closed the article before locking the screen.
“I wanted to show you that because I wanted you to see that it’s not always bad news. It was a bad start for you, but until your little picnic, Brad has only been in the paper or on the news for good things. Have you noticed?”
I hadn’t thought about it, but she was right. I hadn’t heard anything bad about Brad before.
“Keep that in mind when it feels like nothing else is going right. Sometimes, there will be bad news, sure. But there’s good, too.”
I understood what she was saying to me. Kina was showing me that this life wasn’t necessarily only bad. It was different, and adjusting to it would be hard, but it could be good. I was starting to consider being a part of this more and more.
“Thank you, Kina,” I said. “It means a lot to me.”
Kina clinked her wine glass against mine before sauntering off to find the rest of the party. I stood alone in the kitchen, thinking about what Kina had said. Maybe, just maybe, this could work.
The rest of the night went amazingly. The food was spectacular, if I might say so myself. The guests enjoyed themselves thoroughly with all four men going back for seconds. There was no greater compliment. We chatted until late, drinking wine and laughing together.
Finally, it was time for them to go. I hugged all three women and thanked them for being there for me when they barely knew me.
“Us girls have to stick together in this world,” Stacey said. “We’ll always be here.”
I was moved. They were so nice to me, and we’d only just met the day before.
When everyone was gone, I turned to Brad.
“It was a great night,” I said. “I had so much fun.”
Bra
d pulled me against him, his arms around me. “I’m glad you had a good time, princess. Your food was delicious. You know, that’s one of the marks of a good woman, right?” He grinned at me.
“I had a great time,” I said, chuckling. “And I’ll take that compliment of being a good woman. I loved tonight.”
Brad kissed me. It was a chaste kiss, on the lips with no tongue, but it gave me butterflies anyway. Brad wasn’t being overly physical, making out or feeling me up, but he made me feel special, and I appreciated him giving me space to figure everything out.
“Let’s go to bed,” Brad said, and I agreed. I was dead on my feet, I was so tired.
We got ready for bed together, and when I was under the covers, lying on Brad’s chest, I realized that this was what happiness felt like. He cradled my hand to his chest, and I felt his heart beat under my fingertips.
“I’m glad you’re here,” he said sleepily. I nodded against his chest. I was glad, too.
Brad planted a kiss on my hair, and he took a deep breath, blowing it out slowly. If he was half as content as I was, we were one happy couple right now. I wasn’t sure if we were a couple, but I was starting to think that I would like to be. I was starting to think that this was a life I wanted to be involved in. I didn’t know what would happen, but I was happy with how things were going for now.
Chapter 22 – Brad
All good things came to an end. I had known this would happen, but now that it was here, I was sad. A part of me wished that I could keep Carly with me for longer. But I had a feeling that she’d had enough of my life of fame and fortune. She had told me that it was overwhelming, and I had noticed her struggle with it.
The girls had done their best to help her through it, but transitioning from not speaking at all and living in a small town to living together in the lap of luxury wasn’t easy. I had to give her a break, not push her too far. Still, I had loved having her with me. I hoped we could do it again.