“Weird.” Nicole groaned and flopped down on the sofa. “He came to ask me about studying, but then we got a drink and just talked. Way too late into the night. Way. So we traded numbers and hung out last night until his flight. But nothing happened. Nothing at all beyond a little flirting. Now he’s still talking to me and I don’t know what to do.”
“He came to your room to talk to you about studying? Was that a line or real?”
“Real,” Nicole muttered.
Brandi held out her hand. “Let me see.”
Nicole passed her the phone.
Brandi quickly scrolled to the beginning of the exchange. As she read, she heard Nicole’s bubbly voice. But the man was a mystery. His texts were a few words and hard to read any life into.
“Have you internet stalked him yet?” Brandi asked.
“No. I don’t like that word. Stalk.” Nicole wrinkled her nose. “I haven’t looked him up though.”
“I think it’s time.”
“Why? What are you getting at?”
Brandi grimaced. “Without knowing him? These sound like just a friendly guy. There’s no innuendo, nothing super friendly or flirty. I’m wondering if he had any idea you were flirting with him.”
Nicole practically wilted. She grabbed a pillow and clutched it to her chest. The worst was her turning those big blue eyes of hers on Brandi with such a sad expression.
“Really?” she said in that breathy, you-just-broke-my-heart voice.
“I could have it all wrong,” Brandi cautioned.
“You’re never wrong.”
“Sure I am. All the time.”
“Not about this stuff.”
She sighed and looped her arm through Nicole’s. “I’m sorry.”
“Thank you for telling me the truth about friendly guy not being a flirty guy.”
“You know, if we look him up and he’s single, you could turn up the flirt and let him know you’re interested.”
“Keep talking,” Nicole whispered.
Brandi chuckled and squeezed her friend’s arm. This last week the house had felt empty without her. Jayden had helped to fill the space, but he wasn’t Nicole.
Day 8: Sunday
Brandi was going to need a vacation to recuperate from her long weekend. It wasn’t that she’d done a lot. Her head and heart had just been through it all and she didn’t know how much more she could take.
Nicole hadn’t pestered Brandi about where she’d been beyond confirming that she’d been out with a guy. No doubt Nicole was disappointed in Brandi for not sticking to her goals to focus and find her father. But instead she was pining away for a man she had no right to be with.
Nicole grabbed Brandi’s elbow. “Oh, look at that.”
She whipped her head around to spy a mid-century coffee table in great condition. “Nice.”
“Do you want to look at it?”
Brandi considered the current state of the garage. “Why not? I doubt it’ll be in my budget.”
Her specialty was restoring the furniture. A near-perfect piece like the coffee table would just be something she flipped after a little polish.
“Oh man, looks like they want a hundred for it,” Nicole whispered.
“About what I expected.” Brandi shrugged. With the surge in popularity for mid-century style items, it was harder to find a deal.
“Dang. I thought for sure we’d find a treasure today.” Nicole’s head swiveled left, then right.
Brandi was grateful that Nicole had finally got out of the test stress boat. Though she’d passed the test, it was just barely. And that scraping by had caused a spiral of anxiety yesterday over what it could mean for her job.
While Nicole was certain it meant she would get fired, Brandi was more of the mind that her boss simply wanted her to have the passing certificate. Who cared what the grade was so long as she passed?
Brandi spied a teenager pushing a cart. “Want to get some ice cream?”
“Sure.”
She studied Nicole out of the corner of her eye. She was putting on a bright, bubbly face, but inside she was still stressed or preoccupied or something. Which made Brandi think about the issues she wasn’t talking about.
She’d told Jayden she would tell Nicole. That was over twenty-four hours ago.
They selected their ice cream, paid the teen, and found a table to sit at while people continued to mill around the flea market.
“We should hit up some garage sales,” Nicole said.
“On a Sunday afternoon?” Brandi shook her head. “Maybe if we’d have gone yesterday.”
The best pieces always went on Fridays or early Saturday morning. Anything left on Sunday would be a steal, but probably so much work that it wouldn’t be worth it.
“You’re right.” Nicole’s shoulders slumped. “I guess... I guess I just want something to do.”
Brandi stared at her ice cream sandwich. Telling Nicole about this last week was going to hurt her feelings and put more burden on her. But the longer Brandi waited, the worse it would get.
“I’ve got some things I need to tell you.” Brandi watched the last bit of frost evaporate off the ice cream as it began to soften in her hand. “I don’t think you’re going to like all of it.”
Nicole glanced at her. “Bad news, good news?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, well, bad news first. Don’t forget to eat it.” She bumped Brandi’s shoulder with her own.
Brandi took a few bites of her treat as she considered her words.
The best place to begin was a week ago.
“You remember how upset you were about your date?” Brandi asked.
Nicole winced. “Hm? Oh, with Jay? Yeah, I think that was hormones. I over reacted.”
“Well, last Sunday Jayden came by the house.”
“He—what?” Nicole’s eyes went wide and her face paled.
Brandi fought back the urge to defend Jayden’s problematic actions. His good intentions didn’t cover up the fact that he’d pretty much stalked Nicole to find out where she lived, and that was creepy.
“He came by the house to apologize for the bad date,” Brandi said instead.
“Still, creepy. What did you say? I’m so sorry. I’ll reach out to him.”
She reached over and put her hand on Nicole’s arm. “Look, it sounds bad. It really does. When he showed up in a suit with roses on our doorstep, I was not a fan. And I told him. I outlined everything he did wrong, and...he listened. He asked how he could prove himself to me so he could apologize to you when you were done with the class. I might have forbidden him from calling you...”
“Holy shit. What did you make him do? Were they at least nice roses?”
“I don’t know. I told him to do something with them.”
“Man, you missed your chance to have flowers in the house.”
“And commit myself to thoroughly de-pollinating the house before you got home early and unexpected? No, thanks. Anyway, for the last week he’s been helping me in the garage.”
“No way.”
Brandi nodded.
“Okay,” Nicole said slowly. “How is this the bad news? Because it’s sounding like everything was worked out.”
Brandi bought herself precious moments by scarfing up the last of her ice cream. Nicole did the same, but watched Brandi the whole time.
There was no way this didn’t hurt Nicole.
“What do you feel about Jayden? Now, I mean?” Brandi asked, dragging her feet.
“Indifferent. Embarrassed. Nice guy, but not for me. God, now I have to break-up with him...”
Well, shit.
Brandi neatly folded her napkin into ever decreasing squares. “I might have kissed Jayden and more.”
“What?” Nicole gasped, her eyes wide.
A dozen excuses starting with Nicole herself saying she wasn’t interested in Jayden sprang to the forefront of Brandi’s mind, but she said none of them.
“There is nothing I can say to make thi
s better. It happened. I knowingly allowed it to. And I’m sorry.”
“Wow,” Nicole whispered.
Brandi frowned at her friend.
Where were the tears? The hurt expression? The anger?
Everything she was prepared with wasn’t there. Just wide-eyed wonder.
Brandi threw up her hands. “Wow? That’s all you have for me is, wow? I’ve been torturing myself thinking about how hurt you were going to be and you give me that wide-eyed stare and say, wow?”
“Sorry, but I’m currently trying to decide if this is the Twilight Zone or something.” Nicole propped her elbow on the table, still staring at Brandi with a mystified expression. “So, like, how did that work out? With you two, I mean?”
“How did what work out? Do I need to explain sex to you again?”
Nicole snorted a laugh. “No, once was enough. Thanks. I just mean, he’s so serious.”
Brandi nodded. “He can be.”
“Well, good luck, I guess?”
“Good luck?” It was Brandi’s turn to stare at her friend as if she’d grown a third head.
“Yeah.” Nicole sat up a little straighter. “This last week and a half has been hard, but...I think I learned a lot about myself. When I started trying to date, I had this picture about the man I thought I wanted. But here’s the problem. That picture is too much like myself. I don’t want to date myself. One of the greatest things about our friendship is that you push me to be more just by being yourself. Jay isn’t that guy.”
“Huh.” Brandi blinked a few times. Nicole was essentially saying some of the same things Brandi had thought
“Do you like him? Or was this just a thing that happened?”
Brandi shifted a bit. This was the no turning back point. The factor that made it all feel like so much of a betrayal on her side. “I like him.”
“Really? Hm. Well, I guess that might make sense. I mean, he’s your opposite. A guy like that could be very grounding for you. And I bet you shake him up a little.” Nicole grinned. “Now I really want to see you two together, because I just can’t picture this.”
“I’m so not prepared for you to react this way.” Brandy groaned and tugged on her ponytail. “You’re being reasonable. What the hell?”
“Do you want me to be upset, crying and betrayed?”
“No.” Brandi hung her head. “I just...feel really guilty. He was spending time with me to get to you...”
“He brought roses.” Nicole shrugged again. “We didn’t really know each other.”
Brandi had to agree on that point.
Nicole propped her chin on a fist. “So, what’s the good news? It’s got to be pretty good.”
Brandi shook her head. This was not how she’d expected Nicole to react. Not at all.
Then again, they were family. They would stick with each other through everything.
“I got my DNA results back,” Brandi said.
Nicole bounced on the bench. “And?”
“And I’m half Indian on my paternal side. Punjabi is as narrow as they can go.” It still sounded odd to say those words out loud.
“Wow.” Nicole’s eyes widened. “I can see it though.”
“Wait—what?”
“You never were very...hot tamale, you know?”
“No, I don’t.”
Nicole sighed. “I mean, when I think about Hispanic and Latina women, I think—hot tamale. A lot of fire, passion and drive in a little package. When I think about Indian women, I think—statuesque, graceful, fierce. And you are all three of those words. Not to say you aren’t a lot of fire, but...not in the same way. Am I making sense?”
“A little. I think.” Should Brandi be concerned that she understood Nicole’s sentiment?
“So, how do you feel about all of this?”
“Overwhelmed. Weird.” Brandi propped her elbows on the table. “Jayden was really helpful talking all of this out. He was very grounding.”
Nicole snapped her fingers and gave Brandi her most dazzling smile yet. “See? I was right. So, have you found any relatives yet?”
“No, the whole thing was too much. I’ve mostly taken the last few days to absorb it and start doing some reading.”
“Yeah?”
“Jayden might have bought me books...”
Nicole wrinkled her nose. “That would so be the kind of thing he’d do.”
“Right?”
They both laughed and the stress Brandi had been holding onto slipped away. She wasn’t entirely proud of the last week. She’d had good intentions. But reality was such an odd creature.
Nicole nudged Brandi’s foot. “Okay, I want to know if you have any matches. Let’s make the online profile.”
“It probably won’t tell me anything.”
“But what if it does?” Nicole bounced on her bench.
“Okay, we’ll go home and do it.”
“Do it now.”
“You are such a pain.” Brandi stuck her tongue out at Nicole, who merely grinned back. “Thank you for being understanding.”
“About Jay?”
“Jayden, yeah.”
“You keep saying Jayden, but I’m calling him Jay. He doesn’t like that, does he?”
“I don’t think so.” Thinking back, Brandi could recall a few times when he’d corrected her. She’d just shifted without asking.
“Give me that.” Nicole reached over and snatched Brandi’s phone from her. “You’re going to drag your feet for an hour.”
“Hey.” Brandi scowled at her roommate, but didn’t reach for the phone.
In some regards, it was easier to let Nicole do this part. While Brandi had been overwhelmed when she got the results, she’d mostly stuck her head in the sand the last few days. It was easier this way.
Nicole sighed dramatically, lowered the phone and stared at Brandi. “You already have a profile, silly. You had to make it when you sent off your spit, remember?”
“No.”
“You are such a silly goose. Okay.” Nicole hopped up and circled the bench to sit next to Brandi. “Here... It...Is...”
She peered at the phone’s mostly white screen while it loaded.
First was the green header image featuring the logo. It was burned into her mind by now. But just below that were buttons and little red symbols for notifications.
Brandi straightened and found somewhere else to look. Her hands were wet and her heart was suddenly beating far too fast.
This was silly.
There was no way—
“Uh, B?” Nicole patted her arm.
“What?”
“Look.”
Brandi turned and stared at what looked like an inbox for messages and one with the subject line: Hello, I might be your father.
Holy shit.
JAYDEN STARED AT THE math text book, then back at the neat numbers on the lined paper. So far it was correct, which was excellent progress.
Many of the kids who came to stay with Mom and Dad were behind in school. It was routine for Mom, Dad or whoever was around that evening to double check homework and assist. Even when it wasn’t truly necessary. At every turn, the goal was to be there for the kids however long they were under the Fullilove roof. Jayden did his best to stop by twice during the week and once on the weekend to really work on math. It was always easier on the weekends while he could send the boys off to entertain themselves and he figured out the root issue to their problems. Currently two of the boys were playing video games while the other three were upstairs or in the yard.
So far the five boys currently living here were all keeping up with their assignments and if they weren’t on track, they were almost there. Mom had said it was in large part thanks to Maddox, which surprised Jayden to no end. How was it Maddox could stay on task here, but at work it was near impossible unless someone was watching him?
Jayden’s phone vibrated against his thigh. He pulled it out, only to pause at Brandi’s name.
Part of him was happy to see she wa
s calling. The rest of him dreaded what she might say. They hadn’t spoken since he’d confirmed she got home okay yesterday.
He tapped the answer button and took hold of his nerves.
“Brandi. Hey. Change your mind about dinner?” He could hope.
“I was hoping you might be free to come over?”
He glanced through the doorway into the living room where two of the boys were going head to head in a race car video game. “Sorry, I can’t. Mom and Dad had to go run some errands,, so I said I’d watch the boys this afternoon.”
“Oh.” There was genuine disappointment in her voice.
“Offer still stands. You could come over before dinner?”
“Hm. You said it’s just you and the boys?”
“Yeah.”
“Would it be inconvenient if I stopped by?”
“No. Is something wrong?”
“I might have been wrong to assume there was no way my biological father would be looking for me...”
“What?” Jayden sat up straighter.
Both of the boys paused the game, their heads whipping around to look at him.
“That’s great, yeah?” Jayden pasted on a smile.
The two boys watched him a moment longer with suspicion in their eyes.
“I don’t know. Is it great? What’s the chance it’s wrong?” He could hear the stress in her voice winding up.
“Come over. Let’s talk about it.”
“Okay. Shoot me the address. I’m not staying for dinner and I’m not doing the whole meet the family thing, got it?”
“Understood.”
Jayden texted her the address, then put his phone down.
Was he dreaming? Or was this really happening? What did Brandi want to talk about badly enough that she would venture to his parent’s house? Or was she hoping to do less talking and more something else? She wouldn’t really show up for that with him looking after kids, would she?
The front door of the house opened and Jayden heard Axl and Maddox’s voices as they both tried to talk over the other.
The only thing missing was Asher’s laughter.
Where the hell was he?
“Bro!” Maddox burst into the dining room. “Bro, you have to tell this knucklehead here that I’m right and he’s wrong.”
The Wrong Perfect Match (Fullilove in the House Book 1) Page 17