A little voice inside of her head, probably the one in charge of self-preservation, was coaxing her to just say that it had been Ethan. What harm could come from that? If she told the truth and Detective Brian decided to continue his interrogation then he might actually uncover the truth. And it was a fact that a lot of harm could come from that.
So imagine Becca’s surprise when she opened her mouth and heard the words, “No. I didn’t love Ethan,” fly out. The second they did, she wished she had the ability to turn back time or erase memories like the Men in Black. Unfortunately, she was not equipped to do either.
Then surprise number two came when she saw a slow smile spread on Brian’s mouth as he turned to her, raising his brow as he asked with a whiskey-smooth tone, “Really. Then who was the lucky guy?”
Shit.
“Umm…”
Becca was just about to do a table flip and ask whom he’d been referring to when he’d admitted to having been in love when her phone started playing “My Girl” by The Temptations. She grabbed her tan-colored drawstring purse, and as she pulled her phone out, she’d never been happier to see her sister Haley’s face illuminated on the screen.
Brushing her thumb across the accept button, she put the iPhone to her ear. “Hey, Hales.”
“Hey,” her sister said with a smidge of worry in her voice. It didn’t surprise Becca to hear it. Her oldest sister was a worrier. “Where are you? Are you okay?”
Becca looked up and out the windows, surprised to see that they were just passing the wooden ‘Welcome to Harper’s Crossing’ sign on the side of the highway. The drive home had flashed by in a blur.
“We just passed the city limits. Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”
“Oh good.” Relief bled through Haley’s voice. “I was expecting you hours ago.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Hales. I went to an audition with Bri. I didn’t even think about the fact that you would be expecting me.”
Since she lived on her own in California, it usually took Becca about a week when she came home to remember that she needed to check in and let people know when she was going to be late or if her plans changed. Her family was very involved in each other’s lives. Not in a bad way—it was definitely all rooted in love.
“What audition? Is he acting again?” Haley asked.
“It was for a reality show.”
Becca was torn. In one respect, she would rather not talk about this in front of Brian in case any of her true colors began to show during her explanation, but at the same time, she worried that, if she got off the phone with her sister, Brian would pick up the conversation right where they’d left off.
That would be bad. Looked like she was going to have to roll the dice and try talking about the show in front of Brian.
“Oh, how fun!” Haley exclaimed. “I love reality shows. Brian is good at everything. He’s going to seriously dominate.”
Becca smiled. That was exactly what she’d thought.
“Is it like Survivor?” Haley asked.
Again, that had been Becca’s first thought. Becca and her oldest sister Haley had often been compared to each other. Becca had always chalked it up to the fact that the personalities of her middle sisters Jessie and Krista were so distinct and different than the two bookend sisters. Jessie was private, fiercely private, and a woman of few (if any!) words. Krista was a sarcastic social butterfly people were drawn to like a magnet.
Lately, though, she’d noticed that she and Haley saw things the same way, thought the same in a lot of situations. That realization had actually meant a lot to Becca, who had always identified herself simply as the baby of the family. The fourth member of the Quad Squad, which was a nickname she and her sisters had been given growing up. But she’d never felt like she’d had a lot in common with her sisters.
“No, it’s not like that. It’s a dating show.” Becca hoped that she was pulling off supportive and happy. Her eyes sliced over to Brian. He was looking straight ahead and did not seem to pick up on any strain in her voice. Relief filled her as she continued. “It’s called Fairytale Love. They are casting girls as the princesses and guys as princes.”
“Princesses like Cinderella?” Haley asked.
“Yep. Exactly.”
“Wow. I can’t believe they didn’t try and cast you as Snow White,” her sister said with a little laugh in her voice.
“Actually, they did. Or at least they had me audition,” Becca explained.
“What!” Haley shrieked. “You auditioned for a reality show!?”
Becca wasn’t sure why her sister was so surprised. “Yes,” she confirmed.
She heard voices in the background and her sister saying that she didn’t know anything, telling people to be quiet.
“Where are you?” Becca didn’t think any of the voices she’d overheard were her sister’s stepdaughter Emily’s or her husband Eddie’s.
“Oh, I’m at Krista and Chase’s. We’re all here waiting for you. We’d planned on getting together for dinner tonight to celebrate you being home.”
Becca had decided to stay at Krista’s because she wanted to be as much help as possible for the upcoming nuptials—and also because her sister’s fiancé was on tour and wouldn’t be home for a good portion of the summer. Staying with her newlywed sister Haley did not sound like good times to Becca, and Jessie lived in the city.
“Okay, well, I’ll be there in a few minutes,” Becca let her sister know.
“Yay! I can’t wait to hear about your audition!” Haley said excitedly.
As Becca hung up the call, she felt her palms dampen before she put her phone back in her purse. The soft sounds of The Supremes singing, drifted through the small space.
As happy as she was that her family had decided to plan a homecoming dinner for her, she really wished that she could just have some time alone. She needed to think, process, plan. After spending the day with Brian, she knew that her original plan to keep her distance was probably going to be the best thing. The sad part was that she missed Brian, her best friend, and she just wished that she could spend time with him instead of Brian, the man she had totally inappropriate thoughts, feelings and desires for. Unfortunately, since ‘they’ were the same person, that was not possible.
When they pulled up in front of Krista’s house, Becca felt both relieved and sad—relieved that the conversation hadn’t turned back to who the mystery man she’d been in love with was, and sad that their time together today was over, which didn’t make any sense—since she’d just decided that the very best thing would be for them to have distance.
“Everyone’s over for dinner,” Becca said as she tried to unclick her seatbelt. “Do you want to stay?” She pressed it several more times with no success. It stuck sometimes.
Before she was able to push it all the way down to release her safety belt, Brian’s hand covered hers and he pressed his thumb beside hers. At his touch, Becca sucked in a breath. The loud click of the device releasing the belt sounded at the same time that a delicious shiver ran through her as Brian’s fingertips brushed over hers.
She lifted her head to see if Brian had noticed, and when she did, her lips almost touched his. Her eyes widened and she froze. They were a breath away from each other. Her eyes locked with his caramel-colored stare, and she felt that now-familiar pull deep in her belly. Her chest was rapidly rising and falling as her heart raced like it was on the Indy 500 track.
“Becca,” Brian growled, and the shiver she’d felt from his touch intensified to a full spasm rocking through her as a small whimper escaped her mouth.
A loud pounding shook the Jeep, breaking the spell, and Brian sat back in his seat. Turning, Becca saw Krista standing on the other side of the window.
“You auditioned for a reality show?” she asked loudly, her arms flying up in the air.
Becca smiled and held up her finger for her sister to hold that thought. As she turned back to Brian, she saw that he was raking his fingers through his hair and his head had d
ropped back against the headrest. He did not look happy.
“Are you coming in for dinner?” Becca asked, feeling like her world was being turned inside out and upside down. She wasn’t sure what had just happened, if it was in her head or real, but she knew that, right now, she didn’t want Brian to leave. He was her anchor, her safe place.
When he opened his gorgeous, amber-colored eyes and looked at her, the corner of his mouth turned up in the most adorable lopsided smile. “Yeah. Of course.”
She smiled. She might not know how to handle this whole thing with Brian, but she knew she was happy that he was staying for dinner. Very happy.
Chapter Six
Brian opened the front door to his parents’ dark house as quietly as possible. He felt like he was a teenager again, sneaking in the house, as he slipped off his shoes so that he could walk soundlessly across the hardwood floors trying not to wake anyone. His dad was doing a lot better, but he still needed all the rest he could get. The last thing Brian wanted to do was wake him up if he’d just fallen asleep.
As the floor creaked beneath his feet, Brian still couldn’t believe that this was his life. Being back in Harper’s Crossing, working at the shop, caring for his parents and little sister. Not that he would want it any other way. His family needed him, so he was here. But there were definitely moments that his reality seemed surreal, like he was sleepwalking through a bad dream.
He’d worked so hard to transfer as a true junior to NYU and had only been able to spend one year there before life had cruelly ripped his dreams away from him. A part of him wanted to believe that he’d get back there. His dad was getting stronger every day. Actually, aside from working at the garage, Brian hadn’t really done all that much in the way of caring for his parents in months. His sister was about to leave for college, so his parents would have an empty nest. No little birdies to keep track of.
Maybe he’d be returning to New York in a few months. Maybe not.
Honestly, that sounded so far in the future that Brian really wasn’t going to pin any hopes and dreams on it. What he needed to do now was figure out how he was going to make it through this summer and still have his best friend come fall.
Once he’d opened the refrigerator, Brian pulled out a bottled water and opened it. After taking a swig, he grabbed a bag of tortilla chips and some salsa. He was still pretty hungry. He hadn’t eaten much during dinner with the Sloans. He’d been too busy freaking out. All Brian had been able to think about was how close he’d been to kissing Becca before Krista had interrupted them. And not just how close he’d been but also how close Becca had been. He’d seen the look in her eye, heard the catch in her breath.
Or maybe he’d just imagined it. It had happened so fast. He was so confused. And his go-to move was useless considering the source of his confusion and his sounding board was one and the same.
His life had had a lot of unexpected detours, but through it all, he’d had one constant…Becca.
He pulled out the oak kitchen chair and the legs scraped against the tile flooring. As he sat down and opened the bag of chips, he thought about the same thing that had been dominating his thoughts for the past year—his feelings for his best friend.
After spending the day with her, he knew that he had to do something or he was going to seriously jeopardize the most important relationship in his life.
What would have happened if he had kissed Becca in his Jeep?
Would she have kissed him back? If she had, would she have regretted it since this lip lock would have happened when she was stone-cold sober?
Yes. They’d already kissed, but Brian would bet money that Becca didn’t remember it. If she had, things would be different between them. Except…things were different between them. He knew he wasn’t acting like himself and figured that it was making Becca act differently.
When he’d hugged her goodbye tonight, her body had stiffened and she awkwardly patted his back. That had been a first. They’d always had a fairly affectionate relationship. When they’d watched movies together when they were growing up, Becca would always cuddle up next to him. When she’d been cold at high school football games, he’d given her his jacket and she would scoot as close as possible to him, hanging on his arm for hours.
Tonight, she pulled away from him as soon as his arms had wrapped around her and he’d felt her shiver like his touch had given her the creeps.
Which meant that she must know how he felt, even if just subconsciously. That blue-eyed girl knew him better than anyone. Why Brian had thought that he’d be able to keep her in the dark about something as important as the fact that he’d fallen in love with her, was ridiculous. They were too connected—too in tune—to think that she wouldn’t notice his odd behavior.
Brian scooped a chip into the bowl of salsa and popped it in his mouth. As he crunched down on his salty snack, he realized that he needed to talk to Becca about all of this. If he didn’t, he would damage their relationship. There was no doubt in his mind.
Before today, part of him—all of him—had been holding out hope that his newly discovered feelings for her would just fizzle out. But after today, he knew that wasn’t going to happen.
Brian’s stomach flipped with nervous energy as he thought about how Becca would take the news, but deep down, he knew that they would be okay. They were Becca and Brian. Even unwanted, unrequited, unwelcome love couldn’t erase a lifetime of them being them.
Yep. He simply needed to lay his cards out on the table so they could deal with this. Maybe, once he said it out loud, it would take some of the power away from it. Maybe facing the issue head on, would snap Brian out of this love-spell he’d fallen under. Maybe they’d even laugh about it…someday.
With the decision made, he felt lighter than he had since he’d walked onto the dance floor a year ago. A weight lifted from his chest—one that he hadn’t even realized he’d had since the moment he’d pulled his best friend into his arms at her sister’s birthday party. Since the moment his body hadn’t responded to Becca as his sidekick, his buddy, his pal—instead, it had responded to her as a woman. Need had shot through him with so much force that his knees had actually buckled beneath him. Luckily, Becca had thought he was just playing around on the dance floor.
Nope. That had not been the case at all. He’d almost fallen flat on his ass from the power of his desire for her.
Honest to God, Brian’s first thought had been that he must have been horny. Because come on. It was Becca. But he’d quickly discarded that theory because he’d been with Skylar at the time, having sex on a regular basis. He remembered his mind being flooded in confusion as he’d tried to process the fact that he’d been so hard that he was sure that he was going to have a permanent imprint of his zipper on his shaft as Becca’s soft curves had molded against him while they’d swayed to the music together.
He’d thought it would pass. That it was just a phase his body was going through. Possibly just hormones. It wasn’t. She needed to know what was going on before he damaged things between them.
Brian stood, rolled the bag of chips up, popped the lid back on the salsa, and moved to the kitchen to put them away. As he walked up the stairs, he yawned, and when his chest expanded without the weight of keeping a fairly important secret from the most important person in his world, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that telling Becca was the right thing to do.
Now, he just needed to get a good night’s sleep, and tomorrow, he’d call and see if she wanted to go to breakfast at The Diner, which was a staple in their small hometown of Harper’s Crossing. Also, it was kind of ‘their’ place. They’d gone there more times than Brian could count. They even had ‘their’ booth. It was the round booth in the far left corner.
As he reached the top of the stairs, a slideshow of Becca sitting across from him in that booth over the years played through Brian’s mind. Starting with them in grade school, her hair in two braids as she smiled a toothless smile and they drank malts after school. Then mi
ddle school, her mouth filled with braces, her hair in curls because she’d permed it. Then in high school, her hair straight and shiny as she stuffed french fries—her junk food of choice from ages fourteen to eighteen—into her mouth.
While thinking about those times—or any time he’d spent with Becca—Brian realized that those were the happiest moments of his life. She was his happy place.
Had he always loved her and just been too blind to see it?
Brian felt like someone had reached into his chest and squeezed his heart like it was a lemon and they were making lemonade, like it was in wedged between a vise and someone was turning the crank.
No. He shook off that thought. She’d just been his friend. He never even cared when she dated other guys.
A small voice piped up in his mind pointing out the fact that maybe he’d never cared because he’d always known that he’d held the number one place in her life. If things had gotten serious with any of them, he was not so sure he would have been so okay with it.
Stepping into his room, the room he’d grown up in, he immediately moved to his window to open it and get some fresh air. He wanted to try to clear his head, and the heat in his room, from being closed up all day, was stifling. He lifted the brass lock on the glass pane and was sliding it up when he heard his mom’s voice sounding more than a little distressed. He couldn’t see her, but he figured they must be out on the small patio off the master bedroom, which was directly below his room.
He was just about to run downstairs to make sure that everything was okay when the words she was saying registered in his consciousness.
“No, Frank. I forbid it. You are not going back full time. Dr. Corbin said that you need to retire and you are going to retire. There has to be another way. We’ll sell the house.”
“Even if we sold the house, it wouldn’t pay off the second mortgage, much less a semester of tuition. I’m fine, Maggie. I’m strong. This is the only way.” His dad’s voice sounded resolute.
Fairytale Love - Becca & Brian Page 6