by Toni Aleo
I watch emotion slip over Aviva’s face as she cups Hannah’s little hand. I want to know what she is thinking, but not here. Not now. I rock Carter back and forth as Chandler comes into the room. “Hey, man. Oh hey, Callie!”
His brows are at his hairline as he looks from Callie to Aviva and then to me.
Callie, none the wiser, grins back at him. “Hey, Chandler!”
It’s like it all clicks in his head. “Aviva is Callie’s sister.”
Aviva waves. “Yup, that’s me.”
“And you guys came with Nico.”
They both nod, and Aviva asks, “Is that okay?”
“More than okay. Just putting together the pieces,” he says, heading toward the kitchen. “It’s great to have you guys.”
Aviva makes a face as she looks up at me. I shrug and follow him into the kitchen. “Dinner almost ready?”
Chandler nods, stirring some rice. “So, Aviva?”
“Aviva.”
“I see it worked out.”
“Yeah,” I say against Carter’s temple. He’s starting to fall asleep. “We’re together.”
He gives me a sideways look. “Together? You’ve only known her a month.”
“Yeah, and I think you and Amelia got together quicker.”
He scoffs. “We hooked up in college.”
“And you only knew her for a little bit then.”
He holds up his palms at me. “Not judging. Just saying.”
“Saying what?” I ask, and he glances back over at me.
“Don’t use her to fill the void that Shelli left.”
I scrunch up my face. “She has nothing to do with Shelli.”
Chandler nods. “I hope not, ’cause I hear she’s a good woman. She loves that girl so damn much. And you gotta remember, you’re not dating just Aviva. You’re dating Callie too. That’s two hearts that will break if you decide—”
“I’m not gonna decide anything like that,” I snap, holding his gaze. “Don’t do that to me. I like her. A lot. And I love Callie. I wouldn’t hurt them.”
“Good,” Chandler says softly. “I want this to work for you. I want this to be it, because I want you to be happy, bro.” He clutches my shoulder, holding my gaze. “You’re a damn good dude, my best friend, and that’s all I want for you. If she’s it, then I’m nothing but supportive.”
I swallow hard. I feel guilty all of a sudden. This guy has been my best friend for years, and I told Callie before I told him. This guy cares for me. Cares for my happiness as I do his, and I’m too much of a coward to tell him the truth. I’d rather he think I’m an asshole who fucks around than that there is something not normal about me. But what if Callie is right? That everyone will believe it’s my superpower? That’s silly. I’m not a kid. I’m an adult, but the guilt is real.
“I love you, dude,” I find myself saying, and Chandler grins.
“I love you too, man.” He smacks my arm and goes back to stirring the rice. I feel a hand slide up my back, and when I look to the side, it’s Aviva.
“You guys having a bro moment?”
Chandler snorts. “Totally. We have the best bromance.”
She smiles. “That’s wonderful,” she says before leaning up to kiss my jaw. “Does he approve of me?”
I scoff as Chandler laughs before he speaks. “It’s not you who needs the approving. It’s him. He’s wild as all get-out.”
Aviva’s face brightens. “Yeah, but he’s also great.”
Chandler looks between us and then nods. “Yeah, he’s okay.”
He leaves the kitchen, and I roll my eyes. “He’s a pain.”
“I just got the third degree.”
“From Amelia?”
“Yup,” she says, still smiling, so it must have not bothered her. “She said you’re a handful. I didn’t disagree.”
“Why does she hate me? I love her,” I say in a teasing matter, but Aviva smacks my arm.
“She just wanted to make sure I was happy.”
I lean my head on Carter’s and ask, “What did you say?”
She sighs slowly as she places her hand on Carter’s back. “Very much so.”
As our lips meet, my eyes drift shut. Yeah, it’s new and sparkly, this relationship of ours, but damn if she isn’t the beginning to my happiness.
Chapter Twenty
Aviva
“Why am I nervous?”
Jaylin looks over at me from the table where she’s sitting. She has paperwork spread out, and her brow is furrowed. Dustin Sr. is coming in to discuss why my rent is now two hundred dollars more and why he told my dad. I don’t know why my stomach is churning, but it is. I knew never to trust that man, but I had no choice. My mom rented the place way before I knew anything about business. If I had my way, I’d buy the building outright and flip him the bird.
“I don’t know. You have no reason to be. I’m going to ruin him.”
I sigh as a smile pulls at my lips. My best friend is a badass.
“How’s the car doing?”
I cover the olive bin and grab the cucumber one. “Good, thank you. I love it.”
“Awesome. It’s a good car.”
I nod. “Nico thought he was gonna give me his red sports car.”
Her eyes widen. “You should have taken it!”
“No way. I can’t imagine myself in something like that. Callie, though… She already decided she would look fabulous.”
Jaylin laughs. “That girl is a mess. Why did he want to give you that?”
“I guess he’s getting a truck. He says he’ll be better protected from crazy women drivers,” I say dryly, and she snorts with laughter.
“So, things are going well?”
I’m beaming, and I don’t even try to hide it. “They are. He’s wonderful. Direct as all hell, but wonderful.”
“What do you mean, direct?”
“I don’t know. He doesn’t think. He just does.” I shake my head, a grin on my face. “He goes on these big stream-of-consciousness bursts of stuff that don’t even make sense, but he’s telling me. Like, last night, I guess his cup thing shifted during the game, and his ball fell out?” I start to giggle, remembering how silly he sounded. “So he goes on this long ramble about how he was worried he was going to lose it, and then he wouldn’t be able to have kids, and then he would be known as One-Nut Buck, and I wouldn’t want to sleep with him because he only has one ball. I swear, he is so silly.”
My face hurts from grinning, and I know Jaylin notices. “Aw, someone is smitten.”
I shrug. “I guess. I don’t know.”
“You do know. You like him.”
I bite my lip. Should I admit it? “I do. A lot.”
“Good. You need someone who makes you feel good,” she says sweetly, and I know she means it.
I think she’s my biggest cheerleader when it comes to my bliss. For so long, I haven’t cared, but now I do. I feel like I’m chasing it now. Craving it. Since Nico is gone and we only have the phone to communicate, I look for things around me to make me feel good. Usually after a long day of work, I go to bed. But the past couple nights, I’ve gone to watch Callie at the gym. We made cookies last night and had our version of Netflix and chill. Stranger Things and cookies. It was the best, and it was what I wanted to do. I wished Nico were there, but I was still happy. It’s all so crazy. All it took was for someone to come along and show me that I can be happy even with this shittastic life of mine. I don’t know how it all happened so quickly, but it has.
I’m smitten.
“He asked me to be his girlfriend,” I say, and she looks over at me, her brow perked.
“Let me guess. You said no?”
“No. I actually said yes.” I pause. “Well, I didn’t disagree or agree. I just said I like being wanted, but that was my way of saying yes.”
She rolls her eyes. “Because being direct is so hard.”
I scoff. “Not for him. I wish I could be like that. I always second-guess myself.”
/> She gives me a look. “If you treated your personal life the way you do your business life, you would have found someone a long time ago.”
I make a face. “But then I wouldn’t have found Nico. Or better yet, run my car into him.”
“True,” Jaylin laughs, shaking her head. “How long has it been?”
“We’ve been together for over a week now.”
She nods. “Yup. He’s the one.”
My face twists. “What?”
She looks over her shoulder at me. “I’m telling you, Aviva. You may have crashed into him, but that dude crashed into your life and turned it upside down. You haven’t quit smiling since I’ve been here. You keep checking your phone, gushing, and being so girly. You’ve never been like this. This all means something.”
I hold her gaze. “I can’t even disagree with you, but I’m terrified that it’s not the case for him, which is why I will keep my guard up.”
She lets her head fall onto the table with a loud groan. “I’m gonna start calling you Self-Sabotage Sally.”
“I’m not sabotaging myself!” I throw back at her, but her face is twisted in disdain.
“You are just waiting for that shoe to drop. Aviva, listen to me. Sometimes, things happen for the good.”
I swallow hard. I want to believe that. My track record, though, it’s a doozy. The front door opens, the bell signaling, and we both look to see Dustin Sr. walk in. He looks at Jaylin, and I know he wants to turn right back around.
“Why is she here?”
Jaylin stands up, straightening her skirt. “It’s so wonderful to see you, too.”
Well, here we go.
“Do not, and I mean do not, pay the whole month. Make sure you subtract that hundred,” Jaylin says to me sternly as I sign the new papers she drew up. She grabs them from me as I sign, and my heart is still beating hard in my chest. Dustin Sr. does not like Jaylin and crumbled like a cookie when she went at him. He didn’t fight her on anything and claimed the rent amount was a mistake. If I knew this was how he was going to act when Jaylin was around, I’d have her around all the time. Still, though, I’m nervous. Things like this don’t work out like that.
“And I think we really need to look into buying this place.”
I look at her with a deadpan expression. “Yes. I’ll reach up my ass and grab the extra wad of cash I have stored up there.”
She sends a look back at me that says she’s tired of my sass. “I’ll help you get the loan—and I know, no handouts.” She mocks me with hand movements and all; it’s quite disturbing. “But it wouldn’t be a handout. It’s to help you. If we offer him a price he can’t turn down, then we’ll be done with him and your dad.”
I swallow hard, the thought of my dad making my skin crawl. “Do you think Dustin Sr. will follow through on the nondisclosure?”
The look on her face doesn’t bode well for Dustin Sr. “I wish he wouldn’t. I’ll take him to court so damn fast.” After packing up her briefcase, she reaches for my hands. “You have nothing to worry about. Everything is taken care of, and I really want you to think about what I offered. I’ll help with the loan—hell, we can get a bigger one to pay off your mom’s stuff. It would help a lot. Consider it.” She leans over, kissing my cheek. “And hey, keep smiling.”
I send her a small smile. “I will. And thank you.”
She smiles. “Anything for you.”
She sashays out of my shop, and I exhale roughly. I glance at my copies of the paperwork we all signed. I want to be excited about this. I know for a fact, though, either my dad will walk through that door or Nico will call to tell me he’s moved on. I gather the paperwork and go to the back to file it in my mini office as I consider what Jaylin said.
I would love to own this place. I could change a few things, but the best part would be I would never have to look at Dustin Sr. or Jr. again. Problem is, my mom always said, “Don’t lend money to friends.” Jaylin isn’t just a friend, though; she’s family. My mom used to call Jaylin her daughter all the time. She’s a sister to me, but could I allow her to do this for me? I just bought her car for a hundred bucks, and that is already giving me an ulcer. I just hate the feeling of owing someone something.
I hate the feeling of being helpless and needing someone to save me.
A few minutes after I step out of the office, a customer comes in, so I get to work. It’s almost an hour before it slows down enough for me to check my phone. As I lean into the counter, I grin since there is a missed call from Nico and a text.
Nico: Can you stop being a sub superstar and call me?
I laugh as I push his name, and when his voice fills the line, I want to sigh with contentment. “Hey.”
“Hey. How’d the meeting go?”
“Good, actually,” I say as I lean over the counter, watching the door. “My landlord is completely scared of Jaylin, so he basically did whatever she wanted.”
“Well, she is a badass.”
“She is.”
“I’m glad it worked out.”
“Yeah, me too.” I inhale and go back and forth with myself on whether I want to tell him the next part. I decide I do. “Jaylin asked if he’d sell the shop, and he said for the right price. So now she is trying to convince me to let her help me get a loan to buy it, but you know how I am.”
He’s quiet for a moment, and then he says, “I know how you are, but I think it would be for the best.”
“I know, but I just don’t feel right about it.” I tuck my hair behind my ear. “I am going to think about it, though.”
“Good. You should. It’s a good idea, unless…” he starts, and I already know what he is going to say. “I can buy it outright, and you can just pay me monthly. I’d be the best landlord.”
I grin. “Oh yeah?”
“Oh, hell yeah. I’d basically do whatever you want, in the shop and in the bed.”
I giggle, my face filling with heat. “You’re impossible.”
He laughs, but then his serious tone is back. “Seriously. I’m loaded. I can buy it.”
I roll my eyes. “I am aware of your loaded status, and I don’t care. I don’t want your money.”
“But you still want me?”
“Very much so.” Ugh, I miss him. “How many more days till you’ll be home?”
He chuckles. “Miss me?”
“I do,” I admit. “I’ve been watching the games while I watch Callie at practice.”
“I like that you watch me. I’ll have to play even better now.”
“You’ve only lost one game.”
“I do not want to talk about that.”
I bring in a breath. “So, we don’t talk about hockey?”
“Nope.”
“Cool,” I say, but his voice is stern. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize,” he says quickly, clearing his throat. “How’s Callie doing?”
“Good. She’s flipping way more than I like, but she seems happy. Oh! She passed that test, thanks to you. Thank you for FaceTiming with her the other night.”
It was the sweetest thing ever. She was almost in tears, she was so nervous about her test. When I told Nico that when he called after his game, he FaceTimed her to help. He had just finished putting up a shutout, and he still made sure Callie was good. I swear, I think it chipped at my walls a bit.
“Great! Man, I was worried. I’m glad.” He clears his throat, and I hear his bed move. “So, I need to ask you something.”
“Okay?” Why is my heart kicking up in speed? What will he ask?
“So, you know I go to therapy, right?”
“Yeah, you’ve mentioned it.” I’ve wanted to ask why, but I wouldn’t dare. If he wants to tell me, then he will.
“Well, I have this thing about interviews and large crowds. I don’t do well in those situations, and well, there is this foundation thing the whole team is going to. Usually, I can get out of it, but this year, they’re really pushing me to go because they think it’s time. I nee
d to force myself to get past my issues. Well, my therapist suggested that I take you. To help. ’Cause I feel comfortable around you.”
My face breaks into a grin. “You talk to your therapist about me?”
He groans. “Aviva.”
“I’m teasing. Of course I will. I’d love to.”
He exhales hard. Did he think I would say no? “Okay, I’m freaking out, and it’s like three weeks away.”
“Why are you freaking out? You’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, I don’t think so. It makes me uncomfortable.”
I bite my lip. “Is it like a phobia?”
He hesitates. “Yeah, something like that. I don’t know. It’s weird, I get really overwhelmed very quickly.”
I can hear it in his voice, and it makes my stomach hurt. “It’s okay. We’ll be together. I’ll protect you,” I say sweetly, and he laughs.
“That’s my job.”
“Eh, I’ll take the reins for one night.”
I can hear his smirk in his voice. “And I’ll take the reins once I get you to bed.”
“I really like the sound of that.” I feel like lying in my bed and rolling around, grinning like I did when I was a teenager. He gives me that fluttery, girlie feeling. I love it.
“Another thing.”
“Wow, you have a lot to say today.”
He chuckles softly. “So, don’t get mad, okay?”
I groan. “That means I will.”
He laughs some more. “No, really. Hear me out.”
“Okay…”
“I have a friend who used to play for the Nashville Assassins. He just retired, and he used to help with my travel team back in the day. Anyway, his wife is a breast cancer survivor, and she runs this bomb-ass lingerie company for breast cancer survivors.” I’m breathless as he continues. “She called the other day, and we were chitchatting because I bought you like the whole site.”
My heart stops dead in my chest. “What?”
“Yeah, I want you to feel like I see you. Fucking sexy. And this stuff is awesome. It should be there tomorrow or the next day. I don’t know. I gotta check my shipping confirmation. So we were talking, and she was telling me she is coming to Baybridge next month for a breast cancer conference. It’s women only, and I really think you and Callie should go.”