One Big Mistake: a friends to lovers rom-com

by Whitney Barbetti

  “And you deserved it.”

  I didn’t doubt it. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember why I deserved it, though. “You’re right. But I’m a changed man now.”

  She snorted, popping the sucker out of her mouth and pointing it at me. “You broke up with my friend in front of all of her friends.”

  Ah. There was the source of Delilah’s disdain. “Suzie.”

  “Yep. And,” she leaned across the counter, the wet lollipop coming dangerously close to my face, “you didn’t even give her a chance to defend herself.”

  “Right,” I said. “I mean, considering she was mid-make-out with that kid from Pine River—in front of my friends—it was pretty inconsiderate to not wait until she’d dislodged her tongue from inside his mouth to have a conversation with me.” I harbored no ill-will toward Suzie for it. I hadn’t been a great boyfriend anyway, though I hadn’t kissed random chicks at any summer parties. Especially not in front of her. Or her gaggle of friends.

  “It wasn’t like that.”

  “Okay.” I didn’t want to travel down this road with Delilah, because I just didn’t care about the whole thing to begin with. The fact that I’d felt nothing when I’d witnessed the make-out session told me just how not-right it was to continue dating Suzie.

  “God forbid Megan makes any drunken mistakes. You’ll just drop her before she can defend herself, too,” she said, popping the lollipop back into her mouth.

  “You didn’t hear.” I crossed my arms over my chest and relaxed against the counter. “That’s not a thing anymore.”

  She snorted again, her eyes rolling back as far as they could go. Given that her eyes were the largest I’d ever seen on anyone, that much white was mildly terrifying. “I guess I’m not surprised. You go through girls faster than you go through underwear.”

  “I mean, I didn’t wear the same pair of underwear for six months before changing them, but okay, Delilah. Keep going. What other malfeasants of mine would you like to air out?”

  “Are you two playing nice?” Navy asked, coming up to the counter and punching a code into the register.

  “Keane? Play nice?” She huffed and turned to Navy. “I’m going to sweep the back of the store, if that’s okay.”

  “You can clock out, if you want.” Navy turned to the clock by the door, the dark circles under her eyes illuminated by the harsh overhead lights.

  “What about the deposit?”

  “Keane can follow me to the bank.” She paused and looked up at me. “Is that okay?”

  “Sure.”

  “Make sure he doesn’t try to steal the money from you before you get there.” Delilah glowered at me, daggers in her eyes and a clear frown on her face. She looked like she’d just taken a shot of bad tequila. “He’s shady like that.”

  “She’s right,” I said, infuriating Delilah more by playing along. “I’m a monster. Might as well hand the cash over to me now before I mug you in the parking lot, Navy.”

  Delilah scoffed loudly and turned on her heel toward the back of the store.

  “Your fan base keeps growing stronger.” Navy had a small smile on her lips as she changed the till. “What did you do this time?”

  “Oh,” I said waving after Delilah’s retreating figure. “Break up with Suzie last summer.”

  “Suzie Wagner?”

  “That’s the one.”

  Navy nodded. “You broke up with her at that party, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Because she was making out with that super-hot guy from Pine River.”

  “He was not hot.” I leaned on the counter and tapped the space between her eyes. “Do you need to get your vision checked?”

  “No, but I think you do.” Her cheek lifted as she tucked away a smile. “He was pretty hot. Can you blame her?”

  “Uh, yeah, I can, especially when I’m dating her.” I stretched my shoulders back. “He wasn’t that hot.”

  “Hate to break it to you,” she said, placing a hand on my arm. “But he was hot. And you obviously weren’t even that interested in her.”

  “I don’t think that gives someone permission to suck face with someone else.”

  “No, it doesn’t. But she—and the hot guy—probably did you a favor, ending it sooner before it was dragged out.”

  “He wasn’t that hot,” I said again, more indignantly this time.

  The clap of heels interrupted our attention as Delilah returned. “Hey, Delly?” I said, using the nickname only her friends used with her. “Got a spare ski mask I can use so I can mug Navy without her recognizing me? Oh, maybe Alicia’s got it still. I’ll borrow it from her.”

  “Asshole,” she huffed as she flew through the doors.

  “Why do you tease her so much? One might think you like her.”

  “I mean, don’t get me wrong. Delilah is hot. But she also hates me, in case you haven’t noticed.”

  “Oh, I’ve noticed. Is that the only thing stopping you?”

  “I mean, that and the fact that she’s obsessed with her ex.”

  “Oh.”

  I might not have noticed if Navy’s tone hadn’t quieted, but since it had, I looked at her more closely. We never talked about my love—if you could call it that—life. “What’s up, Navy?”

  “Let me finish closing up, okay? You caught me early.”

  It wasn’t a total dismissal, but I recognized it as her asking for some space. Yeah, I’d shown up early. But to get a gauge on her. Navy never sent texts like the last one she sent me. “I’ll wait outside for you. Maybe I’ll find a good hiding spot to surprise you. Make sure the bag of money is in easy reach, okay?”

  That earned me a small smile. “You got it. But don’t be too rough. Be gentle with me, k?”

  It sat like lead between us. Be gentle with me. It had a second meaning—that much was clear from the look in her eyes.

  Be gentle with me.

  “Always,” I told her; one hand braced on the door handle.

  After exiting the store, Navy locked the doors and turned to me. Cocking her head to the side, she said, “You’re not even a clever robber. You’re supposed to hide.”

  I patted the dark gray of her aunt’s car and motioned to my sweats. “I’m blending in, like a chameleon. You can’t see me.”

  She laughed, approaching me. God, it was so good to see her laugh after the heaviness and weirdness from the last few days. “Except this,” she said as she ruffled my hair. “You’ve got so much blonde in it right now.”

  “From working outside the last few weeks.” Her smile dropped as if she was realizing that now we couldn’t avoid whatever it was that haunted her eyes and her mouth.

  Navy was known to volunteer at a women’s shelter nearby, where she undoubtedly had seen a lot of shit. Sometimes, it wore on her like a heavy blanket. But this was different. This was heartbreak—but not from a guy. “What’s going on, Navy?”

  “Violet’s back in town.”

  I frowned. “Isn’t that a good thing?” I knew she’d missed her sister, had felt nervous about Violet being so far away.

  “It is, but it’s more complicated than that.” Even though it was only eight at night, this area of town was already dead. But Navy looked around anyway, as if she was worried someone would overhear us. “Her boyfriend—ex—in California, he abused her.”

  My tongue was a brick in my mouth. “Wha—”

  “She looks like she lost at least thirty pounds and she was already so thin when I last saw her.” She motioned to her body. “And she’s got these really horrible bruises and marks all over her body—” she pressed the back of her hand to her mouth and it was then that I could see her shake, see the turmoil pour from her eyes in a rapid stream of tears. Her arms seemed as if they were operated by someone else, she kept alternating between wrapping them around herself and waving them around. “She looks so sad, Keane. Like her heart was ripped in half.”

  Before she could keep breaking down, I wrapped my arms around her a
nd pulled her close, my chin resting on top of her head. I understood then that it wasn’t just her hands that shook, but her entire body.

  Fucking asshole. I didn’t know him, but if I did, I’d kick Violet’s ex so hard in the face that he’d be constipated on his own teeth for weeks. “What do you need?”

  Navy pulled away and pressed her hands to her forehead. “I don’t even know where to start. I took her to the store this morning, got her some clothes. But that’s only good for a little while. She needs a job, a place to live. She can’t live with me—her ex could find her under our last name. If he’s stupid enough to look for her.”

  “Unfortunately, he must be a fucking idiot. I mean, he hurt someone with a big family and lots of connections.”

  “I haven’t even told you the rest of it.” She swallowed, took a deep breath in. “She’s pregnant.”

  I went completely cold. “This motherfucker was hurting her while she was pregnant?”

  She nodded solemnly. “It’s a miracle she didn’t miscarry, after everything her body has been through. So she doesn’t just need a job and a place to live, but she needs medical care and things for the baby.”

  “So, she’s keeping the baby. No adoption?”

  “She’s adamant that she’s raising the baby.” When I didn’t reply, she said more curtly, “If you’d grown up with parents like ours, then you could maybe understand her desire to raise her baby.”

  I held my hands up in surrender. Her tone was so angry, like she’d already prepared to say that to anyone who dared to question her sister’s choice. “I’m not judging at all.” I wasn’t. It wasn’t my place. “I’m just processing this. Sorry. I’m sure you are still, too. And Violet…” I rubbed my jaw. “I’m guessing you haven’t told your aunt?”

  Navy mock laughed. “She’ll have a coronary when she finds out. If I told her now, she’d book the first flight home.”

  “She’s going to be pissed when she does get home and realizes you didn’t tell her.”

  “Yup.” Navy sighed loudly and leaned back against her car. “What am I going to do, Keane? She can only stay at my aunt’s for so long before the twins realize she’s there.”

  “You’re not going to tell them Violet’s in town?”

  She shook her head. “No. They’ll want to see her, but… I don’t know. They post everything on social media. And I can’t risk Aunt Isabel finding out from a neighbor or the girls accidentally telling someone. I love my aunt, but I have no idea how she’s going to react to this. And I can’t put this on her—not after everything she’s done for us. But I won’t abandon Violet. She just can’t be in Amber Lake, where she’ll be recognized. If it gets back to her ex…”

  “She can stay at the cabin.”

  She was quiet for a long moment. “The cabin?”

  “Think about it,” I said, even though I’d only just thought of the idea myself. “Her ex doesn’t know me, but even if he could connect the dots, it’s not even listed publicly in my name—it’s listed under my grandparents’ still, or their trust at the very least. It’s quiet. And, most significantly, it’s free. She can stay there, have the baby, and then figure out what she’s going to do. Free rent.”

  “You can’t do that for free.”

  Scowling, I retorted, “Says who? It’s mine. It’s free for family. Violet is family.” When she didn’t readily agree, I sighed loudly. “Just accept help, Navy. It doesn’t make you weak. Sometimes you’re too much of a martyr.”

  “What does that mean?”

  I grimaced, because it was not my intent to call her out like that. Navy had the biggest heart of anyone I knew, but she gave it away without discretion—making herself vulnerable to getting hurt.

  “What I mean is that you can be pig-headed when it comes to your sisters. You don’t have to suffer for your parents’ mistakes.”

  She blinked; her mouth open. “It’s not suffering to take care of my sisters.”

  “I’m not…” Fuck, I was bad with words. I needed to be softer. “I’m not saying you’re suffering. I’m saying that you struggle to accept help when there are people who are ready and willing to help you. You help everybody else, but the moment someone offers their hand, you snub it. You suffer because you think you think it’s your responsibility to carry alone. And—” I said, speaking louder so she couldn’t talk over me, as I saw she was prepared to do, “I’m just saying that you need to be better at saying yes.”

  “It’s not that easy. I’ve seen what my aunt has had to sacrifice for us. That’s why I try so hard to take care of everyone, of everything.”

  “I know it isn’t easy, Navy. I get it. I do. You are headstrong and you are loyal—to a fault. Those are some of your best qualities. But you don’t have to do all of this alone. You don’t. I can help. Let me help. Please, Navy.” Her bottom lip trembled and her eyes glistened. I couldn’t stand to see her cry, so I quickly added, “Besides, this means you might not grumble as much as you help me spruce it up.”

  She gave me a watery laugh. “Does it have running water? Electricity? Is it safe?”

  “Yes, yes, and yes. Besides, I’d planned to camp out there myself over the next few months as I renovated it. She wouldn’t be alone.”

  Navy hadn’t fully committed to the idea; I could tell because she wouldn’t look at me.

  “Unless… I mean, if you think she’ll be afraid to have me there, I can set up a tent outside. I’d offer to go back to my parents’ house each night, but I just don’t like the idea of her being out there alone.”

  “I mean, all of this is so hypothetical. We still need to talk to her about it. I want to say that I don’t think she’d be afraid of you, but she’s a whole different person now. I trust you. Of course.” She wrapped a warm hand around mine. “And you’re so sweet to offer this. I appreciate it. Keane, you don’t even know how good it feels to just talk about this with someone. But I want to make sure it’s okay with her, first.”

  “Makes sense.”

  “Maybe she could come out to the cabin with me tomorrow and get a good look at it. It would be hard for her to commit without seeing it.”

  “Of course. I can pick you guys up in the morning, if that works? I wanted to make a list of shit I needed to get for this week. So I hadn’t planned on being out there too long.”

  “But I thought I was supposed to come help you paint?”

  “I’ll wait until Violet looks at it. She might want a different paint for the bedrooms.”

  “Bedrooms? How big is this cabin anyway?”

  “It’s got two bedrooms, but the second one is about the size of a walk-in closet. It’ll work for a crib. At least until Violet figures things out.”

  She shook her head. “You’re really sure you’re ready for this?”

  For Navy, I’d do just about anything. “I’m so sure that if she needed to get out tonight, I’d pick her up and bring her now.”

  The hand holding mine squeezed. “You’re a good man, Keane.”

  “Thanks. Tell Delilah, huh?”

  “Geez.” She pushed me gently. “You’re not really interested in her, are you?”

  I laughed. “Fuck, no. It was a joke. Delilah likes her men to smell like fancy cologne and coffee shops. Pretty soon here I’m going to smell like sawdust and paint.” But that didn’t seem to appease her, as she still eyed me with speculation. “No, Navy. I am not remotely interested in going down that road. She’s selfish and lazy, even if you don’t see it.”

  “She’s a good employee.”

  “Who always shows up late. Who does a couple of her normal tasks and makes sure to tell you what she’s done and then proceeds to spend the rest of her shift painting her nails while you stock and clean and dust. Who opens a glitter card at work and then doesn’t even clean it up.”

  “Where’s the anger coming from?” she asked, placing a hand on my arm.

  I didn’t know. I didn’t usually push Navy, especially when I knew there wasn’t anything she could
do about it. It’s not like she could or would fire Delilah. But it was one thing after another with Delilah. Navy rarely complained to me, but when she canceled plans because she had to cover a shift for Delilah, it rankled. “She just doesn’t clean up after herself. Remember when your microwave reeked of fish because she microwaved that nasty chowder in it?”

  “It was her birthday,” Navy said gently, as if that would make me be any more understanding of the fact.

  “And she didn’t clean up the splatter or apologize for the mess.”

  “It wasn’t a big deal.”

  “Because she knew you’d clean up her mess. When’s her birthday?”

  “August sometime.”

  “Good. I’ve got a gift idea for her this year. Buy her some diapers, then she can clean up her own shit.”

  Navy laughed. “Keane, it’s not that big of a deal.”

  “It is.” I was fired up. I mostly blamed it on the knowledge that Violet had been beaten by her boyfriend but knowing that this was going to cause a greater burden on Navy lit me up in a way I hadn’t felt in a while. Everyone dumped their troubles on Navy and expected her to figure it out. Because she did, because she was too afraid to talk about her own feelings. I didn’t blame Violet—I was glad she came back to Navy. But I couldn’t ignore the fact that Navy’s already full plate was going to start overflowing soon. And people who were completely capable of taking care of themselves—like Delilah—needed to get it the fuck together. “Next time she calls you to cover a shift for her, tell her to put on her big girl panties and do it herself.”

  “I can’t do that. Not while my aunt’s gone.”

  “Yeah, and she can’t do that to you, while your aunt’s gone. What happens if she bails and you gotta do a shift alone?”

  “I’ll call Roger.”

  “That dickhead. He’s halfway in love with you.”

  “And that makes him a dickhead?”

  She had me there. I paused, my anger quickly going from boiling to simmering. “No, of course not. But he’s still a dickhead.”

  “And yet you can’t tell me why he’s a dickhead.”

  I could. But Navy didn’t need this from me tonight. “Sorry,” I said. “I think everything just got me fired up.”