April glanced at the clock then let out a long, slow sigh. It was Friday night once again, and while she would have preferred to be with Van, she was at her mom’s apartment, alone. While he’d been able to blow off some of his shifts at the bar to spend time with her, even the owner was required to make an appearance a few times a week. So, with much apologizing, Van postponed their ice cream date and motorcycle ride around the lake so that he could go check on everything at Cedar Lodge.
Which, honestly, April wasn’t all that upset about. She’d been having a blast with Van lately, but all couples needed a break from each other sometimes. So, while she would have rather been hanging out in his office at the bar, on his motorcycle, or enjoying some decadent ice cream from the parlor a few minutes from her mom’s apartment building, April knew she needed a night to herself. They were still in the puppy love stage, screwing frequently and wrapped up in each other’s arms constantly, and she didn’t want it to fizzle because they were spending too much time together—if that was possible.
Unfortunately, she’d thought her mom might actually be home that night, too. However, Renee O’Hara could no longer take a Friday or Saturday night off. She was in the process of rebuilding her boutiques after the fires, which meant meeting with investors, shopping at specialty stores with her friends, and schmoozing Cascade Falls’ elite for their patronage once the shop opened again. Despite her bubbly, in-love-soon-to-be-married glow, her mom proved time and time again to be a shrewd business woman, and even on the cusp of retirement, she was willing to pound the pavement to get what she wanted.
Her absence meant April was by herself on Friday night, twiddling her thumbs and flicking through the TV stations—and Friday nights weren’t exactly known for their prime TV… because everyone sane actually had plans to celebrate the end of the work week. April’s week just blended into one big week. No job meant no schedule, and sometimes she actually forgot what day of the week it was to start with. Her old job was still waiting for her, her boss giving her leave for the summer—the slowest months of the retail year—to be with her family, but a part of her wasn’t even sure she wanted to go back.
April was trained for business. She had a mom who was a veritable pro at the craft, and April was… an assistant manager who made two dollars more than the regular sales associate. It was time for a change.
Sitting around her mom’s apartment like she was some regular teenager, however, didn’t exactly boost her drive to do much with her career. She couldn’t bring herself to ask her mom for a job, because she knew her mom wouldn’t allow nepotism in her boutiques. Cascade Falls was a tourist destination, primed for foodies and photographers, but the small business sector was rife with competition and offered limited profit margins.
So, April watched TV and mucked around on social media instead. A few of her old high school pals were finally either back from school outside of Cascade Falls or were taking their summer vacations from work in the next few weeks, which meant she would have something to do then. She could wait it out. She just hated feeling like she lacked a social life if Van was busy, and while she was determined to establish a life of her own in the town she’d grown up in, she found it harder and harder to fill up her time with social visits. In short, she’d grown lazy.
Plus, the more she sat around at home with nothing to do, the more she dwelled on her concerns about furthering her relationship with Van. The whole stepbrother issue still loomed in her mind, and sometimes she wondered if James had just been trying to help both of them avoid that particular drama somewhere down the road.
But then she remembered that he torched her mom’s boutiques, and any thought of James Palmer being a caring, kind individual went straight out the window—fast.
Midway through one of her standard Friday night shows—some ridiculous baking competition that pitted contestants against one another mercilessly—her phone trilled obnoxiously from its spot on the coffee table. Flinching, she sat up and grabbed it, expecting to see Van’s name across the screen. Instead, she saw June’s picture and name as clear as day; never had her finger swiped the answer button faster.
“June!” she all but shrieked into the phone, and she could hear her college best friend giggling on the other line. They’d met when they were both wide-eyed innocent frosh, April in business classes and June taking art history. Given the vast differences in their coursework, it would have been unlikely that they’d have met had they not been residence neighbors, their dorm apartments right next to each other, and she’d been infinitely grateful to whoever coordinated that—she owed them one. June was sweetness personified, a girl from a rich family who never once gave the impression that her parents funded three buildings at their university. Initially, they’d bonded over their names, and from there a friendship blossomed that lasted all four years.
April had been dying to share everything that had been happening with June ever since she returned to Cascade Falls, but June had been off on some backpacking tour through Asia and was downright impossible to reach—until now.
“Hello, love of my life!” June shrieked back. “I have so much to tell you!”
“Same,” April gushed, muting the TV and sitting up quickly, as she tucked her hair behind her ears—like it would get in the way of the phone call if she didn’t. “Oh my god, June, I’ve missed you so much.”
Tears threatened to spill down her cheeks, as she settled in for her best friend’s stories, eager to hear all about Thai food and Vietnamese boats and the clear waters around Malaysia. She would have loved to have gone with her when June invited her all those many months ago, but April couldn’t fathom leaving her job for something so frivolous.
June nearly flipped her lid when she learned that April was currently away from her job and back in Cascade Falls… watching TV on a Friday night and moping.
“Well, I guess it’s nice that you’re helping your mom out,” she managed, as April nibbled her lower lip. “But aren’t you bored? I mean, when you talked about home, it never struck me as a place where there was a lot to do.”
“I’ve found some things to do,” April told her, a sly smile crossing her lips. “Someone to do.”
June squealed into the phone again, and April pulled it away from her ear, laughing.
“Tell me everything!”
She did her best to leave no stone unturned, filling June in on every juicy detail about Van and their steadily growing relationship. The fire couldn’t be left out either, and June huffed appropriately at James Palmer’s irrational threats.
“You should report him,” she suggested, but April shook her head, sighing.
“I don’t have any proof.” If only she had some lick of evidence to tie him to the fires. She would have loved to see him locked away, even if it broke her mom’s heart. She’d get over it in time, and then she’d find someone who would actually treat her well. “It’s not like I recorded our conversations—though I wish I had.”
“And what does Van think of all this?”
“He doesn’t think his dad did anything,” she replied with a slight roll of her eyes. “They talked it over after I tried to walk away from all this, but a part of me wonders if he’s just covering for the guy. I mean… He has to know how awful his dad’s reputation is with the biker gang.”
“Hmm. Something to address?”
She pressed her lips together then said, “Maybe sometime down the road.”
Things had just been going so well with Van lately that she hadn’t wanted to ruin anything. She’d had her suspicions that he might have thought James was behind the fires, but he denied it so vehemently whenever she had brought it up in the week that followed his confrontation with his dad. Either he was a good actor, or he genuinely believed his dad was innocent. Neither of the options sat well with April.
“So, are you falling in love with this guy?” June asked. Heat flooded April’s cheeks, and just as she was about to deny it, her friend added, “Is the sex still amazing?”
“Oh my god, June… It’s the best,” she gushed, thrilled to finally have someone to talk to about this kind of stuff. “I’ve never had no many orgasms in my life!”
“Jealous!”
“And no,” April continued, as the TV flickered out of the corner of her eye, “I’m not in love with him. It’s too soon for that. I… have a strong liking for him.”
There was a slight pause on the other end of the phone, until June gave a little chuckle. “Uh huh. Right.”
“What?” Her eyebrows shot up, as little butterflies swarmed in her stomach. Was that how people felt when they were in love? Her friend laughed again, clearly in good spirits.
“Nothing, nothing,” June insisted. “You just sound really happy with him, that’s all.”
“I am,” April told her, and then she hesitated. All those happy little butterflies fluttering around in her stomach took a quick nosedive when she thought back to her anxieties about the future of her and Van’s relationship. “But…”
“But what?”
“But…” She opened and closed her mouth a few times, struggling to find the right way to express herself to her best friend for the first time in their whole conversation. Luckily for her, there was a reason why June was her best friend.
“But you’re worried about the whole stepbrother thing?”
“Yes!” Her anxieties instantly started to fade, and April let out a relieved sigh. “June, this is why you’re the best.”
She didn’t need to actually voice the problem for June to figure it out for herself, and for that, she was grateful.
“Not going to lie,” June told her, sounding like she was choosing her words carefully, “but it’s a little weird. I mean, if this all goes to hell, you guys are going to be in each other’s lives for years. Not that I want to put some storm cloud over your relationship, but in like, what, a month you two are going to be related.”
“Not by blood,” April remarked weakly, taking the same argument Van always used and offering it up for June’s scrutiny.
“Yeah, but no one will care about that.” Sure enough, her best friend wasn’t one to mince words. “I mean, does it bother you? You guys are the only ones that matter, but just know that people are going to talk about this kind of stuff. I mean, two people get married, and then their kids are having lots of orgasms together?”
“Ew, June!” When she put it that way, it sounded totally unbelievable.
“I’m just saying,” June laughed. “Prepare yourselves to face that kind of scrutiny if you are still together. I mean, I guess there’s a kink factor to dating your stepbrother. It’s kind of taboo, which usually makes things a little spicier in the bedroom—“
“And we’re done talking about this,” April interjected, mortified that it had gone down the path that it did. As easy as June was to talk to about this kind of stuff, April wasn’t comfortable voicing those opinions out loud yet. “Why don’t you tell me about the guy you met in Bali again? He sounds like a dream…”
“Oh, he was, but you can’t change the subject.”
“But I want to.”
“April,” she said.
“June,” April fired back, her tone leaving no room for arguments. Her best friend sighed on the other end of the line, and April swore it sounded like one of defeat.
“Bali guy’s name was Josh, if you must know,” June started, “and we met at a bar with no roof on the edge of the ocean…”
April sunk back into the couch, smiling. She’d much rather hear about June’s crazy sexy adventures than deal with her own insecurities right now. Even if June was the person to do it with, April just didn’t have the courage tonight. Maybe one day soon, but not now. For now, denial was her best coping strategy, and she intended to use it to the fullest until she was brave enough to tackle this issue head-on—and not a second sooner.