“What has you in such a good mood?” I look over at Amber who is fixated on her phone, a wide smile covering her face.
“Nothing. It’s nothing.” She shakes her head, unable to rid herself of her smile as she turns her phone face down and holds it against her leg.
“Nothing huh?” I laugh, unable to control the look of disbelief I throw her way.
“Well, I mean…” She pauses, nervously chewing on the pad of her thumb as she decides what exactly to share with me.
“Does this have something to do with Aiden?” I ask, knowing the two hung out yesterday after being damn near inseparable at the bonfire last week.
“He’s just so sweet, Rae,” she gushes. She pulls her phone to her chest as we both sit on opposite ends of the couch with our legs sprawled out, facing each other. “I don’t know why but I just didn’t expect him to be so damn nice to me.”
“He’s not like the other guys in the band,” I agree, knowing that with almost complete certainty despite how little time I’ve actually spent around him.
“He’s so—I don’t know—Different.” She gives me a nervous smile, clearly keeping herself from continuing.
“You like him?” A slow smile spreads across my face, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.
“I barely know him,” she objects, not meeting my gaze.
How quickly she forgets that I know her better than anyone else. I know that blush that floods her cheeks and that look in her eyes. More importantly, I know what it all means.
Narrowing my eyes at her, the moment the defeat flashes across her face I know I’ve won.
“Fine. Okay. I like him,” she huffs, pulling her legs up and hugging them to her chest.
“I don’t know why you even try to lie to me,” I tease, knowing how easily she breaks.
She never lasts more than a couple of minutes when I’m trying to get info from her. Much like I do with her.
“It’s just so new, and I don’t want to jinx it.” She tucks her blonde hair behind one ear nervously.
“Wow. You really like him,” I observe, not realizing just how much until this very moment.
“I really do.” She can’t fight her smile.
“You really do what?” My sister Rylee peeks her head inside, clearly eavesdropping on the last part of our conversation through the screen door.
“None of your business, little sister,” I tease, watching her roll her eyes as she pushes her way into my living room.
“Where’s Landen?” she asks, glancing around the small space.
“Napping.” I hold my finger to my lips gesturing for her to keep her voice down. “What are you doing?” I ask, finding it curious that Rylee is even here.
Despite the fact that I live right behind her, she rarely comes out back to see me. Well, not unless she needs something.
“I was hoping I could borrow that black dress you wore to the New Year’s party last year.” She crosses the room and flops down in the chair diagonal from me.
“Got a hot date?” I ask jokingly.
“So what if I do?” She holds her hand out, checking her freshly manicured nails as if she couldn’t be more bored with this conversation even though she’s been here less than a minute.
“Who’s the lucky guy this time?” Amber pipes in, disguising her sarcasm even though I notice it instantly.
Rylee tends to stick to the same kind of guy. Hot, young, athletic. She picks him up and drops him almost just as quickly. It’s like she has this internal clock that alarms every time it’s time to move on to the next man.
To say my sister and I are different would be the understatement of the year. It’s more like we exist in different worlds all together. I’m a mom, focused on work and my child. Rylee is in college; her only concerns are hanging with friends and screwing her flavor of the week.
Even before Landen, we were still polar opposites. I’ve always been the good child. The tame one. The responsible one. Focused on school and sports. Hell, I didn’t even lose my virginity until senior year, although all my friends had been having sex for quite some time.
Wouldn’t it figure that I, the good child, would be the one to get knocked up by a guitar player at twenty-one and end up a single mom? The irony of the situation is not lost on me.
“For your information, this one is different. I really like this guy,” Rylee snaps.
“You do?” I question, unable to hide my surprise.
“Yes, and he likes me, too,” she huffs.
“Who is he?” I ask, having never heard my sister talk such a way about a man.
“He’s one of the professors at the university,” she starts, only to be immediately cut off by simultaneous objections from Amber and me.
“Please tell me you’re not that stupid.” I shake my head at her.
“He’s not one of my professors,” she objects.
“That doesn’t make it any better,” I reassure her. “Seriously, Ry. You could get kicked out of school. He could lose his job. There’s no way this ends well.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you don’t get a say then huh?” She pushes out of the chair, clearly offended. “I guess this is what I get for asking you for anything.” Her words sting.
While we may be different, Rylee has always been there when I needed her, and she’s an amazing aunt to Landen. I hate that I’ve so clearly upset her.
“Ry,” I object, swinging my legs over the side of the couch so I’m facing her. “I’m sorry, okay? I don’t mean to judge.”
“Yes, you do. You always judge me,” she huffs, stomping her foot like a child.
“No, I don’t,” I argue. “I just don’t want to see you screw up your education over a man you won’t give two shits about a month from now.”
“You mean the way you screwed up your life when you spread your legs for a man who saw you as nothing more than another piece of ass?”
I blanch, completely caught off guard by the way she’s being right now. It’s true that my sister and I rarely agree on things, but we hardly ever fight. I’m not sure what’s gotten into her.
“And who says I won’t care about him?” she quickly adds. “You don’t know what we share.”
“You’re right, I don’t. But I know you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she barks.
It’s clear to see this is going nowhere good really fast.
“Nothing.” I stand, my voice soft. “I just know that you’re young and exploring your options. You don’t want to be tied down, especially with an older man.”
“You don’t know what I want.” Tears form in her eyes, and for a long moment, I’m at a loss. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen Rylee like this.
“Ry,” I try again, sensing this is about a hell of a lot more than just my reaction to who she is currently seeing.
“Can I borrow the dress or not?” She pushes down her emotion, hitting me with a glacial stare.
“Of course, you can.” I finally concede.
“Thank you.” She spins on her heel and slides open my bedroom door, careful not to wake Landen.
Re-emerging moments later with the black dress draped across her forearm, she offers me a quick thank you before quickly crossing the space of the room and disappearing outside.
“What the hell was that?” Amber gawks at me the moment she’s out of earshot.
“I have no idea.” I shake my head, at a loss for words.
“That was really weird. I don’t think that I’ve seen her that riled up since that time you refused to let her leave the house wearing that damn see-through shirt. Do you remember that?” She chuckles.
“Oh my god, yes.” I shake my head, collapsing down onto the couch. “She couldn’t have been any older than thirteen, and she thought I was going to let her go to a high school party dressed like a twenty-year-old stripper.” We both laugh in unison.
“Feels like an eternity ago, doesn’t it?” Amber cocks her head at me in question.
“It really does,” I agree.
“Did you ever think this is where we would be at twenty-three?”
“Not even close.”
“I thought I’d be as far away from this fucking town as I could get and yet here I am, stuck,” she pouts.
“You are far from stuck.” I hitch my thumb toward the bedroom where my son is sleeping. “You can do whatever you want. I, on the other hand, well that’s a different story entirely.”
“You can still do whatever you want, Rae,” Amber disagrees.
“I know. It’s just not as easy anymore. I can’t just uproot Landen from the only home he’s ever known. Besides, this is a great place to raise a family.”
“I will agree with you there.”
“Besides, you’re here. Corey’s here. My dad and sister are here.”
“But you know who isn’t?” Amber narrows her eyes at me.
“I do know.” I blow out a hard breath.
“Have you guys decided what happens when he goes back to L.A.?”
“Nope.” I shake my head. “He’s avoiding the conversation, and I don’t have the nerve to bring it up. Things are so good right now, better than good, and I want to hold onto that as long as possible.”
“Well, you don’t have much longer,” she reminds me.
“I’m well aware.”
“My advice.” She breaks the silence after a few long moments. “Get it over with now. You know, quick like a Band-Aid. The sooner you deal with it, the sooner you can start planning your future.”
“But what if he doesn’t want a future with me? What if he wants visitations and summers with Landen in L.A., and I’m not part of his end game?”
“Do you really believe that?” She arches a brow at me.
“No,” I finally admit, knowing firsthand that Gabe has given me no indication that he wants anything other than for the three of us to be together.
“But things are very new,” I continue. “And the truth of the matter is, Gabe doesn’t really know me that well. I mean, what happens if he realizes he doesn’t like me?”
“Not possible.” Amber laughs like I couldn’t be more ridiculous.
“Why are you laughing at me?”
“Do you hear yourself?” She stops laughing but her smile doesn’t fade. “What if he doesn’t like me?” She tries to impersonate my voice but fails miserably. “Everyone loves you, Rae. Everyone. If you have one super power, it’s your ability to make every single person you meet adore you.”
“Oh my god.” Now I’m laughing. “What are you even talking about?”
“Have you ever had an enemy?” she asks, falling serious.
I think on that for a long moment, realizing that I’ve never thought of anyone as an enemy, or that anyone’s ever thought of me as one either that I’m aware of.
“Exactly.” She smacks her hand against her leg when I shrug.
I open my mouth to say more but am momentarily distracted by the buzz of my phone as it dances across the coffee table. Leaning forward I snag it off the table, dragging my finger across the screen. An immediate smile lights up my face when I see who it’s from.
Gabe: Just finished at the studio. Can I see you?
My fingers can’t type out a response fast enough.
Me: What did you have in mind?
Gabe: Me inside of you, for starters. *wink face
I laugh, covering my mouth as heat floods my body.
“What did he say?” Amber knows who I’m talking to without me having to tell her.
Unable to voice the words, I spin the phone in her direction and let her read it, watching her eyes widen.
“Holy shit that’s hot.” She fans her face with her hand as I bring the phone down to my lap.
Me: I’m at home. Come over?
His reply is instant.
Gabe: Be there in ten.
Gazing up at Amber, a knowing smile spreads across her face.
“He’s coming over.” It’s a statement not a question.
“He said he would be here in ten.” I try to contain the excitement that threatens to burst out of me at any moment.
“Well hot damn, I better get the hell out of here then.” Amber quickly jumps to her feet and heads toward the door, pausing to slide on her flip flops.
“You don’t have to leave right this second,” I object, standing as well.
“I got things to do anyway. Who knows, maybe I’ll swing by and see what my favorite bass player is up to.” She winks.
“You’re going to be the death of that man.” I laugh.
“Why do you say that?” She seems genuinely curious by my statement.
“He’s an introvert, you’re a social butterfly. He hides behind his shaggy hair and bass guitar, while you’re on full display for the world to see. You probably scare the hell out of him.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?” Another wink and then Amber turns, exiting through the front door before I can say another word.
I laugh to myself, for a moment considering how amazing it would be if Aiden and Amber got together and Gabe and me stayed together. I let my mind drift as I collect our empty tea glasses from the coffee table.
Making my way into the kitchen, I place the dishes in the sink, lingering there for a long moment, imagining how incredible that life would be. Us living side by side, our kids growing up together, being best friends just like we have been nearly our entire lives. I can almost see it…
“Hey.” Gabe’s husky voice washes over me causing me to jump, having not heard him enter.
Turning slowly, the moment my eyes land on him already making his way toward me, I suck in a ragged breath, trying to control the way my knees shake at the sight of him.
“Hey,” I get out weakly, shrinking slightly under his intense gaze.
“Fuck, I missed you.”
As soon as the words leave his lips, I’m caged in, my back pressed into the counter behind me. His mouth closes against mine in a punishing kiss and just like that, everything else fades into the background. I can let my imagination wonder all I want, but nothing feels real until I feel his lips pressed against mine, his hands firm against my hips, his breath hot against my face as he pulls back and breathes me in.
“Well hello to you, too.” I pull back to meet his gaze.
“Sorry, all I could think of on the way over was how I couldn’t wait to kiss this amazing fucking mouth of yours.” He leans forward, sucking my bottom lip between his teeth.
“I’m not objecting,” I get out, breathless, already under the spell he casts over me every time he’s near.
“Where’s Landen?” he asks, pulling me into another kiss.
“Sleeping,” I whisper against his mouth.
He pulls back and meets me with mischievous eyes.
“Good. I don’t want him to witness what I’m about to do to his mommy.” He smiles against my mouth before deepening the kiss.