Chapter Four #3
Cece squints at me. “What, why?”
“I don’t know,” I say honestly. “I mean you guys clearly all know who I am. Why I’m here, I guess I just assumed there’d be… questions.”
Lena waves a hand dismissively. “We don’t need to know anything you don’t want to tell. Besides, we all have shit we don’t like to talk about,”
She doesn’t say it, but I know immediately by the way her expression drops and her eyes find their way to the golden horizon on the ocean, that she means Cruz.
Bex nods. “She’s right. Honestly, we’re just happy you’re here. Everything else you can unpack when you’re ready, and we’ll be here to listen.”
“Yeah,” Cece says. “Every family has their drama. Their secrets. Their novela level bullshit.”
That lands somewhere I wasn’t expecting.
Because I had prepared for resistance. For judgment. For thin smiles, tight questions and alot of awkwardness. I had prepared to defend myself, and yet they’re not asking for anything.
Shit, that’s almost harder to process.
The breeze from the ocean rolls across the deck. The waves keep moving in slow, steady lines behind us, the sound mixing with the chatter from the café and the occasional clatter of plates from inside.
By the time we’re scraping the last bites off our plates and the iced coffees have melted into watery puddles of ice, Lena glances down at her phone and groans.
“Shit.”
Cece immediately looks over. “What?”
Lena sighs as she pushes her chair back from the table. “I have to go. I’ve got a shift at the rehab center in an hour and if I don’t leave now I’m going to be late.”
Cece grabs her own phone and checks the time, then dramatically drops her head back against the chair.
“Oh my god, same,” she groans. “I have a set I have to prep for. This is criminal. I was just getting emotionally attached to burger girl.”
I snort softly and wipe my hands on a napkin. “Tragic.”
She straightens and points a fry at me like she’s making an official declaration.
“I’m still judging you for ordering beef at a seafood café.” she warns.
“Good,” I reply dryly. “I was worried you were starting to respect me.”
Lena laughs as she walks around the table and pulls me into a quick hug before leaving.
“But seriously, it was really good meeting you,” she says warmly.
“Yeah,” I say, returning the hug. “You too.”
Cece swings behind my chair on her way out and squeezes my shoulder, her bracelets clinking softly as she does.
“Don’t disappear on us, okay?” she says. “We literally just adopted you.”
“Wow,” I mutter, glancing up at her. “That seems legally questionable.”
“Too late,” she shoots back with a grin. “You’re family now.”
Then the two of them head down the deck together, their voices fading into the background as they keep talking and laughing about something I can’t quite hear.
The table feels quieter once they’re gone, but not in an awkward way. Just calmer.
Bexley leans back in her chair and takes a slow sip of her drink, her gaze drifting toward the ocean for a moment before she looks back at me. The sunlight catches in her hair as she tucks a strand behind her ear, studying me with that same calm, observant expression she’s had since I sat down.
“You want to ask,” she says.
I don’t even bother pretending I don’t know what she means.
“How does it work?” I ask, resting my forearms on the table. “Dating both of them,”
Her mouth curves slightly, like she’s had this conversation before.
“I know what the boys and I have is unconventional,” she says. “But honestly, for us, it just works. It’s natural.”
“Well, I mean I’m not here to judge, ” I add. “Besides, different can be a good thing,"
She nods easily. “Yeah.”
There’s no embarrassment or defensiveness in her voice. If anything, she sounds comfortable with it in a way that makes it clear she’s already made peace with whatever opinions people might have.
“But I wouldn’t change it,” she says. She turns her glass slowly between her hands while she speaks, her voice steady. “I love them,” she says simply. “And they love me.”
There’s no hesitation when she says it. No second guessing. Her eyes lift to mine again.
“We’re a family.”
That word sits in my chest for a second longer than I expect it to. Then her expression softens slightly.
“And now,” she adds, “you’re part of that family too.”
I let that sink in while I stare out toward the water for a moment.
“Wow,” I say finally. “No pressure or anything.”
Bex laughs softly.
After a moment she leans forward again, resting her forearms on the table.
“There’s a party tomorrow night,” she says. “One of the team's sponsors is hosting it to celebrate the opening of the season. You should come, if you’re up for it. It’s at this massive beach house. The whole team will be there.”
I hesitate for a second, tapping my fingers lightly against the table as I think about it.
A day ago I didn’t know any of these people. I didn’t even know if I was going to stay here long enough to unpack half my bags.
Now I’m sitting on a café deck by the ocean with someone who just casually told me I’m part of their family.
Life’s weird like that.
“Okay,” I say finally.
Bex smiles like she knew that’s what I’d say.
“Good.”
The breeze rolls in again, warm and salty, lifting the edge of the napkin beside my plate as the waves continue their steady rhythm beyond the deck.
And for the first time since I got here, it doesn’t feel like I’m just passing through anymore.
It feels like I’m stepping in.