CHAPTER 6 BOWER #3
“Umm, want to think about what you just said?”
Groaning, I head over to the kitchen, where silverware is being polished and placed in a hutch. “You know what I mean. It would be great if he has a good relationship with his parents, but not still living with them.”
“Yeah, I get that. What about Abel? I know you wondered about him before while you were visiting me.”
“Gabby, Abel lives in Almond Bay. I do not live there and I’m not going to have a long-distance relationship. Plus, you and Ryland have both said that he wouldn’t be able to handle me. I need someone who understands me, isn’t scared of my…idiosyncrasies, and who can foster my insanity.”
“Pretty big shoes to fill.”
“Yes, and let’s hope his feet are just as big as the shoes.”
She chuckles. “You have impossible standards. I blame your books.”
“Don’t you dare,” I snarl at her. “My books have shown me exactly what I want and that’s not a terrible thing. Not all of us can just bounce on a monstrous dick and fall in love. We are not all lucky like you.”
“I’m quite lucky.”
Tell me about it. Ryland is not only extremely hot in that father figure, scruffy way that makes your knees shake, but he’s a good uncle/dad to his niece and he’s phenomenal in bed, from what I’ve been told. And I know Gabby’s telling the truth from the way she lusts after the man.
“I want to find that. How do I find that?”
“Are you really serious? Because you’ve sort of…how do I say this nicely?”
“Watch it,” I warn playfully.
“Well, you’ve flounced around, you know? Never really serious with anyone.”
“I know, but this is a new chapter. Maybe things are different?”
“Maybe?” she asks.
I shrug even though the thought of having a relationship actually feels kind of right at this moment in my life. “Keeping my options open.”
“Okay, well, maybe you’re trying too hard? Maybe you need to just…let it happen. That’s how it went with Ryland. I wasn’t looking for it and then—”
“I encouraged you to have a one-night stand with him and the rest is history.”
“Yes…” she drags out. “But I still wasn’t expecting it and it happened. So maybe just leave it to fate.”
“I did ask Bennett if any of his guy friends were available, mainly Nolan Hart, but apparently not.”
“Yeah, you don’t want to date a baseball player.”
“Why not?” I ask. “They’re hot, fit, and probably have enough adrenaline after a game to go all night. Sounds like the perfect human to consume the love I have to give.”
“That’s when they’re around. I know Bennett’s schedule and he’s gone a lot during the season, and it’s an exceptionally long season. We’re talking six to seven months out of the year.”
“Ooof, really? That is long.”
“And you’re needy.”
“I’m very needy.”
“Uh, miss, where would you like the Fabergé egg collection?” one of the unpackers asks me.
“In the built-in hutches in the living room. Also, you break it, you buy it, and unless you plan on taking out a mortgage, I’d take great care of those.”
“Yes, miss,” the guy says before carefully walking them over to the hutches and gently setting them down.
Turning back to my conversation with Gabby, I say, “I’m going to assume any guy in sports is going to be like that.”
“Mostly, besides football. They’re home most of the time. I only believe they’re gone for one or two days a week if they have an away game.”
“Really?” I say, interested in that prospect. “You know, Bennett might be able to help me out with that.”
“As if he’s not helping you out enough.”
“Hey, when he gets back into town, I planned on doing something nice for him.”
“Oh? And what would that be?”
“Not quite clear on the direction I want to take, but I’ll come up with something.”
“Is he…is he doing okay?”
“I think so. I would tell you if he wasn’t. You don’t have to keep asking.”
“I know, but now I have boots on the ground, watching over him.”
“Is that the real reason, or is it because you’re jealous that Bennett and I are friends and we’re now in a book club together?”
“Uh…excuse me?”
“Yeah, me and Bennett are in a book club together. He’s reading romance, the romances I told you to read that you refuse to partake in.”
“Since when?”
“Since the other night.”
“Bower,” she says in a stern voice. “I swear if you become better friends with my brother, I will scream. You’re mine, not his, remember that.”
I laugh and rub my finger along the fireplace mantel, pleased to see zero dust.
As if anyone could take Gabby’s place. You don’t go through the kind of things we have gone through together throughout the years and not hold each other as our number one human.
She’s my person.
And I would never do anything or let anyone take that away from me.
“He will never be able to take your place, but if you’re looking to join a book club, we’d be willing to take on a third.”
“I will not be pressured into a book club just out of fear that my brother is taking my place as your best friend.”
“Please, that would never happen. Bennett is cool and all, but you know far too much about my life that I’d never tell him.”
“It would be in your best interest if you remember that.”