Chapter Eighteen
Tori
“Buttons?” I prompted.
The little hamster sitting on the floor blinked up at me expectantly.
Lucy stopped beside me, and as always, I felt gigantic standing next to her.
She was petite with her delicate build, but her personality was anything but tiny.
She ran one of the best construction companies in town with her best friend, Amelia, and she didn’t take any nonsense from anyone.
Levi, who had been a few years ahead of me in high school—and, at the time, known for being probably the biggest flirt in school—walked through the kitchen and stopped beside Lucy. He pressed a lingering kiss to her cheek. “I’ll be back.”
Lucy smiled up at him. “Of course you’ll be back.”
Amelia chuckled as she reached for a drink. “Now that’s some faith.”
“She knows I’m still whipped,” Levi said dryly. “Mom says Glory is set for the night with her,” he added before heading down the hallway.
“My mom has our daughter for the night,” Lucy added. “She loves it. In fact, she says being a grandmother is more fun than being a parent.”
“It seems like most people agree with that,” Jasmine chimed in as she approached.
When I felt a nudge on my ankle, I glanced down to see the hamster curiously sniffing me. “So, why the name Buttons?” I asked.
“Because he likes to eat buttons. Or, well, play with them,” Lucy explained with a laugh.
“What does he do with them?” Luna asked, intrigued.
Levi’s chuckle echoed back from the hallway. “He collects them.”
A moment later, Levi was gone. As we filtered toward the kitchen table, Lucy elaborated, “After Ham passed...” She pressed a hand to her heart. “Who we loved. Levi was so sad. Ham was his special hamster.”
“So it took a while before he was ready for another one,” Amelia added.
Lucy nodded emphatically. “One day we were at a store, and a woman was giving away a hamster. Just one—Buttons.”
As if summoned by the mention of his name, Buttons came scampering over. Lucy tossed a couple of pieces of lettuce into a bowl in the corner, and the hamster made a beeline for it.
“Anyway, we got him home, and we kept finding things with missing buttons, off shirts, coats. Took us forever to realize he was the thief. He’d been collecting them.”
She gestured toward his cage—though “cage” wasn’t really accurate. It looked like a hamster luxury condo, multi-leveled and full of toys. “And, there they all are.” In the corner of his little hamster condo was a stash of buttons.
A laugh sputtered out of me as I sat down beside Casey. “Buttons is so cute. I’ve never known anyone to have a hamster just running loose.”
“Levi insists on it,” Lucy said with a sigh. “I’m constantly worried I’m going to step on him. But Ham was happy that way, and Buttons seems to be doing just great.” She cast a bemused smile toward Buttons.
We settled around the table, occasionally noshing off the tray of nachos Lucy had set out. “These are amazing,” I commented between bites.
Amelia snorted and rolled her eyes. “Lucy definitely did not make these.”
Lucy shrugged nonchalantly. “I don’t cook. But Levi does.”
As the evening wore on, the crowd expanded. By the time we had settled into a card game, there were nine women there, most of whom I’d grown up with, except for a few newcomers. Lucy, Amelia, Maisie, Holly, Tish, Casey, Luna, and Jasmine.
Maisie turned out to be the most serious of the card players. She won hand after hand, and she didn’t even blink while she was at it.
I smiled over at Casey, who was seated beside me. “Thanks for encouraging me to finally come.”
She grinned and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, giving me a quick squeeze before leaning back in her chair. “You were due. I even come to these. Elsa moved back, and she’s been coming when she can. So it’s important.”
“What’s going on with you and Kincaid?” Maisie’s question came out of nowhere.
When I glanced over, her eyes were still locked on her cards. Her question threw me off. I hadn’t expected anyone to bring Kincaid up.
“What do you mean?” I hedged.
“Well, you were his date for the fundraiser,” she said casually, playing her next card before finally lifting her gaze to mine. “I like Kincaid. He takes care of his mom.”
“I know,” I said, nodding.
“Beck keeps me up to speed,” Maisie added.
“He’s going to ask you about him soon enough,” Casey said. “He was already giving Kincaid relationship advice at the station.”
“Beck?” I blinked.
“Beck is the office gossip,” Amelia chimed in, her tone dry. “Or at least, that’s what the guys call him.”
I laughed, genuinely startled. “Are you serious?”
“Completely,” Tish piped up from the far side of the table. “He means well, though. The man went from competing with Levi for the biggest flirt in high school to being a dedicated family man.”
Maisie’s gaze sobered when she glanced up. “He really is. Now, he’s convinced everyone will just be happier if they settle down. He says kids aren’t required—because there are plenty to babysit.”
Lucy rolled her eyes. “Beck can babysit for me whenever he wants.”
“We don’t need to babysit anyone,” Maisie said hurriedly. “Two is enough.”
“Anyway,” Amelia cut in, leaning forward, “back to Tori. How are you and Kincaid? I mean, it could have just been a date...”
My mind immediately flashed back to that night after the fundraiser.
“Oh, it was more than a date,” Casey teased.
“How do you… Why are you saying that?” I sputtered.
“Because you’re blushing,” she sing-songed. “You wouldn’t be blushing if it was just a one-off date.”
“So?” Maisie prompted, tilting her head.
My shoulders lifted with a subtle shrug. “You all know my story. Or, I guess, my parents’ story.”
“Oh, yeah,” Holly said with a little snort. “And, Shelly’s moved back to town. She’s going around telling anyone who’ll listen how sad she is that she lost her best friend.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Shelly,” someone muttered.
I appreciated the sentiment.
“So, what happened?” Tish asked, her voice careful. “I don’t know the story because I only moved here recently. Although if you don’t want to talk about it, I understand.”
I desperately did not want to delve into it, but it was what it was.
Thankfully, Amelia jumped in quickly. “Tori’s dad had an affair with her mom’s best friend.
For, like, a decade. Nobody knew—until everybody knew.
Then, he left and married the best friend.
After that, he had an affair on her. Sometimes karma bites back fast.”
Tish’s eyes went wide. “Oh.” Her brow furrowed when she looked toward me again. “I’m so sorry.”
I twisted my lips to the side, shrugging lightly. “No need to apologize. It sucked for my mom and me, but life goes on.”
Maisie pursed her lips and shook her head. “I hadn’t heard that until Cade and Beck told me what happened. So hurtful.”
“He worked with Cade’s dad,” Amelia explained. “Rex is still pissed.” Amelia’s gaze swung to me, the concern clear in her eyes. “We don’t have to talk about it,” she added gently. “But I find things lose their power when we just put them out there. Takes all the oomph away.”
“Honestly? Thank you. It’s easier if I don’t have to explain.
” It really did feel like a bracing breath of fresh air.
The gust of the truth blew away some of the shame I still carried, even though none of it had been mine to bear.
I had just been caught in the swirl of everything I believed about my family going down the drain.
“How’s your mom handling Shelly being here?” Amelia asked.
“Better than me,” I admitted, sighing. “She says they’ll never be friends again, but she’s let it go. Because she wants peace. Shelly, on the other hand, keeps trying to talk to me.”
“Maybe just talk to her so you can sweep it away, like dust under a sofa or something,” Amelia offered.
Holly’s nose wrinkled. “That’s one way to describe it. But—” She eyed me, her gaze considering. “I imagine trust isn’t easy.”
“Oh, my God, no,” I said flatly. “I’m not really looking for a relationship,” I added after a pause. “I’m not sure I ever will be.”
“I get that,” Maisie said. “Maybe someday it’ll feel right. And, if it does feel right, I think Kincaid’s a great guy.”
Blessedly, that seemed to be that—for now, at least—for curiosity about me and Kincaid. Conversation rumbled on, covering everything from Amelia and Lucy’s building projects to how long it took Elsa to find a new washer and dryer set.
Eventually, Casey leaned in again. “You won’t believe this. Remember how I mentioned the woman with the divorce party?”
“Oh yeah, I waited on them,” I replied.
“Anyway, she’s moving here.”
“Seriously?”
“Yep.”
“Good for her,” I said.
“So if you see her around town, be nice and welcoming,” Casey said. “She’s not officially here yet, but she was flying back to ‘the scene of the crime,’ as she put it, and she’s planning to come back for another trip.”
I left that evening feeling filled up in a way I hadn’t in a long time.
Not just from the nachos and the laughter, but from something deeper.
Even my emotions around friendship had been tangled and bitter for years.
Because Shelly—well, she hadn’t just been a friend of my mom’s, she had been that friend.
The one my mom turned to for everything.
Her confidante. Her sister in everything but blood.
Her actions had ruined it so painfully. Even though she hadn’t been my best friend, I knew how much she’d meant to my mom, and I’d watched what the betrayal did.
That night, as I lay in bed, I kept thinking about the group around the table. I couldn’t imagine any of them doing what Shelly had done. Maybe that was naive. Maybe not.
I knew I needed to have the conversation with Shelly eventually, to air it out, to get it over with. But I just wasn’t quite there yet. My emotional capacity was already pretty maxed out.
A few days after that card night, despite all my best efforts to play it cool, to keep it totally casual, I spent another night with Kincaid.
One night turned into two, and then three. Not every night, maybe every third night, one of us would text.
You up?
Can I see you tonight?
The other would always say yes. I knew better. My mind knew better. But my heart was definitely not listening. It had been a stretch of four full weeks now. Four weeks that felt like a lifetime.
I was due to get my period. I was very regular. Usually.