Chapter 3
Chapter Three
“ S o…” Joey drawled the second they stepped into the cabin and closed the door. “What the fuck, man?”
Miles had been expecting this interrogation from his best friend all day. Mainly because he deserved it.
He’d been out of sorts since waking up this morning. And while he’d tried to pull himself together several times, something always happened to darken his mood again.
“What?” Miles might be in the wrong, but he still refused to admit to his assholery so easily.
“Where the hell was Miles Williams today? Because this guy,” Joey waved his hand up and down in front of him, “is not him.”
Miles sighed, fighting back his annoyance. His temper might be banked, but only barely. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he lied.
Joey walked across the room, plopping down on the couch, clearly intent on dragging this out. Miles glanced toward his bedroom, tempted to blow him off and call it a night. Maybe he’d wake up on the right side of bed tomorrow.
“Don’t even think about it.”
He narrowed his eyes at his friend’s threat. Even if he did make it to his bedroom, Joey would be right on his heels. Which meant this conversation was happening whether Miles wanted it to or not.
Joey leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees. “You hardly spoke at all today and when you did, you were surly as hell.”
“How was I supposed to get a word in edgewise? It’s hard enough when it’s just you, but Lucy literally never stops talking.” Not that Miles had a problem with that, really. Listening to Lucy Storm talk was one of the easiest things in the world. She was entertaining, open, honest, sharp as a tack, and witty as hell.
“That’s not true,” Joey countered. “And I’ve never heard you complain about me talking too much before. Jesus, man. Most of the time we’re talking over each other . So maybe don’t throw that stone in your glass house.”
Miles didn’t bother continuing the argument because his best friend was right. “I’m just tired, Joey. It was a long drive, a longer day, and I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.”
That part was the truth.
“Why not?”
Jesus. Miles should have known Joey would ask. If he wasn’t truly so tired, he wouldn’t have mentioned his bad night.
He shrugged. “No reason.”
Joey, the tenacious fucker, was too damn good at smelling Miles’s bullshit. “Why not?” he asked again. “I know you, man. Shared too many hotel rooms with you. You sleep like the dead every fucking night and start snoring within a minute of putting your head on the pillow.”
“I don’t snore.” Miles’s response was uttered in rote, the snoring debate a common one between them.
“I’m going to record you one night with my phone,” Joey threatened, also not for the first time.
Miles glanced at his room once more.
“Forget it,” Joey barked. “I’m not letting you escape. Sit down and talk to me. Because whatever this attitude is needs to pass before the cameras start rolling.”
Joey had a point. Miles wasn’t great at hiding his mood, something that had revealed itself during the filming of the episode with the guest who wouldn’t talk. Miles’s frustration had grown to the point where he’d only been shown sporadically in the early scenes that were salvaged because his resting bitch face had been out in full force.
“Rhiannon texted me.”
Joey frowned. “Your ex-girlfriend Rhiannon?”
“No. Fleetwood Mac’s Rhiannon,” he snapped. “How many Rhiannons do you think I know?”
Joey raised his hands in surrender. “Take it easy, dude. You just caught me by surprise. I mean…when was the last time you talked to her?”
Weariness won the day.
Miles crossed the living room, dropping down into a large, overstuffed chair. He and Rhiannon had split up shortly before he and Joey met and started filming the first season of ManPower . He’d talked about her a few times, but just in broad strokes, mentioning she’d been a former girlfriend, that she’d been his first love, shit like that. He’d placed those little nuggets into conversations with Joey during the early days, when they were getting to know each other and their friendship was growing.
“A few weeks before we started working on ManPower ,” Miles replied.
“Nothing since then?”
Miles shook his head.
“So why now?”
Miles ran his hand over his head, leaning it back against the cushion. “It’s been over two and a half years. She was due.”
Joey frowned. “What’s that mean?”
Miles looked at his friend, and he suddenly regretted never truly opening up to Joey about Rhiannon. If he had, he’d have said all the shitty stuff when he wasn’t feeling quite so…
He couldn’t figure out how he felt. He hated the words vulnerable and weak , but he couldn’t deny those seemed the best descriptions.
“Rhiannon has a way of reappearing in my life just when I think I’ve got my shit together,” he admitted.
“And she ruins it?” Joey asked.
“Not intentionally. That’s the problem. Rhiannon isn’t a bad person. She’s not vindictive or mean, and I understand why she called me last night.”
“Fuck.” Joey rose from the couch. “Something tells me this chat needs alcohol.” He opened the fridge, reaching in to pull out two bottles of Rain or Shine Brewery beer. Joey popped the caps on them, handing Miles the Rainy Day IPA he’d liked best at the tasting, while keeping the Lightning Lu’s Honey Lager for himself. Figured the idiot would prefer the one with Lucy’s name on it.
Miles didn’t miss the way Joey had given Lucy a kiss on the cheek and called her honey in the truck. His friend was smitten, something Miles had never seen before. Joey had accused Miles of being a different guy today, but the truth was, the way Joey acted around Lucy was out of the norm too.
If Miles wasn’t feeling so out of sorts, he would ask his best friend what the hell was going on. He’d seen Joey flirt with countless women over the last two and a half years, but it was like he’d turned up the charm to full volume around Lucy.
No. That wasn’t right, because Joey’s actions were less charm and flirting and more like genuine affection.
For a stranger.
Every time Miles thought he’d finally broken the Joey code and figured out his best friend, Joey pulled the rug from under him, showing him something new.
Joey reclaimed his spot on the couch. “Okay. Care to enlighten me on why Rhiannon called last night?”
Miles took a swig of beer, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Did I tell you Rhiannon and I have known each other our entire lives? Like literally since birth?”
Joey shook his head.
“We were neighbors, our apartments right next door to each other. Our moms have been best friends since they were in elementary school.”
“I didn’t know that. I always got the impression you met Rhiannon in high school.”
Miles knew why Joey thought that. It was because that was what he’d allowed him to believe. “Nope. We grew up together, and for most of those younger years, we were best friends. I was closer to her than I was to my own sister.”
Miles had even thought of her as a sister, until one day—one fucking random Tuesday in ninth grade—when the veil had been pulled from his eyes and suddenly, he wasn’t seeing the rambunctious, dramatic girl he called “best friend”. Instead, he was seeing the beautiful, sexy young woman she’d become…and he’d lost his heart to her.
Between one beat and the next, it was just there.
Love.
He’d started acting differently toward her after that. They’d just started high school, so no doubt his fourteen-year-old hormones had kicked into overdrive. At first, Rhiannon had rebuffed his flirting, thinking he was joking or even crazy. It took most of their freshmen year for him to convince her that his feelings were sincere. Just before summer break started, he’d gotten her to say yes to a date, and then a first kiss, and from that point on, they were boyfriend and girlfriend.
“Obviously, those feelings changed,” Joey said, pulling him from his thoughts.
Miles nodded. “We started dating when we were fourteen. Of course, we were teenagers in high school and prone to drama, so there were a few mini breakups along the way. Usually over stupid shit, like her thinking I wasn’t paying enough attention to her, or me getting jealous whenever I thought she was flirting with another guy.”
“Sounds like High School Dating 101.” Joey crossed his ankle over his knee, settling in. It amused Miles because Joey really did love a good story.
“What is this? Another bedtime story?” he joked.
Joey surprised him by not laughing. “No. This is something you should have told me a long time ago.”
Miles couldn’t argue with that, couldn’t even figure out what had held him back. There was very little he and Joey hadn’t shared with each other. Rhiannon had been Miles’s big holdout.
“What happened after graduation?” Joey asked, getting them back on track.
“We kept dating. Got our own apartment in Queens, not far from where our mothers still live, and we started doing the adult thing. Rhiannon was an aspiring actress with her sights set on Broadway. She waited tables between auditions. I was doing some professional voiceover work, but I made most of the money needed to pay the rent by driving a taxi. We lived together for four years, until…”
“Until?”
“She was waiting for me one night when I got home from work. Said she couldn’t do it anymore.”
Joey tilted his head, confused. “Why not?”
“We’d been a couple for over seven years. We’d been each other’s first kiss, first love, first time, first fucking everything . First…and only.”
Joey grimaced. “Ah. She wanted to sow her wild oats.”
“Yeah. Something like that. She’d been getting constant rejections after her auditions, so she decided she was wasting her time on New York and Broadway. She’d come to the conclusion her dreams were going to come true in Hollywood.”
Joey sighed. “So she left?”
“Yep. And that was when she added another first to my list. She was the first girl to ever break my heart. Shit, she’s the only one to ever do that.” He paused, then added, “A few times.”
Joey winced. “Damn, man. She kept coming back?”
“We didn’t talk for two years after she moved to California. My heart was shattered, and I dealt with the pain by staying pissed off at her. Then she came home for Christmas. You remember me saying our moms are best friends, right? Part of that friendship includes spending the holidays together. I showed up at Mom’s place Christmas Eve, and there was Rhiannon. She hadn’t told anyone she was coming, wanted it to be a surprise for her mom.”
“Kind of a shitty thing to do,” Joey grumbled. “She should have told you, at least.”
Miles lifted one shoulder casually. “She knew I’d stay away if she’d told me she was going to be there, and that I wouldn’t give her a chance to apologize and tell me how wrong she’d been.”
Joey’s face proved he knew where this story was going. “Don’t give me all the nitty-gritty details. Just say it.”
“I accepted her apology, and we spent the rest of the holidays unwrapping each other in bed. Hollywood hadn’t been much nicer to her than Broadway, and I thought that meant she was coming home, that we were working on rebuilding our relationship.”
“She went back to California?”
“Three weeks later. Her agent called and said she’d gotten a part in some stupid commercial. She hopped on that plane so fast, I didn’t even have the chance to say goodbye. She packed her bag and left a note while I was at work.”
“Heartbreak number two.”
Miles nodded. “Wasn’t as bad that time, probably because I had experience with it, and we’d only been together for three weeks.”
“Maybe so, but, dude. After all that, why would you let her walk back into your life a third time?”
Miles drained the rest of his beer, debating opening a second. “I didn’t think I would. I got that gig, my big break. You know the one. Doing the voice in that animated cartoon. The job was in California. Where I knew no one. Rhiannon reached out—as a friend—and offered to show me around, help me find an apartment, shit like that. I told myself I could handle the two of us just being friends because I missed her, missed having her in my life.”
Joey rolled his eyes and looked like he wanted to argue, but Miles cut him off.
“We’d spent our whole lives together,” he stressed. “And I had her mom and mine chirping in my ear, telling me that Rhiannon missed me too.”
Joey groaned.
“They’re still convinced that Rhiannon and I are going to get married one day and give them grandbabies.”
“Bro.”
Miles chuckled sadly. “Yeah. I know.”
“So she gave you the ‘we’ll just be friends’ line?”
“And I fell for it, hook, line, and sinker.”
“How long were you just friends ?” Joey’s question proved just how well he knew Miles.
“Six weeks.”
Joey laughed. “And how long did you date that time?”
Miles grimaced. “Two years. And before you have to ask, she broke it off because she met someone else. Another aspiring actor. They’d run into each other at a few auditions and started talking. One day, they met for coffee.”
“She cheated on you?!”
“Not really. They hadn’t progressed beyond a couple coffee dates before she dumped me. Said she felt a spark with the guy.”
“Jesus,” Joey muttered.
“Anyway, it worked out for the best because a week after that, I landed the ManPower gig, and we’ve been on the road ever since.” Miles had divided the time he and Joey weren’t filming between spending the occasional week with his mom in New York and staying with Joey, who’d maintained the lease on his apartment in Philadelphia.
Joey finished his beer and set the empty bottle on the coffee table. “Guess I see what you mean when you say she was due. It’s been a couple years. Why did she call last night?”
“She wound up dating that guy from the coffee shop. The relationship ended a few weeks ago because she finally got her dream, mostly. She’s been offered a role in an off-Broadway play. She’s moving back to New York. The boyfriend decided to stick it out in California, so they parted ways.”
“That still doesn’t tell me why she called you .” Joey really wasn’t letting him get away with shit tonight.
“She said she just wanted to catch up, see how I was doing, find out if I was happy. Apparently, she’s never missed an episode of ManPower . We talked until nearly two a.m., and it was nice. Two old friends reminiscing.”
Joey pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head.
“I’m not going back there again, Joey,” Miles said, trying to reassure himself as much as his best friend. “I’m older and wiser. I swear it.”
“Maybe you need to be specific. Not going back where?”
“I’m not dating her again. Ever.”
“Yeah.” Joey blew out a long breath, clearly unhappy. “That’s what I thought you meant.”
Miles frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You planning on starting the friendship back up?”
Miles froze for a moment—because he knew which answer was the correct one. He just wasn’t sure it was the true one. Rhiannon still held a big piece of his heart, and not just the romantic chunk. He would always love the girl who was also his childhood playmate, his best friend.
Joey lifted his head, held his gaze, and Miles forced himself to remain steady, to keep his poker face firmly in place as he said, “No. I’m not.”
Whatever Joey saw must have been convincing. “Okay,” he said at last. “I believe you.”
Miles did not like that answer. It would have been a hell of a lot easier if Joey had called him a liar. Since he was pretty sure that was all he could live up to.
“But, Miles, you’re going to have to dial this grumpiness back a notch or twenty. Because you’re taking it out on my girl, and she doesn’t deserve it.”
Miles’s eyes flew heavenward. “ Your girl, huh? You realize you’ve known her less than twenty-four hours.”
Joey’s crooked smile proved he didn’t think that mattered one damn bit. “I don’t know how to explain it, Miles. I’m thirty-seven years old, for God’s sake, and I’ve dated a lot of women. I’ve never looked at one and felt like…like I knew her. Like she’s the person I’ve spent my whole life looking for. I know that sounds crazy?—”
“It sounds very crazy,” Miles interjected.
“I was pulling your leg when I said I was going to marry her.”
“I figured as much,” Miles murmured.
“I chalked my initial response up to lust because you have to admit, the woman is beautiful.”
“She is.” There was no point in Miles trying to deny it. Joey would know he was lying.
“But,” Joey continued, “somewhere along the line today, that joke stopped being funny. Started feeling real. I expected the instant attraction to fade. If anything, it’s grown stronger. Which is freaking me out, because we’re only scheduled to be here five days, and I know that’s not enough time to get to know her, to see if this insanity is temporary or if soul mates are a real thing.”
“Joey,” Miles said.
Joey held his hand up. “I know you’re going to tell me to chill out, but I can’t. It’s not in my nature when it comes to stuff like this. So I’m going spend every second I’m here wooing the hell out of Ms. Lucy Storm.”
Miles wasn’t sure how to respond. For one thing, Joey did sound insane. And for another, more disturbing reason—he didn’t sound insane at all.
He’d spent the entire day with Lucy and Joey, and the truth was, while he’d never really thought his best friend had a type, Lucy was it. As far as Miles could tell, she was perfect for his single buddy.
Not that Joey was a confirmed bachelor, because he didn’t covet his solitary life or try to hold on to it. Quite the opposite. Joey, a true Moretti, had been none too patiently waiting to find what all his siblings had found.
True love.
Of course, none of them had declared they’d found their future wives within five minutes of meeting them, but at least Joey hadn’t gone too overboard on the flirting and scared Lucy off.
On the contrary, Lucy hadn’t been bothered by Joey’s attention at all. Instead, she appeared flattered by it, and she’d definitely been flirting back. Miles knew for a fact the attraction wasn’t one-sided.
“You like her, don’t you?” Joey asked, genuine concern in his tone, as if Miles’s disapproval would be a deal-breaker. “You didn’t mean what you said about her talking too much, right?”
Miles lifted his hand, palm forward. “I like Lucy. How could anyone not like her? She’s perfect.” He stupidly paused…revealing a hand he hadn’t meant to show Joey.
When Joey tilted his head, confused, Miles panicked, grasping for a save. “She’s perfect for you , I meant to say.” He hoped he’d been quick enough.
When Joey didn’t press the point, he breathed a sigh of relief.
“Yeah. I think she is. Well,” Joey said, rising and stretching. “You can stick a fork in me, because I am done .”
Miles grinned at his silly, old-fashioned expression, perfectly aware it was one Joey had picked up from his nonno. He followed suit, standing as well. “Me too.”
The two of them said good night, then headed to their bedrooms.
Miles closed the door behind him, taking care of business in the bathroom before walking to the bed. Pulling down the covers, he sank onto the soft mattress, wondering when the last time was that he’d been this exhausted—physically and emotionally.
Before he could come up with an answer, his phone pinged. He sighed and considered ignoring it because he knew who was texting him. After a minute or two, he gave in and picked up his phone. Because apparently, he was a glutton for punishment.
Sure enough, there was a photo of Rhiannon. She’d started practice on her new play today. Someone must have snapped the picture for her because in it, she stood on the stage alone, reading from the script, one arm raised dramatically.
She was beautiful with her shoulder-length black hair, dark skin, and expressive eyes that flashed fire when she was angry or in the throes of passion, and while it was hard to admit, there was no denying she took his breath away just as much now as she had that first random day in ninth grade.
For a moment he considered responding, but he talked himself out of it. Then he lifted his finger, intent on tapping a heart on it.
He stopped himself from doing that too.
He’d opened a door when he answered the phone last night. He’d known that even before he picked up his cell, but he still did it. He wasn’t sure why. Part of him wondered if it had been loneliness driving his ill-considered action. Or maybe he was suffering from the same fate as his best friend, longing for the kind of meaningful connection every single Moretti had found in the past few years.
He didn’t want to be a bachelor any more than Joey did.
Rhiannon was as close as he’d ever gotten to forever, and as much as he hated it, she was still his Kryptonite. Going back to her was a one-way street to heartache. He knew that.
Or at least, he knew he should know that.
Hope was a dangerous beast.
So answering the phone last night?
It had been the height of stupidity.
Rhiannon, true to fashion, had seized that open door and walked right on in, making herself at home.
In addition to the picture of her onstage, she’d texted him two other photos today, as if they’d never skipped a beat, as if they were still best friends who constantly shared bits and pieces of their days. The first photo had come through as soon as they’d reached the top of the mountain. It was a selfie of her with his mom.
Look who I just ran into.
The second had come at the beginning of the farm tour, and it was a photo of their childhood apartment building, with their moms sitting on the front stoop, heads close together, gossiping.
Some things never change.
Miles forced himself to put the phone down without replying to any of her texts. He needed to stop the madness right here.
No replies.
No heart emoji.
He needed to slam the door closed and dead bolt the stupid thing.
He closed his eyes, but unfortunately his body hadn’t sent word to his brain that it was time to sleep, because his thoughts wouldn’t stop whirling, touching on one topic before moving on to another, then another.
He replayed Rhiannon’s call in his mind, then he tried to force himself to think about Lucy’s tour of the brewery, considering questions he might want to ask her and Sam during their demonstration.
Unfortunately, thinking about Lucy sent his brain in a different direction…and he was reminded of her story about Kiss and Tell and how it had started. It had touched him, and opened his eyes to exactly what Joey had seen in her.
She was sweet and sexy and special.
Curiosity got the better of him, so he decided he’d put his sleepless night to good use.
Grabbing his phone again, he clicked on the YouTube app and looked up Kiss and Tell . He was surprised by how many videos were there. Lucy’s family was right. Her show had gone well beyond a hobby because he couldn’t begin to imagine how many hours of work she’d put into producing so many shows. His eyes widened when he saw the number of views on some of them. He’d venture to guess she was making a decent amount of money each month, enough that she was probably close to earning a living wage from the show.
Scrolling through the list, he searched until he found her first video—the one she’d made of her grandparents. Clicking on it, he smiled as he watched the cute intro Lucy had created for the show. It included a picture of her, sitting on the porch of her farmhouse, smiling that smile that had only wavered whenever he’d said something douche-y today. Tomorrow, he would have to make up for his bad first impression.
The intro was followed by a short clip of Lucy talking about her guests briefly. She didn’t speak for more than a minute or two, and he suspected that was because she wanted the true stars of the show to get the majority of the airtime.
He watched as her grandparents talked to the camera as well as each other, holding hands the entire time, telling their story together. It was engaging and touching and, at times, funny. Miles swallowed hard to dislodge the lump in his throat as the video came to an end.
One show in and he was hooked. He hit the subscribe button because he was a fan.
He clicked on another episode, watching Lucy’s comments about her guests and a few minutes of their story. Then he clicked on another, and another.
For the better part of two hours—he was going to pay for this tomorrow—he clicked on nearly every episode, no longer watching the lovers “kiss and tell,” but instead listening to Lucy’s introductions.
He’d let Joey believe his bad mood was solely driven by Rhiannon’s reappearance in his life, and for the better part of the day, that had been true. However, by dinner, it was something else putting him out of sorts.
It was Joey himself.
And Lucy.
The way he’d flirted with her at dinner, the way he’d rested his hand on the back of her chair, how he kept inching closer.
Joey had made that joke about Lucy being the woman he was going to marry, and Miles couldn’t stop himself from feeling…
Jealous.
Miles rubbed his weary eyes, trying to tell himself that was the wrong word. However, just like vulnerable and weak , it was the only one that came close to explaining why he’d had to look away when Joey sat down next to Lucy on the porch swing and held her hand.
He tried to tell himself it wasn’t the Lucy he was interested in. That his envy was born from the idea that Joey was on the cusp of getting what he’d wanted for so long.
Rhiannon’s call had opened a wound Miles had believed long since healed. He could see now he’d merely been living with a scab, one she’d ripped off last night, putting him in one hell of a fucked-up headspace.
Miles sighed, too damn tired to try to deal with so many fucking emotions.
Weakness and vulnerability wrapped in anger and heartbreak.
Jealousy draped in a thick layer of loneliness.
And worse of all, lust and longing enveloped in a desire he shouldn’t allow because Joey and Lucy fit together.
When that realization sank in, all the bad feelings morphed into something even worse.
Desperation.
That was when Miles lifted his phone, opened his text messages, and added a heart to all three of Rhiannon’s photos.