Chapter 16
You Can’t Stop the Tide…
Vivian
“I can’t believe we’re in the same town and we haven’t seen each other all week,” I say to Paige as soon as we order our food.
We’re meeting for an express lunch at The Turtle’s Head Pub.
Paige handles their social media advertising so they always reserve the best table on the roof-top patio (overlooking the beachfront boardwalk and the ocean) for her.
Plus, she gets twenty-percent off all non-alcoholic drinks, appies, and desserts.
“You must be swamped.” She picks up her iced tea and takes a sip.
I nod vigorously. “It’s been wild. I knew this would be hard to pull off, but holy smack, it’s like I never stop. Ooh! You wouldn’t want to be my fake maid of honor, would you?”
“I’d be fake honored.”
“Perfect. I can check that off my list.”
“And please let me know what I can do to help out.”
“I will, thank you. There are so many moving parts, honestly. But Dominic’s been wonderful. His mom, too.”
“She looks really fun on your posts,” Paige answers.
“Totally. My followers adore her, and you’re definitely going to love her.” I pluck the lime off the rim of my Diet Pepsi and squeeze it into my drink. “She could not be more supportive. She actually offered to give me her mother’s engagement ring.”
“Seriously?”
Nodding, I say, “I can’t take it, obviously, although, it is gorgeous. It’s exactly what I’d pick out. But it’s been in the family for three generations, and it wouldn’t be right, obviously.”
“Obviously.”
“Besides, Tiffany’s has something picked out already.”
“Right, of course,” Paige answers. “But the fact that his mom offered it to you is huge. She must have fallen totally in love with you right away.”
“We definitely hit it off,” I say. “Jo is an extremely joyful person. So joyful.” I pause, feeling a tiny bit disloyal, but wanting to warn Paige about her.
“She can be a lot though, to be honest. She’s literally in motion at all times.
And loud. Lots of singing, which is great,” I say. “Super great.”
Paige gives me a knowing grin. “Oh yeah, sounds … delightful.”
“Yup, I mean, better than if she were really surly.”
“Like her other son…”
Shaking my head, I feel a pang of guilt for how I spoke about him before. “Oh, no, we like Ben now.”
“We do?” Paige asks, raising one eyebrow. “We like the guy who called you a homewrecker?”
Whoops! I think my face is heating up. “Yup. Turns out I may have judged him a little too harshly.” I have a long sip of my drink, trying to cool down, but it’s no use. I’m hot and bothered.
“Just how much do we like him, because that look on your face says you’d like to hop in to bed with him.”
“Pfft! No way,” I tell her in the least-convincing voice ever used by anyone at any time in the history of conversations.
“I don’t like him like him. I … like him.
He’s a lot more pleasant than I thought.
It turns out he was just being protective of his little brother, which I can totally understand. ”
“Totally.”
“And umm … well, he’s a terrific dad. He’s a doter. He dotes.”
Paige purses her lips at me. “He’s a doter?”
“Oh yeah, it’s non-stop doting, but without it being too much, you know?
Like he’s not going to spoil the little guy, but Henry will also never have to wonder—even for one second—if he’s loved.
” I take another sip, then use my napkin to mop the dew off my forehead.
“In fact, I feel extremely guilty for snatching Dominic away from them like this. They really rely on him. Dom and Ben are a team. They’re the foundation of Team Henry, doing their best to get that little cutie straight to the top.
” I clear my throat, then say, “So, anyway, I’ve been trying to find a way to help him out.
You know, to sort of make up for the whole stealing his co-parent thing.
Remember how I sent you those pics of that incredible playhouse he made Henry? ”
“Uh-huh.”
“Well, turns out, he’s a total artist. He’s made several of them—each one completely unique—and he’d like to do that full-time but he needs help getting the word out.”
“So you want to help him get the word out.”
“Yes, absolutely. Honestly, it would relieve me of a significant amount of guilt because he could work from home for the most part and have a super-flexible schedule,” I say, inhaling a deep breath of warm sea air.
“It wouldn’t take much—a website, some photos and videos of previous jobs, an Instagram account.
I’ll be able to hook him up with a couple of celebrity clients back home, which would really get things rolling, and then he’ll be off and running. ”
The entire time I’m talking, Paige has a knowing look on her face. It’s the one that says I’m not fooling her, and she can tell I have feelings for Ben. “That’s very kind of you.”
Shrugging, I say, “It’s the least I can do. I was actually hoping you could help me out with some of the marketing strategies.”
She gives me a little smirk, then says, “Sure, I’d be happy to help out your new brother.”
“Well, let’s not call him that,” I say, wrinkling up my nose. “That sounds weird.”
The server zips by our table with two tuna poke bowls for us, then disappears to take orders from a young family seated nearby. I pick up my fork and take a bite, starting with the rice. After a second, I look up at Paige, who hasn’t started eating. Instead, she’s staring at me.
“What?”
“You know what.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Vivian Katherine Whitlock, I am your best friend in life and I can read you like a book. Now quit holding out on me.”
My entire body flames and I let out a sigh. “Okay, fine.” Leaning in, I lower my voice, even though no one here has the first clue who I am. “I may be a little, teensy bit attracted to him.”
“I knew it!”
“But it’s no big deal,” I hiss. “He’s just … you know…” I roll my eyes at myself. “Very manly and all buildy with the tools and the fitted t-shirts and the scooping his son up with one arm and packing him around with ease everywhere he goes while he also gets shit done around the house.”
She chuckles a little. “Yeah, I could see why that would do it for you.”
“And he watched The Proposal with me the other night and we talked about very deep things and shared a lot with each other, and it felt so natural and fun. And … and it doesn’t matter because I’m marrying his brother and we’re moving back to New York which is exactly as it should be.”
“Is it?”
“Yes, and please don’t start second-guessing me here. I’ve got a plan and I’m going to see it through.”
Paige sits back and stares at me for a long time before she says anything. “You know, I haven’t seen this expression on your face in years.”
I shrug and stab a piece of tuna with my fork. “Like what?”
“Like this,” she says, pointing to me, then smiling while she bats her eyelashes. When she stops, she says, “Not since Giancarlo.”
Giancarlo was a guy who temporarily sublet the apartment across the hall from us.
He was a model from Italy. He had the best smile (obviously) and rarely wore a shirt and smelled like cedar and fresh bergamot with a hint of citrus.
He was also a total dog who was working his way through every woman in the building, including the married ones.
Honestly, even if he hadn’t been a total man-whore, it would’ve been a mistake.
The sex was appallingly bad. He caught sight of himself in my standing mirror, and spent the entire time making eyes at himself and posing like Ben Stiller in Zoolander.
I might as well not have even been there.
But there were several months of serious flirting (and lots of stolen kisses and over-the-clothes groping) before I actually slept with him (and subsequently became aware of all his other dalliances), and in that time, I fell head-over-heels.
I was actually dreaming of a life in a villa overlooking the Adriatic Sea with a bunch of gorgeous model babies.
“Giancarlo was a grievous error in judgment, so if you saw this expression,” I say, drawing an imaginary circle around my face, “it’s a clear sign that Ben would also be a mistake.
Which he would be. Because I’m not interested in falling in love or being a step-mother—although if I were ever to take on that role, I’d want it to be for a kid exactly like Henry.
But I don’t. I’m going with the very uncomplicated win-win deal that Dominic and I have.
It’s going to be perfect. Better than perfect because no one’s going to get hurt.
” I have a bite of cucumber and tuna, scooping up some spicy mayo with it. “Whew, that’s spicy.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Then why is my face so hot?”
“Because you’re into Mr. Manly Dad Bod, that’s why.”
I gasp and put a hand on my upper chest. “He does not have a dad bod.”
Her eyes grow wide and she lets out a loud laugh. “Oh my God, you’re in love with him. I knew it. The second we saw his picture on Facebook, I knew you were going to fall for him.”
I shove a huge bite in my mouth, then shake my head. “No, not falling for him at all,” I say with my mouth still full. “So what if I find him a little attractive? It’s no big deal. Nothing I can’t handle.”
There’s that damn skeptical eyebrow again, calling me on my shit. “Really?”
“Really. I can look without touching,” I say firmly. “In fact, you can call me the queen of self-control because … seriously … no problem.”