Chapter 6
six
CHRISTY
Two weeks after that first game, I couldn’t sleep.
I hadn’t slept well for months. Ever since the night Silas had told me he’d be living with Lemon for three months.
The Upward Dog had its grand opening the Friday evening before.
I’d slipped in early Saturday morning—when Silas had told me with a wink that neither he nor Lemon would be there—and signed up for a gym pass.
And now, I was glad I had. I needed to get some of my anxiety out.
I looked around one more time to make sure there were no creepy men that might sneak up on me—even though I’d been here for forty-five minutes and checked three times already.
At eleven thirty p.m., the reception desk by the sliding doors was unmanned and the massive gym was empty except for me and a fellow female gym rat, who was covered in tattoos and had half of her head shaved.
She looked buff enough—and tough enough—that she could likely take any perv that walked in here.
But as a petite woman, barely five foot three, I could never be too careful.
I straddled the weight bench, looking down at my phone, trying to wrap my head around the fact that Holden’s bio information on Facebook had changed.
He’d taken down his job at Caldwell, Caldwell, Sipsby, and Anderson.
Silas had told me his job there ended but he hadn’t said why.
The question was, what was he going to do next?
Was he moving back to Seddledowne? I scolded myself at how happy that possibility made me.
I tapped on his photos and scrolled until I came to my favorite.
Yes, I had a favorite. Shirtless, and muddy from head to toe, Holden stood at the finish of an obstacle course race with a medal around his neck, along with three of his buddies.
Were his cut chest, arms, and shoulders nice to look at?
Yes. And what I wouldn’t give to run my hands all over them.
Again. But that wasn’t my favorite part.
It was the perfection of his dimple, the twinkle in his eyes, the tough, cocky grin that screamed, I am unstoppable.
I let out a twitterpated sigh.
Then rolled my eyes at myself.
The other reason it was my favorite was because it was one of the only photos of him without a woman in it.
Holden was nothing but a heartbreak waiting to happen.
He’d broken it a little when he’d left after the JV game on Monday.
And my mangled, barely beating heart did not have it in her for another big one so soon.
And I was pretty sure if I let myself fall for him, it would be harder than I’d ever fallen before.
And to prove Holden’s chronic playboy behavior, there were over five hundred pictures of him with different women, at bars, baseball games, backpacking, boat rides, the beach.
And that was only the B’s. The craziest part was, the majority of the pictures were there because he’d been tagged by the women.
He wasn’t posting them like bragging rights.
They were. Like he was some unattainable movie star they wanted at least the tiniest connection to.
Was he that hard to pin down? The plethora of pictures said yes.
None of it added up, though. Because the guy I’d gotten to know this summer wasn’t an Alpha-hole at all.
He was funny and kind, patient and thoughtful.
He listened—like really listened—when I was talking.
He was a way better listener than Silas had ever been.
And he communicated back in a way that left no doubts.
Silas would skirt around a topic until I wanted to throw my hands in the air.
But maybe that’s why girls liked Holden so much. He paid them perfect attention. Ugh. It was all so confusing. The only thing I knew for sure was that I obviously couldn’t trust my gut when it came to guys.
Holden could be my eye candy—my internet vice—to tide me over, but nothing more.
An email notification popped up on my screen.
Subject: Welcome to Small-Town Sweethearts! Let’s find your perfect match!
What on earth? It had to be spam. But I opened my app and clicked on the email.
Dear Christy,
Welcome to Small-Town Sweethearts, where sparks fly and hearts connect. We’re thrilled you’ve chosen to join our community…
I deleted it. I’d never joined an online community of any sort but definitely not a dating service.
Back to Holden and his beautiful—
The FaceTime app started ringing, hiding his picture. I groaned.
And pressed the green check button to answer.
“Hi Mom,” I said as her video loaded.
“Hi, Christianna.”
“Hey there, punkin.’”
“Hey, Christy.”
“Whattup, Tink.”
My fists curled at the last name. My brother-in-law really needed to stop calling me that. I hated the tangle of emotions I felt at the fact that they were together without me. I’d chosen to move. And I didn’t regret it. But still, the FOMO was there.
“Hi.” I waved as four faces came into view. Mom, Dad, my younger sister Gabby, and her husband, Rowan. The only ones missing were my youngest sister, Arianna, and her husband, Tyler. “How’d you guys know I was up?”
Gabby shoved her face in front of everyone, her thick, dark, perfect hair taking up most of the screen. “Your active status on Facebook.” She pulled her husband, Rowan, into the frame, their heads pressed together. “Guess what?” She squealed, her eyes glowing with excitement.
“What?” I said with almost no emotion, hoping she would bring it down a notch. She didn’t. Just gazed into Rowan’s eyes for a moment, her shoulders lifted, beaming. The way he looked at her…like she owned every piece of him…even after three years of marriage. It was a punch to the stomach.
“Go ahead,” Rowan said in a breathy hush. “Tell her.”
My stomach tensed. “Tell me what?”
Gabby’s hands curled into fists, pressed against her mouth, her eyes dancing. “We’re having a baby!”
It felt like someone shot a confetti cannon.
Two inches from my face.
I sat there for a moment, blinking. “That’s…that’s so great. Congrats.” It was hard enough that my twenty-two-year-old sister, Ari, was now pregnant. Rowan and Gabby had only been married for three years and a half years and this was their third pregnancy. Somebody needed to give them “the talk.”
“Where’s Jonah?” I asked. “Can I talk to him?” Jonah was their oldest. The cutest little two-and-a-half-year-old in existence. I needed to see him right then. Wished I could squish his chubby little cheeks in my hands and kiss him all over his adorable face.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t be happy for my sister and…Rowan…
Okay.
That was exactly it. I couldn’t be happy for my sister and her husband.
I’d tried ever since the day they got together.
And I definitely couldn’t be happy about the fact that they couldn’t keep their hands off of each other.
Or the fact that I was now three babies behind my sister, who was two years younger than me.
I loved their babies. I really did. And I would love this one too. I just needed time to wrap my head around the news.
Gabby smiled. “Oh, he fell asleep, but we can FaceTime tomorrow if you want.”
“Tell her the other thing,” Mom sang in the background.
There was more?
I let out an exhale and asked, “What thing?” just to make them happy.
Gabby clapped her hands together and yelled, “We’re going to find you a husband!”
My head turned and I looked at them through only my left eye. “What now?”
“Yes. Me and Ari.” My baby sister. “We’ve been brainstorming all week. It’s time we take matters into our own hands, don’t you think? No more waiting for Mr. Right to show up. We’re going to hunt. Him. Down.”
Another one of my half-crazed cackles tried to blurt out of my throat. I clamped it down.
“Like a pair of Army snipers,” Rowan said and then had the gall to wink at me. “Look out, Tink. They’ve been scouring social media for every eligible guy within fifty miles of Seddledowne.”
My jaw dropped. “Did you sign me up for a dating website?”
“Yes, girl!” She squealed. “Get ready for all the swipes right!”
“No. Absolutely not.”
“Oh, honey, it’s already done.” She leaned over looking at something.
“Oh, look at that. You already have one interested customer. A—” She squinted.
Gabby had needed reading glasses since middle school but refused.
Said they’d leave imprints on her nose and she couldn’t have that. “What does that say, babe?”
“Knox Freeman.” Rowan read for her.
“Knox Freeman.” She grinned. “I think he’s good-looking too. I can’t tell right now.”
“It says he’s a firefighter,” Rowan added.
Gabby’s eyes grew quarter-sized. “Oh, a firefighter.” She wiggled her brows. “He can put out all your fires.”
“Gabby,” I said sharply and then took a cleansing breath. “There are so many things wrong with this. The first being that you made an account without me—”
“Oh, Chris, don’t worry. Ari and I did you right. Look.” She held up Rowan’s phone. For my profile picture, they used a photo from our Maui trip. In which I was wearing a tiny, red bikini.
I gasped, horrified. “What kind of guys do you think that’ll attract?”
She shrugged. “The kind that like a pretty blonde with a hot body.”
Rowan snickered off-camera.
“No. Take it down now. And not just the picture. The entire profile. I mean it, Gabbs.”
“No way.” She laughed nonchalantly. “No more messing around. It’s time for you to settle down in Seddledowne.” Gabby laughed at her pun.
Mom stuck her face in between them. “As long as he’s willing to live in Laramie after the wedding,”
My eyes burned and my throat was thick. “Then give me the password and I’ll take it down myself.”