21. Miles
Chapter 21
Miles
Rex
Happy hour with everyone now that you’re back from vacay?
Or are you going to ignore this message too?
Miles
Shut up. Next Wednesday? Will the Mrs. be there?
Rex
She says she’s in.
Trying to apologize for ignoring my calls on the biggest day of our lives?
Miles
When did you become so sentimental?
But no. I just figured our lives get a helluva lot busier in a few weeks, so I might as well grace you with my presence now.
Rex
*middle finger emoji*
Get fucked, Henderson. ;)
Trevor
Got time for a run today?
Me
When are you thinking?
Trevor
How about noon? That way I can put the baby down for a nap and Ellie can relax for a bit. Rory and Addy had a sleepover at their house last night, so I think she's enjoying some quiet time.
Me
Perfect. Usual spot?
Trevor
Yup. See you then.
“ C an you believe that the Nashville bakery is going to open next month?” Stella says into the phone from the kitchen as she whips up another batch of cupcakes. She’s been talking to Kenzie almost every single day since we’ve been back, going over absolutely everything.
They’ve ordered furniture, all the kitchen equipment, and started looking to hire a few workers. Today, they’re going over the menus, specifically the specialty item.
She's been trying to figure out a recipe to have as their signature cupcake since we got back last week, and apparently that is a more challenging task than one would expect.
She's tried the usual suspects: chocolate peanut butter, mint chocolate chip, cookies and cream, plus a bunch of different “cobbler” cupcakes because she thought fruit cupcakes would be good for a hot summer day.
She's not wrong. I always love strawberry shortcake on a sweltering afternoon, so I figure something similar in cupcake form would be equally as delicious. It's refreshing but sweet and creamy and probably my favorite dessert that I can personally make.
And by make, I definitely mean buying and assembling the ingredients, not making everything from scratch. That’s Stella’s thing; I'm really just suited to be the taste-tester. Or the clean-up crew—I'm a boss when it comes to washing dishes.
“Kenzie, if we can't figure out a signature recipe, then what are we going to do?”
Rolling my eyes at her dramatics, I walk into the kitchen and step up behind her, my hands moving to her hips as I pull her back.
I can hear Kenzie’s muffled voice, one I only recognize from the phone since meeting up when we were down in Nashville didn't work out. Regardless, from the brief encounter, I can tell she's as worried as I am, also known as: not at all.
“I’m not saying we are going to have to cancel the opening. Don’t be dramatic, Kenz. I’m just saying they’ll forget about the place before they give it a chance if it’s not remembered for something special.”
I chuckle, which earns me a swat, but it’s just adorable to me how much she is worrying about not being remembered when I’m pretty sure Stella’s bakery is one of the only places I’ve heard about in other states.
It’s impressive, the name she’s already built for herself, so I’m excited to see what adding a new location is going to do for her, what kind of name she’s going to make for herself, one delicious baked good at a time.
Looking at the clock on the stove, I realize it’s time for me to go if I want to be able to meet Trevor for a workout.
“I’ve got to get going to meet Trev,” I tell her, whispering in her ear while Kenzie talks in the other one. Stella leans back and smiles before giving me a kiss and whispering “have fun” before going back to talking with Kenzie.
I grab my keys and water bottle and head out to meet Trevor. Leaving my apartment is usually exciting because it means I’ll be spending time with my friends or out playing hockey, spending time with people. For being an only child who has always been used to spending time alone, it’s surprising how much I hate just hanging out by myself, the biggest downside of living solo.
Only now, I don’t exactly live alone, and I’m starting to hate leaving when she’s there because I’d rather spend time with her than just about anything else. Which sucks, because this living arrangement isn’t permanent, and I’m reminded of that every time I catch her looking at places. I hate it. So it might not be the worst idea to at least let me process the idea of her maybe not moving. Although I couldn’t hide that from everyone. It’s been challenging and risky enough to hide her staying with me—I’d have to fess up to everyone before that happened.
I shouldn’t be thinking about this as I walk up to Trevor though. He’s a bloodhound who will sniff out my insecurities and figure out the entire story before I’ve even had a chance to say hello.
“Hey, man, good to see you,” Trevor says, standing up from the grass where he was stretching. Glad one of us takes care of our body. My warmup was my walk over here, and I’m not mad about it.
“Hey,” I say, passing him one of the water bottles I grabbed. “You ready to get your ass kicked?”
Trevor just stares at me before rolling his eyes. “In all the years we’ve known each other, have you ever beaten me in a race?”
“There was that one time?—”
“If you’re talking about the time I had food poisoning and stopped to puke, then still nearly caught up to you, that hardly counts as winning ,” Trevor snaps back, and I’m tempted to keep poking him, but sleep deprivation is a bitch and he’s in the dad life with an infant, so I don’t really want to have to explain to Stella that I got punched and it wasn’t because he found out about us.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. You going to tell me why you wanted to go on a run when I know today is your rest day?” I ask, my stomach turning in knots at the anticipation. I know there’s no way that there’s nothing he wants to talk about. Now I just have to wait to see what it is.
“No rest for the wicked,” Trevor says. He’s caught up in watching a group of teenagers playing hacky sack, but still, I can tell his mind is a million miles away. “Besides, it’s been ages since you and I have gone on a run together and just caught up, so I thought it might be time. Plus, I was going to see if you wanted to help me with some of the stuff for Rex and Sawyer’s engagement party. They are planning the whole thing and want to have it at Stella’s. But I was hoping to get a bunch of flowers and decorations to help out so that the whole place just feels special for them.”
“Okay, that shouldn’t be a problem. Do you know what you need?”
“Not exactly. Do you think you’d be able to figure out some sort of flower arrangements or whatever to get for it?”
“Yeah, I can just ask Stella what she thinks,” I say. His eyes widen, and, in that moment, I realize—I fucked up.
“Oh?” Trevor says with a little smirk. “I don’t think I knew that you and Stella were on such…friendly terms.”
“Uh, well yeah…you said they were going to hold the party there, so I figured she would be the easiest person for me to ask. I mean she knows the place better than anyone else,” I tell him, rambling away and doing my best to unbury myself, but based on the little twinkle in his eyes, I think he’s on to me.
“Is that all, Henderson, or are you going to over explain yourself to the point where you end up accidentally admitting you’ve had a thing for baby Lockwood for as long as I can remember?” Trevor says, taking a seat on the park bench.
“Uh…I’m not exactly sure how to answer that,” I tell him as I take the seat next to him.
“How about from the beginning.”
“Alright…I went into the bakery a couple of weeks ago and ran into Stella—” I stop as Trevor just holds his hand up.
“How about we start at the party at my place during your rookie year on the team, when I caught you playing tongue hockey with Stella on the patio?”
My jaw drops.
“What the fuck, Trevor? You saw that shit and you’re just bringing it up now?”
“I mean, it seems as good of a time as ever. Plus, up until very recently, I thought it was nothing. I figured you both got drunk and made out and that was that.”
“So then why are we talking about this now?”
“Because it only takes someone slightly observant to realize you’re constantly watching her. And the way your eyes light up when people talk about her? Yeah, it’s pretty fucking obvious you’re smitten.”
“But she’s Rex’s sister.”
“Yeah, that’s sort of how it works. But what does that have to do with anything?”
“Rex forbade us all from dating her.”
“Rex forbade a bunch of early twenty-year-old hockey guys from dating his sister because everyone was only worried about getting their dick wet and he wanted more for her. Rex didn’t forbid his best friends from dating his sister. Although, I think he would question it given your history with women these last few years.”
“Why do you guys always act like I’m such a slut?” I snap at him, tired of being painted in a certain way, especially when I’m no different than any of my friends except for being single longer. They’ve had to watch me dating around and flirting at bars while they go home to their person.
“Are you saying you’re not?”
“When I sleep around, it’s because I’m single. I’m not treating anyone poorly because we are always on the same page. If I’m dating someone, or in a relationship, I am most definitely committed and loyal, and the fact that you’re questioning that kind of pisses me off.”
“I’m not questioning shit; I’m helping you question everything so you can figure this all out for yourself. So stop getting all pissy and tell the story.”
“I don’t know what to even say. We hung out that night. We hit it off. And not just how drunk people who think the other is hot hit it off. We talked for what felt like hours and just hung out, and it was so much fun. It wasn’t until after we kissed that I even realized who she was.”
“Okay?”
“Well, when Rex introduced me to her at the first game, instead of admitting that I’d already met her, I was an absolute idiot and pretended I didn’t know who she was. I immediately could see she was pissed, but she played it off well, and that was that. After that, we sort of got to know each other more from just running in the same group, but it wasn’t until recently that things have started to…shift.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well…can you keep a secret from Rex?”
“Did I tell him I caught you making out with his little sister nearly eight years ago?” Trevor deadpans.
“Fair point,” I say, leaning forward to rest my elbows on my knees, thinking back to just a few weeks ago when all of this really started, and it still doesn’t feel like it’s a good enough explanation.
“A couple of weeks ago, Rex and I were hanging out and we ended up at the bakery like usual. Only this time, Stella looked upset, and after Rex and Mama Lockwood snuck off to go run errands, we ended up talking for a while. She had a lot of things going on that she hadn’t talked to anyone about, and I sort of took it upon myself to be the one to help her.”
“What was going on?” Trevor says, immediately concerned—but this is Stella’s story, and while I don’t always understand why she doesn’t want her family and friends to know everything and help her, I respect her enough to respect her choices.
“Not my place to share everything, but I’ll tell you it involved her staying in a hotel because she had to move out of her apartment.” His eyes widen, and I can see him moving to grab his phone. “Trevor, don’t you dare. I’ll kick your ass right here in the middle of the city if you pick up the phone.”
“Miles, this is Stella. She can’t stay in a goddamn hotel,” Trevor snaps, big brother protective mode in full force, but it’s misplaced.
“I. Took. Care. Of. It,” I tell him again, irritated he’s not just letting this go.
“What does that mean?”
“It means Stella has been staying with me even before we went to Nashville.”
“Wait…we? You went to Nashville…together?”
“Look, that’s the part I can’t really get into. I went to Nashville to help her out. When she’s ready to talk to everyone about why we went there, she can be the one to divulge the story. All I can say is we were able to get that whole situation figured out, so it’s not something you need to be worrying about.”
He eyes me for a moment before nodding warily, like he isn’t completely sold but he’s willing to move past it for now.
“Look Trev, this is what’s going on. Between helping Stella out these last few weeks and spending a lot more time with her, we’ve made some decisions that will definitely fuck with some friendships.”
“So then what are you doing? Are you just fucking around with her while it’s convenient?” Trevor asks me, and I want to punch him right in that pretty boy face of his.
“Are you really fucking asking me if I’m just fucking around with Stella because it’s easy? Or if I'm doing this just for fun? I don't know how you can stand there and call yourself one of my best friends if you think I’m actually capable, and willing, of treating a woman like that. Let alone Stella…and it's not even because of who she is to Rex anymore. It's more because of who she is to me.”
“And who is that?”
“My favorite person,” I tell him, the words rolling off my tongue like a practiced prayer, something I've spent my entire life waiting to proclaim.
“Then what are you afraid of?”
That urge to punch him is coming back.
“Who said I was afraid of anything?”
“Well, are you still hiding this relationship with Stella?”
“We aren't in a relationship.”
“Man, you've gotta figure your shit out. Figure out what you two want first, and then figure out why you're so afraid of big teddy bear Rex.”
“He's not a teddy bear, and I'm not afraid. It's just…when I moved here, you guys were all I had. I don't have a big family, but y’all became that for me here. When I found out who Stella was, I freaked and was a huge dick to her because I was too afraid of being shut out when I just got here. Now I'm afraid of losing them both if I don't figure this out.”
“All I will say is that you need to tell him, preferably before he figures it out himself. Luckily with him and Sawyer getting engaged, he's preoccupied, but do it soon.”
“I will,” I groan. “After their engagement party. I don't want to ruin their special day by making it about us.
“I think that's fair. Use your time now to figure your shit out, both of you.”
“Okay, Daddy,” I joke, and he just rolls his eyes.
Well at least he didn't kill me.
“Ready to go run, you pain in the ass?”