Chapter 25
TWENTY-FIVE
Iliked golfing. It was relaxing, and I enjoyed competing, whether it be over who gets higher on the release charts or who can get a ball into a hole faster. That didn’t mean I wanted to spend my entire afternoon golfing with Brody.
“I miss her,” I lamented as he pulled into a parking spot outside The Shrimp Factory, a historic former warehouse not far from the river.
“You are pathetic,” Brody complained as he killed the engine. “I have never seen you this way before. Aren’t you embarrassed?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Why should I be embarrassed? You set the precedent for all of this.”
“Yes, and you proceeded to give me a hard time over it for an entire year. Do you remember what you said when I told you I was going to propose to Bree?”
“No, but I’m sure it was enlightening.”
“You said ‘better dead than wed’ and then suggested I flee in the night so she couldn’t find me.”
I smiled at the memory. I hadn’t been serious. I just liked winding him up. “I knew you were never going to leave Bree from the second you two started bonding.”
“You didn’t act like it. You said that she was a bad choice because she was moody.”
“Only because I liked watching you get frazzled when jumping in to protect her. That was entertaining.”
“But—”
“I always liked Bree,” I assured him. “More than that, I recognized she was good for you, right from the start. She made you smile and loosened you up. She’s made you so happy.”
“But?” Brody prodded warily. “I know there’s a but in there.”
“Not really.” I shook my head. “I do wish you would stand your ground on the house thing, but you won’t do it because it’s too important to her.”
Brody frowned. “What do you mean?”
“You guys have been back and forth on the houses for months now. She doesn’t want to give up that house because that will mean having to follow the new letter of the law of the HOA. She doesn’t like conformity.”
Brody nodded. “My house is bigger, though. When we have kids…” He trailed off, looking uncertain.
“Do you know what rules Bree hasn’t thumbed her nose at?” I asked, grinning because I couldn’t stop myself. “I’m betting everybody assumes she wouldn’t have a need to worry about those rules because her house is great.”
Brody still wasn’t catching on.
“She has a big lot, Brody. You could add to her house. In fact, I bet you could add as many as three bedrooms if you wanted and still have plenty of yard space.”
His eyes widened as the truth of what I’d said set in.
I leaned closer to him. “That’s kind of like the gift that keeps on giving, isn’t it?”
His smile was full of amazement.
“I looked up the building rules, and she could have a field day with them,” I offered. “Make sure you get everything in order for what you want to do before you pull the trigger, though, because those HOA people are going to swoop in with new rules right after. They’re going to be furious.
Brody nodded absently. “What about you?”
Now I was the one confused. “What about me?”
“What if you want to change something about your house?”
I hadn’t even realized that my mindset had changed until I was already speaking. “I’ll probably end up moving closer to the downtown area.”
Brody’s mouth fell open. “What? You were so excited to move to The Landings.”
“Actually, I wasn’t.” I held out my hands. “I was excited to have a golf cart and a place to call home. Rentals suck. It’s fine for now. It’s not going to be a forever home, though.”
“Because Bella likes the downtown area?”
I could have lied to save face, but I hated lying to my best friend. “She’s in a rental now. She wants to be close to downtown. She finds real joy there. I would never take that away from her.”
“What do you find real joy in, though?”
“Her.” I laughed at how sappy I sounded and rubbed my cheek. “I never thought this would happen to me. My greatest joy was giving you a hard time about it happening to you.”
“Oh, I remember.” Brody was the solemn sort, and that was on full display as he studied me. “You said I was being ridiculous.”
“You were. I stand by that. The thing is, there’s something I didn’t understand at the time.” I had to search my heart for the right words. “When it’s the right person, you don’t care about being ridiculous. You only care when you don’t know what it feels like.”
“You’re already in love with her, aren’t you?” There was no judgement in his tone.
I shook my head. “I don’t know about that. I think I’ll know when it’s time to use that word, and honestly, she is the most amazing person I’ve ever met. I’m totally infatuated with her. Love is still to come, though.”
“Oh.” Brody looked disappointed. “Okay.”
I gave him an exasperated look. “Dude, do you know how much I’m looking forward to that part? I want to savor every moment. It’s better that we’re not there yet.”
“You sound pretty sure of yourself.”
“I am.”
“What if Bella isn’t as sure of herself?”
He wasn’t asking to be a jerk. He was concerned about my feelings, afraid something might happen that had the potential to crush me. I was grateful he was my friend.
“Bella’s feelings for me are legitimate,” I started, believing every word. “I feel it.” I tapped the spot above my heart. “She’s still scarred by what happened with Preston, however, and I don’t think she realizes how much.”
“How are you going to fix that?”
“I suppose hiring somebody to kill Preston isn’t an option.”
Brody looked alarmed.
“I’m joking,” I assured him. “Killing Preston would scar her more. She would always blame herself.”
“Oh, well, if that’s the only reason.”
I laughed. “I don’t know what I’m going to do about Preston. He needs to be removed from her life. He cannot be a constant shadow haunting her for the rest of her days.”
“You could go to the police,” Brody suggested. “He’s technically stalking her.”
“He is, but we can’t prove that. He has plausible deniability. He didn’t know that Bella was a published author because she wasn’t in contact with him.”
“All he had to do was google her name.”
“Yes, but it’s still not proof.”
His gaze was probing. “Did you call the police and talk that out or something?”
I didn’t bother denying it. “Yes. I wanted to know what our options were if we couldn’t scare him off.”
“What did the police say?”
“Nothing good.” I was still bitter about it. “Basically he has to physically harm her for us to be able to do anything.”
“That’s not acceptable.”
“It’s not,” I agreed.
Brody paused a second then sighed. “Have you considered talking to your father about it?”
The suggestion threw me. “What good would that do?”
“He’s a big muckity-muck in the Northeast. It sounds like Preston’s father is too. Your father’s status might allow him to issue a warning. From everything Bella has said, Preston is scared of his father. That might be enough.”
It was something I hadn’t considered—something I didn’t want to consider—but I didn’t discard the possibility. “It’s not a terrible idea.”
“Thanks for the ego boost.” Brody shot me a sarcastic thumbs-up.
I grinned. “It’s not the button I want to push, but if I have no other options… I wonder if my father would help me.”
“You said he wanted to visit. He might be willing to do it just to smooth the way.”
“Maybe.” I rubbed the back of my neck then shook myself out of my reverie. “Let’s leave that as a last resort.”
“What are you going to do now?”
I gave him an incredulous look. “I’m going to go rub myself against my girlfriend because I haven’t seen her in hours and I’m desperate to touch her.”
Brody snickered. “You sound like a crazy person.”
“I don’t care.” I threw open the door. “I’m happy. The odd thing is, I didn’t even realize I was unhappy until I met her. Isn’t that weird?”
He shook his head. “No. I understand exactly what you’re talking about.”
“If anybody would, it’s you.”
“All right, let’s go see our women.” Brody puffed himself out. “Do you think they missed us?”
“I think Bella missed me.”
“That’s cold, man.”
I chuckled as I strode toward the restaurant. “Fine. I think Bree missed you too.”
“There it is. Bella is even making you a better friend.”
Isn’t that a humbling thought?
BELLA, HAYLEY, AND brEE WERE ALREADY at a table when we found them.
“Hey.” I swooped in to press a firm kiss against Bella’s mouth, like a man who had been drowning for hours and she was his only source of oxygen.
“Hi.” She threw her arms around my neck and held tight. I returned the embrace. I didn’t care who was watching us.
“Did you miss me?” I pulled back far enough to stroke my hand over her hair.
“You have no idea,” she replied, not missing a beat. “I missed you more than Michael missed his knife between the second and fourth Halloween movies.”
“Oh, good reference.” I sank into the chair next to her, not bothering to greet Hayley and Bree. “I missed you that much too.”
“Aw.” Bella patted my cheek. “I knew you were pining for me.”
I went in for another kiss, only stopping when I heard the fake retching noises from across the table. I pulled back and gave Bree and Hayley dark glowers. “Ladies,” I drawled. “I can’t tell you how joyful I am to see the two of you.”
“You don’t sound very sincere,” Bree challenged.
“You’re very good at reading people.” I winked to let her know I was joking and grabbed a menu. “I’m starving. I don’t think I’ve ever been to this place before.”
“The food is good,” Bree said. “We should get a lot of it because we only had salads for lunch, and we’re starving.”
Bella gave Bree a weird look. “Just salads? There were soup and conch fritters in there too.”
“If you have salad for lunch, it’s the only thing that counts,” Bree shot back.
“How is that the rule?”
“It just is.” Bree wasn’t having any of it. “Everybody order, and then we’ll talk about our plan to take down Preston, huh? I have a few ideas.”
I was eager to hear them, so I scanned the menu quickly. “Man, a shrimp burger sounds just disgusting enough to be awesome.”
Bella gave me a horrified look.
“Shrimp tacos sound good too,” I added.