Everly
Everly
Girls Girls Girls
Everly
Chris is unusually antsy.
Hailey
Maybe he has to pee.
Grace
Or he had too much caffeine.
Stacey
Rob gets like that when he hasn’t worked out. Restless energy.
Everly
Chris doesn’t. Not usually.
Hailey
Maybe he has a surprise.
Grace
Oooh, I like the sound of that.
Stacey
Evs doesn’t like secrets or surprises.
Grace
Even good ones?
Everly
Do you three know something?
Stacey
No
Grace
No
Hailey
Nope
“You want some water?” Chris asked, grabbing her practically licked-clean cinnamon bun plate.
She looked up at him from her cozy spot on the couch, set her phone down. “Sure. Thank you. Are you okay?”
“Of course. Why?”
She shrugged, told herself there was no reason to be nervous. “You just seem restless.”
“I’m just excited to give you the rest of your presents.” His smile didn’t quite make his face light up the way it usually did.
Everything was fine. Everly had a knack for snowballing a small worry into a boulder-size one. She was working on it, learning how to catastrophize less, but it wasn’t easy. Pulling in a deep breath, she let it out slowly. Just because her life had turned out better than she could have imagined didn’t mean something was bound to go sideways. That she’d lose all the things she loved in less than a heartbeat. That she’d push away the people she loved most. Or they’d get tired of “dealing” with her.
“Stop it,” she whispered.
“Stop what?” Chris asked, walking back into the room at that exact moment, two bottles of water in hand.
“Obsessing. You seem like something is up and… and I don’t know.”
As he set the waters down, his eyes widened, his mouth opening, but no sound came out. He started again, like he was going to say something but his phone rang. Pulling it out of his pocket, he glanced at the screen, and frowned.
“I need to take this,” he said, not meeting her gaze. He turned and walked down the hall. She heard him say, “What?” into the phone before he was out of listening distance.
Okay. It was something. But nothing bad. Because it was her birthday. And he, of all people, knew that if he was going to deliver bad news, it shouldn’t be on her birthday. It could be a work thing. He and his brothers always had a dozen ideas in the air. If it was his dad, his mood would take a dive. Maybe it has nothing to do with you. Right. She’d go with that.
Chris came back into the room. “Sorry. Noah wanted to check some stuff for dinner tonight.”
Everly lifted her brows. Dinner wasn’t a surprise. They’d talked about it for a couple weeks now, made plans together. She and the girls had texted about doing games and planned the menu. Which meant there was no reason to hide in the bedroom for a call with one of his older brothers. She tapped her fingers against her thigh. One. Two. Three.
Chris sank down beside her, one hand going to the back of her neck, sifting through her hair. His other hand covered the fingers tapping her leg as he leaned closer. “Breathe, Evs.”
She did what he said, focusing on it for a few seconds. Touching his cheek, she ran her thumb over the smooth skin he’d shaved just last night.
“Do you ever feel so happy that it’s almost too much? Like there’s no way it can last?”
He turned his face into her palm, kissed it, then responded quietly. “Yes and no.”
That couldn’t be good.
Before she could say anything else, he scooped her up, pulled her onto his lap. One arm came around her back, anchoring her close to him, the other going over her lap. He was like a human seatbelt.
She laughed at the mental image.
Chris’s lips quirked. “You good?”
“Explain the yes and no and I’ll be better.”
She was thirty-one now. She trusted him. She could handle whatever it was he had to say.