Chapter 11
Chapter eleven
I’m still watching Beth pull Gage through the crowd, at him glancing over his shoulder every few seconds, when Maddie comes up beside me.
“Okay, who is that?”
With a sigh, I turn on my heel, taking my place behind the table again. “That’s Beth, Caleb’s sister.”
“No.” Maddie shakes her head. “The big, tattooed guy.”
“Ohh, what big, tattooed guy?” Chelsea asks from the next table, where she’s pouring pink and gold sprinkles into a dish for the kids making fairy bread.
“A little less enthusiasm wouldn’t go astray, love,” Evan says dryly, sweeping a long stick around the barrel as he makes yet another lopsided fairy floss.
I join my brother-in-law, picking up a stick of my own and pouring a scoop of pink sugar into the drum. “That was Gage. Their brother.”
Maddie makes an elaborate slide around the table, pressing against my side, and leaning her head against my shoulder. A burst of laughter escapes me as I look at her. Lashes fluttering, a goofy grin on her face.
“Is there anything more going on there? I sensed some—” She sucks in a breath and then whispers, “tension.”
“Does he have anything to do with your text messages the other week?” Chelsea asks.
“Oh, I spoke to Mark,” Evan says excitedly, handing a blue fairy floss to a sweet little girl who clings to her father’s chest in front of us.
“He’s single. His last relationship was almost a year ago, so he’s looking to date again.
” Evan nudges his elbow against my arm. “And he’s not a doctor.
Chels said you didn’t want that. He goes to my weekly quiz nights. ”
I roll my lips together, glaring over at my sister, who’s throwing some serious shade at her husband. Maddie snorts beside me.
“Babe. I told you—that isn’t the flex you think it is,” says Chelsea. “You were meant to tell her that he abseils in his free time.” Her focus shifts to me, eyebrows bobbing up and down. “He’s very fit.”
“Well, I asked Jacob if any of the guys on his team were single, and guess who recently got divorced?” My head drops back between my shoulders with a groan. “His coach,” finishes Maddie.
“Mark has three sisters and is very close to his mum. He knows how to treat a lady,” Chelsea says matter-of-factly.
“Mama’s boy.” Maddie coughs under her breath, making Evan and Chelsea narrow their eyes.
“He also travelled to the US last year to run the New York Marathon,” Evan says, holding his fist out to his wife, who bumps his knuckles.
“Coach has a neck tatt, and you just know that thing’s going further. Tattooed boys are such freaks,” Maddie sings, then holds her fingertips up to her mouth and releases them with a kiss.
“You know this from experience, Maddie?” Chels asks.
Her husband is covered in his fair share of tattoos.
It’s not something I would have thought was on my list of must-haves in a potential partner.
I’m always looking to connect with a person’s mind, their values, their stories, before anything physical.
Call it my curious nature, the satisfaction of learning something new that rules my attraction.
I’ve always found that physical need builds after I’ve gotten to know a person.
I don’t know what makes Gage different. Maybe it’s the fact that he isn’t open.
All he’s given me are opportunities to focus on the outside, and I’m desperate to try to understand what’s going on on the inside. I’m insatiable.
“Izzy?”
Everything comes back into focus, and I find my sisters and Evan staring at me, waiting.
“Um, yeah?”
Maddie smirks, then tips her chin to the crowd. Gage and Beth are at a stall on the other side of the open lawn area. Beth laughs up at her brother as she holds various little garden pots up to him.
“Maybe she’s not interested in our guys because she’s already found the one she wants,” says Maddie.
“It doesn’t matter. He doesn’t date,” I say.
“People who say that just haven’t found the one they want to date yet,” Chelsea argues.
“Trust me, he’s not interested. I thought he might have been, but I was wrong.”
The four of us turn our heads, looking at Gage and Beth. From here, I can see the slightest smirk on Gage’s face as Beth says something.
And then, he looks up.
My cheeks heat, my heart races, and tingles dance up my arms. The wind picks up, a gentle breeze that sweeps a lock of hair over my face. I push it back behind my ear, and Gage still hasn’t looked away.
Chelsea clicks her tongue. “I think you might be the one who’s wrong, dear sister.”