Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Reese
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With my cell pressed between my ear and shoulder, I walk into my closet wrapped in a towel to look for something to wear while listening to my mom tell me about the venue she found for her wedding. I’m only half-paying attention. Not because I don’t care, but because I’m running late. I’m supposed to meet Brodie downstairs in less than ten minutes so we can go have dinner, something that has become a nightly ritual for us since we watched Scream together on the beach a week ago. I’m still not quite sure how it happened, but somehow, we’ve ended up with dinner plans every day this week.
“You’ll be able to make it for the wedding, right?” my mom asks as I slip a simple black cotton summer dress over my head.
I squeeze my eyes closed as I adjust the thin straps at my shoulders. “Um. I…”
“Reese, it’s my wedding. You can’t honestly tell me you might miss it.”
Guilt eats at my insides. “Mom.”
“I know what happened.” She drops her voice. “Melissa told me you got upset that she and Kirk were spending time together.” I almost laugh… Almost. “You can’t be mad that they’re friends, Reese.”
So, they’re still friends? I don’t ask.
“I would never be mad that they’re friends or that they were spending time together.” I was angry that they were sleeping together behind my back. I don’t tell her that. I can’t. “School starts in August. I haven’t gotten my schedule yet, so I’m not sure. Plus, I still have to work.”
“You know you don’t need to work, Reese. Your dad made sure of that. Stop acting like you don’t have any money.”
“I’ll let you know as soon as possible if I can make it or not,” I say, ignoring her comment. My dad did leave me a very sizable trust fund, but school is expensive, and I don’t want to be one of those people who looks back and wonders what happened to the money they had. As for Mom’s wedding, it isn’t even in Minnesota. The venue she found is in Hawaii, and that’s not just a quick weekend trip. It takes planning. The plane ride alone is seventeen hours with a layover, which means I would have to plan for at least a five-day trip. Not to mention, I’m not sure I’m mentally ready to be around Melissa—and possibly Kirk—yet.
“All right.” She sighs, sounding disappointed. “I love you.”
“I love you, too. I’ll call you soon.” I hang up after saying goodbye and then walk back into my bathroom. After hanging up my towel, I check my reflection, then shove my feet into my flip-flops and head for the door, grabbing my purse on the way out.
When the elevator doors open on the ground floor a few minutes later, I immediately spot Brodie and, right on cue, those pesky butterflies with no sense of self-preservation take flight.
Ignoring them has gotten more difficult the more time Brodie and I spend together, but I’m determined.
As I wait for a couple with three kids and a stroller to get off the elevator ahead of me, I take him in. Standing with his arms crossed and a disinterested look on his face, his body language screams: Do not approach . I get it, or I’m starting to understand that he doesn’t love the attention he gets just for being who he is. More than once while we were out, random people came up to talk to him. And although he’s always friendly with the men who approach to say hi, the women are a different story. Or at least they are when they come up to him, breathing his name like they just finished having sex and are ready for another round. He dismisses them without much care.
When I finally get off the elevator, I step around the couple now trying to detain one of their little boys, who obviously has no desire to be strapped into the stroller his parents are attempting to lock him in.
Jeb is the first to notice my arrival and stands with a happy woof, wagging his tail. “Hey.” I smile at him and then look up at Brodie. A warm, familiar smile replaces the disinterested look he wore moments ago.
“Took you long enough.” He leans down to kiss my cheek, and my insides twist in response.
“Sorry. I was on the phone with my mom,” I tell him, rubbing Jeb’s head.
“Everything okay?” he asks as we fall into step and walk out of the building. Even with the sun not directly overhead, it’s still hot.
“She was telling me about the wedding venue she found in Hawaii.”
“Is that where she’s getting married?”
“She’s thinking about it. But if she does, I don’t know if I will be able to go.” I glance up at him. “She wants to have the wedding in August, but that’s around the time school starts.”
“That sucks.”
“Yeah,” I lie. Because if she does have her wedding in Hawaii in August, and I have a legit reason not to go, it will make my life so much easier.
“So, what are you in the mood for tonight?”
“Whatever you want.” I shrug. With Jeb along, there are fewer options since we have to find a restaurant with an outdoor dining area. I don’t mind. I enjoy having him with us, especially after dinner when we normally take him down to the beach to run for a bit.
“All right.” Brodie wraps his hand around mine but then lets go quickly. “Sorry, habit.”
Habit? Like he’s used to holding someone’s hand so often that he reached out for mine without thinking. My insides twist, and not in a good way.
Sitting across from him sometime later under a dark blue awning outside an Italian restaurant, I study him as he looks over the menu in his hand while Jeb lies under the table at our feet. We’ve spent a lot of time together this last week. And we often text throughout the day, so we’ve talked a lot, and about many things. But I’ve never asked him about his love life, and he’s never asked me about mine. Is that weird? Should I know if he has a girlfriend, even if we’re only friends?
“Do you have a girlfriend?” Shit, I know how that probably sounded. He lifts his gaze to mine. “Not that I’m interested.” I hold up a hand. “I’m not. I’m just curious because you said habit earlier, like you’re used to holding someone’s hand.”
“Jesus. You’re horrible for my fucking ego, Ree.”
Darn. I really love it when he calls me Ree. No one has ever given me a nickname before, and it’s cute when he says it.
“Sorry.”
“I don’t have a girlfriend.” Relief I have no reason to feel sweeps over me. “But I had one back in Tennessee.”
“Did you break up because you were moving to Florida?”
“No. She broke up with me long before that because I was an idiot.”
“Oh.”
“Do you have a boyfriend?” He places his menu on the table, giving me his undivided attention. I shake my head. “When was your last relationship?”
Damn, I should have thought about how my question might be turned around on me. “A few months before I moved here,” I say, thankful that I don’t need to say more because the waitress shows up to take our orders.
“Okay,” he starts when she wanders off a minute later. All hope of getting out of this conversation crashes and burns when he asks, “What happened with your ex?”
“You go first.”
He leans back in his chair, studying me with an odd look. “I let my ego take up space in our relationship.” I frown at him, not sure what that means. “She told me she wasn’t comfortable with the amount of female attention I get, and I ignored her.”
“Did you cheat on her?” I can’t help the anger that seeps into my tone. And if he says yes, I will get up and walk away from this table without letting him explain.
“Fuck no. I would never have hurt her like that.” He scrubs his fingers through his hair. “I was just a shitty boyfriend. I see it now, but at the time, I thought she was just insecure. And she was, but not for the reason I assumed. I didn’t give her the attention she needed to let her know she was a priority. I didn’t make her feel safe. I didn’t tell women no when they wanted a picture or avoid the flirting that sometimes goes along with that. I didn’t think it was a big deal. I knew it wasn’t going anywhere and thought it was innocent.” He shakes his head. “Like I said, my ego took up a lot of room in our relationship.”
I chew the inside of my cheek now, understanding why his whole demeanor changed when women approached him.
“Now, you tell me what happened with your ex.”
“I found out that he was sleeping with my soon-to-be stepsister.”
His eyes widen. “He what?”
“It’s not a big deal.”
“Yeah, Ree, it is a big fucking deal. What the fuck?”
“Okay, you’re right, it is a big deal.” I let out a breath. “He was my best friend, and I don’t mean that in the way some people talk about their partners. I mean, we were best friends since we were little, and only got together a couple of months before he slept with her, and I moved. I…” I shake my head. “It’s funny.”
“What is?”
“I knew before we even got together that a relationship between us wouldn’t work. I knew from watching him date that I was nothing like the other women he had been with. But he was so adamant that he wanted to be in a relationship with me that I got scared and gave in because I didn’t want to lose him.” I shake my head. “Then I lost him anyway.”
“How were you different than the other women he dated?”
“They were all beautiful and peppy cheerleaders or sorority girls. That just isn’t me.”
“You’re gorgeous, Ree.” I give him a doubt-filled look, and not because I’m vying for a compliment. I don’t think I’m ugly, but gorgeous is not a word anyone has ever used to describe me. I’ve been cute since I was little. “The first time I saw you, I thought you were beautiful. And in a world filled with sorority girls, you stand out because you’re just you with your nerdy books and ability to be brutally honest and funny as fuck.”
“Thank you.” It seems like a stupid reply, but the words slip off the tip of my tongue while my heart flutters behind my rib cage.
Darn. When his gaze softens like it did just now, it’s hard to remember why I shouldn’t want more than just his friendship.
“I have a question.”
“Okay.” I pick up my water and take a sip.
“Do you work next weekend, or can you take off?”
“I don’t work Saturday or Sunday. It’s my one weekend off this month.”
“Perfect. Do you want to go with me to New York?”
“New York?” My brows drag together.
“I have a fundraiser I need to attend Saturday night, and I need a date.”
“And you want me to go with you? As your date?”
“There is no one else I’d want to go with. And if you don’t go with me, I’m going alone.”
“I…”
“I’ll make sure you have your own room, and we can explore the city after my shoot on Saturday afternoon.”
“Your shoot?”
“I have to do a photo shoot for this new sports drink that’s about to hit the market.”
“Is it any good?”
“I haven’t tried it. They sent me a case, but it’s still sitting next to the front door in my apartment.”
“So, you’re going to advertise something that might taste like dirty bath water?” The look he gives me makes me laugh. “You at least need to try it, Brodie.”
“After we get done with dinner and take Jeb to the beach, we’ll taste-test it.”
“We can do that.”
“So, will you go with me?”
I don’t know if it’s the hope-filled look in his eyes or my aunt’s voice in the back of my head telling me I should live a little, but I say, “Yes.” It comes out before my brain can really catch up. Darn, did I really just agree to go with him to New York? His smile says I did, and my heart flutters once again.
? “I’ll take care of everything. Just let me know your schedule for Friday, and I’ll have my assistant book our flights so we can be together.”
“It will probably be late by the time I get off work.”
“That’s okay. I’ll wait for you.”
I nod. “Do I need a fancy dress for this fundraiser?”
? “Yes, it’s black tie.”
“Fun,” I lie, and he laughs.
“Just let me know when you find your dress and I’ll give you the money for it.”
“We’ll figure that out later,” I mutter, knowing there is no way I’m letting him pay for my dress. That feels way too intimate. Plus, my aunt has a closet full of designer dresses, some that she's never even worn. I’m sure I’ll be able to find something.
“It will be fun,” he murmurs softly as the waitress comes over with our food. Normally, I’d say he’s lying. Getting dressed up is one of my least favorite things to do, but I enjoy spending time with him, so I’m actually looking forward to it.