CHAPTER NINE
“I have a surprise for you!” Emma squealed when April opened the door and found her and Izzy waiting there. “You’re going to love it.”
Curiosity piqued, April hugged each of her friends before stepping back to let them inside.
Her mom had gone out about a half-hour ago, heading into town for the weekly support group she attended at the church for people who had lost their spouses.
She wouldn’t be back till early evening, so April had the afternoon clear to enjoy her time with the girls.
Apparently the support group was helping a lot, and April was grateful her mom had had people she’d felt she could talk to these past six months.
If anything, she was a tiny bit jealous.
When her dad had first died, she’d had Tyler to lean on—or so she’d thought, anyway.
But now? Well, she had Em and Izzy, but it wasn’t the same as having a partner to talk things through with.
“I see we’ve ditched the green hair,” Izzy said as they toed off their shoes by the door.
“It was blue,” April said instinctively, before nodding. “But yeah, I think blonde is more my speed. I’ve brought enough color back into my life with my new clothes, so it felt like my hair could go back to normal.”
“Totally agree,” Emma said as she directed Izzy and April into the kitchen rather than the living room. “It works so well with your undertones.”
They each took a seat at the table—Izzy and April on the bench against the back wall and Emma opposite them with her back to the kitchen, practically vibrating with excitement.
Sunlight poured through the window above the sink, making the room come alive.
April had bought her mom a cute sun-catcher that she’d seen in a boutique in town and it spun lazily in the air with the breeze they’d stirred up when they’d walked into the room.
It was in the shape of a lily, her mom’s favorite flower, and the light refracted out and off of the edges of the stained-glass petals and stem in a rainbow shimmer that made April smile.
Slowly but surely, they were doing their best to breathe life back into the house again, and the first proper sunny day they’d had since she’d been back home also helped.
“You’ve been super tight-lipped about what went down with you and Luke,” Emma said suddenly and April narrowed her eyes, realizing she’d been cornered into dishing details.
Izzy reached over and touched the hand April had placed on the table. “Whatever happened, you can tell us.”
God, did they think he’d hurt her or something? April squeezed Izzy’s hand and smiled reassuringly at her friends as she glanced between them. “It’s OK. It was just embarrassing, is all. I thought we were going on a date; he thought we were meeting to discuss my dad’s bar.”
Izzy winced. “Ah.”
“Yep.” April laughed. “I chewed him out in the restaurant and then stormed away. He followed me to explain and then dropped me home.”
Emma sighed, pouting her full lips dramatically. “That’s it?”
One brow raised, April eyed her friend. “You wanted more?”
“Just a little anti-climactic, is all.”
April struggled to keep her face blank as she lifted a shoulder and let it drop. If only they knew the truth—that the kiss with Luke had been anything but anti-climactic. Emma would lose her shit.
“Does that mean you wanted it to be a date?” Izzy probed and April knew they weren’t going to let this go easily. “I know you thought it was too soon after Tyler but …”
“The best way to get over someone is by getting under someone else,” Emma finished, nodding as if this was sage advice. “And I don’t know why, but I’ve always thought that Luke has BDE.”
April wasn’t sure she wanted to ask. “BDE?”
“Big Dick Energy,” Emma and Izzy said, the latter rolling her eyes. “And don’t give us that bullcrap about you guys hating each other. If that was true, you wouldn’t have gone out with him at all.”
April’s mouth opened and closed as she looked at her friends. “I don’t … He isn’t … Do we really need to talk about this?”
“Yes.”
“You guys are the worst,” she muttered. “Yes, fine. OK. Maybe I was open to a date with Luke, but only because Tyler provoked me and because, well … Luke seems different now than when we were in high school.” She frowned as Izzy and Emma hit her with twin knowing looks.
“He’s still an arrogant ass, but maybe he’s not all bad. ”
“Still hot,” Emma added.
“What did Tyler do to make you reconsider the dinner with Luke?” Izzy leaned her head against April’s shoulder and looked up with big eyes.
April sighed. “He posted a photo of him and the other woman to his socials with a snarky caption, all while he was messaging me all weekend begging me to come home. It pissed me off. He’s been blowing up my phone again ever since.”
Emma laughed. “Tyler doesn’t know who he’s messing with—you can out-petty him any day, babe. You deserve better than some little boy who can’t handle you at your worst.”
Izzy’s wide-eyed sympathy turned sly as she sat up.
“Luke can handle you at your worst. In fact, in high school it was almost like that was how he preferred you.” At April’s quizzical look, Izzy continued.
“Do you remember that time Lindsay Worthy sprained her ankle mid-tennis match at an away game? Luke was there to play for the boys’ team later that day, but the two of you teamed up to eviscerate the away team’s coach when they tried to disqualify your whole team for being short a player. ”
“Oh my gosh, I forgot about that.” Emma giggled. “Pointer made those little tennis shorts look—” A knock came at the door, thankfully saving them from whatever description she had been about to give, and Emma clapped her hands together as she darted off to answer it.
“My point is,” Izzy continued, “you guys make a good team.”
April’s mouth ran dry as she remembered exactly how good a team they’d made together in Luke’s car. Shaking the thought away, she changed the subject as she heard the front door open and close. “Do you know what’s about to happen?”
Izzy laughed. “Yes. You’ll like it.”
Satisfied that this wasn’t one of Emma’s bolder plans, they waited patiently as footsteps sounded and voices drifted back to them—one belonged to Emma, but the other was unfamiliar.
Emma walked in with another woman just behind her and looked at April with an excited gleam in her eyes. “This is Rachel. She’s going to do our nails for us!”
Maybe it was stupid to get choked up, but April couldn’t help it. They knew that this ritual had been important to her, so her friends had gone out of their way to try and give her a piece of that calm back.
Since it had been Emma’s idea, April insisted that she go first and stood at the ready to take progress pics for Emma’s socials. Something about the familiar smell of nail polish made April relax into her seat at the table as Rachel offered up a book of colors and styles for Emma to choose from.
This felt like something special and April was happy that she was able to make new memories here at home despite everything. Life hadn’t stopped when her dad had died, and this was the perfect reminder.
Izzy flicked through the book once Emma had selected the style and color she wanted—a cherry-red oval gel style that April had admired in the book over her shoulder, but ever since she’d mentioned pink nails the other day she’d had them on her mind.
“What do you think?” Izzy flipped between two pages, one with a short and pared-back French manicure, the other a pastel polka-dot design atop a plain shiny base.
“Polkas, for sure.”
She nodded and kept the page open on her choice before standing up and navigating the kitchen as familiarly as if it were her own. Izzy and Emma had practically grown up there too, so Izzy had no trouble finding a glass and pouring herself some water. “I’m up—anyone want anything?”
They shook their heads and by the time Izzy sat back down again, April had found the perfect nail inspo photo. “This is what I want,” she murmured to Iz, holding out her phone so she could see the picture. “Subtle pink nude, a glossy moment with a hint of sparkle.”
Izzy giggled, zooming in for a closer look. “Oh, that’ll look so cute!” Her smile faded and April frowned, worried about what had caused the change in attitude, when Izzy turned the phone back to her and she saw the message that had come in from Tyler.
April rolled her eyes. “Sorry about him. Like I said, he’s been texting me every five seconds ever since I hearted that picture of him and his secretary.”
“Oh man, I hate when that happens. Totally makes snooping obvious,” Emma whined and sent a pitying look April’s way.
But she just laughed. “No, I did it deliberately. Like you said, I can out-petty him in my sleep.” Tension snuck into her shoulders as she looked at the notification from Tyler.
“But just the fact that he spent all of last weekend begging me to come home and to reply to him, while the whole time he was at a party with the same woman I caught him screwing on Friday … Who does that?”
“So, what? He’s mad you liked the photo?”
April clicked on the messages and scrolled up past the wall of texts that had gone unanswered to show Emma and Izzy.
“He started out mad, said I was too hot and cold because I told him not to talk to me but then I had ‘stalked’ his socials.” She rolled her eyes.
“Then he tried to deny that anything happened at the party and that the photo was a fluke—like I’d forget that I’d already seen much more of them together just last week.
” April laughed but the sound was without humor.
“Did I tell you that he handed her my robe when I walked in on them naked? Well, anyway, now he seems to have settled on guilt-tripping and begging again. I mean, look at this one.”
Ty:
Shayla was just a distraction, I swear. You’re the one I want. The one I need. She and I are done. OK?