Chapter 48
48
“ H appy birthday!” everyone shouts when we walk into the brewery.
Essie attempted to keep the party a surprise, and I think some people assume it is, but she’s not great at secrets. She kept accidentally blurting things out, like she needed to text Callie about the cake and that River had better make sure he was in town.
All our friends are here.
It’s nice to call them that now.
They’ve all accepted me with open arms.
Sure, the few girls didn’t at first, compliments of Essie, but now, we’re all close buds.
The parents are here as well.
Carolina didn’t mention what she’d nearly walked in on during the car ride, but you could tell she knew something by the expression on her face.
Amelia and Jax closed the brewery tonight to throw my party. He’s behind the bar, slinging drinks. A birthday banner hangs above his head. A cake, finger foods, and plates are set out.
Country music bellows from an old-school jukebox, and most of us are seated on stools at one long table that you’d see in a school cafeteria.
We all bullshit with each other, catching up on our lives.
“The party is here!”
I turn around at the sound of my abuela’s voice. I smile, seeing her walk in with Terrance and my mother. Lately, I’ve seen my mother more than I ever have. She takes every Sunday off to have dinner with us.
My abuela has been on a mission to convince her to move to Blue Beech.
Do I think it’ll happen? Probably not.
It’s too far from her second home—her office.
My abuela has also tried setting her up on dates with guys here.
She declines them all.
I don’t recall my mother ever dating. Even after all these years, she hasn’t moved on from my father. They met when she first moved to the States. She was young and only spoke Spanish. He lived across the street, helped her learn English, and she said he pretty much taught my abuela and her everything they needed to know about becoming Americans.
She can’t move on from the good memories of my father.
There are more of them than bad.
I don’t blame her. I did pine over Essie for almost a decade, but our situation is also different. He’s gone forever, and I wish she’d find love again.
Moving on is hard.
Scary.
Trying something new is even harder.
I hope, with time, she’ll find happiness.
That she’ll stop revolving her entire life around work to forget her loneliness.
“All right, so I have to tell everyone something,” Ava announces to our table .
Everyone turns quiet, and Jax moves out from behind the bar. He stands next to Amelia and kisses her cheek.
“I was offered a really good position at a different hospital,” she says. “It’s a few hours away.”
Everyone’s attention goes to separate places.
The other parents go to her parents, waiting for their reaction.
Most of ours cut straight to River.
He winces, his face flushing, and I can tell he’s replaying Ava’s words in his head.
“We’re so happy for her,” Lauren, Ava’s mom, says.
Gage, Lauren’s dad, nods in agreement.
Though I can tell he also has mixed feelings about it.
“What?” River asks, setting his beer on the table. “Surely, you’re not going to take it?”
Ava looks away, running her finger along the rim of her cup. “It’s a huge opportunity. I’ll be working under a really great mentor.”
“But this is your home,” he says, the hurt clear in his voice.
Ava steps closer to him. “I’ll still come home on the weekends and stuff.” She does a once-over of the brewery. “You all know I’ll never fully move away from here.”
“Yeah, but …” River is quiet for a moment, searching for the right words.
He finds them—I can tell.
He just doesn’t want to say them in front of other people.
“No.” He shakes his head.
“Well, that’s a very insightful response,” Ava says.
“You know what I mean,” River argues. “You can’t leave us.”
Man, I feel bad for the guy.
“He means you can’t leave him ,” Mia points out.
Ava steps closer to him. “You travel for work all the time.”
River downs the rest of his beer before answering, “Yes, but I always come home. This is our home . ”
Ava starts walking to him but suddenly halts, as if she just now realizes they have an audience. “Nothing is official yet,” she tells the room. “I told them I’d give them an answer when I decide.”
River looks like he’s been told the worst news of his life.
He needs to get his head out of his ass, stop wasting time, and admit he wants to be more than friends with benefits.
“How about another round?” Jax asks, breaking the tension. “We have a new beer we’ve been working on. You guys want to be my testers?”
“Hell yeah,” Ava says, her excitement somewhat fake.
River rubs the back of his neck.
Just as Jax starts passing out beers, Foster comes up behind me.
“Happy birthday, bro,” he says, slapping me on the back.
“Thanks.” As I move in my stool, I see a blonde woman standing next to him.
“Oh my God, Sydney!” Callie yells, jumping off her stool and rushing toward us. “I didn’t know you were back in town.” She hugs Sydney tight and says something about how much she’s missed her into her shoulder.
“In case you didn’t hear, this is Sydney,” Foster says to me, my abuela, and mother. It seems everyone else knows her.
Sydney smiles wide and waves. “Hi.” She skips over to my abuela and hugs her from behind the chair. “I’ve heard so many good stories about you. Foster says you’re, like, the funniest person ever.”
My abuela grins and mouths, I like her , to Foster.
“Everyone loves Sydney,” Callie says.
“Does that mean everyone is here now?” Mia asks, glancing at the doorway, as if nervous Trey will walk in and ruin her night.
I’ve started learning how to read my new friends.
Essie has also filled me in on some of their history.
Though she swears she can’t say anything about Trey and Mia .
River takes the chair beside Ava but pretends to focus on his phone. His brows are furrowed, and he looks ready to leave.
“I think that’s everyone,” Ava says. “ Unless Easton wants to invite his nanny.”
Easton, who’s on his phone, but not pretending it, lowers it from his face. “What?”
“You’ve been texting her all night,” Ava says.
“He texts her all the time,” River adds, ready to back up Ava even though he’s not happy with her.
Easton glares at River and uses his phone to point at him. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Of course I text my nanny, the person who I trust to watch over my daughter.”
“They’re not only nanny-related texts,” Ava says. “I know this because Jasmine showed me something on his phone, some weird YouTube video where grown-ups fake pretend to play babies—which is kinda weird, BTW—and one of the nanny’s texts popped up. It was not about Jasmine or a babysitting schedule.”
“Oh, you and the nanny,” Sydney says, plopping down on a stool, and Foster stands behind her. “Super cute.”
“Since when do you have a nanny?” Essie asks.
Everyone’s attention is pinned on him, as if he’s now our favorite gossip.
“Work has been busy, and now that Uncle Hudson is stepping down”—he shoots Mia a glare, as if it were her fault since it’s her dad—“all the work is on me. I need help on the days my mom can’t babysit. Plus, the nanny also helps out around the house.” He shrugs. “You guys are making a big deal out of nothing.”
“Let me just add that the nanny is hot as hell,” Ava adds with absolute certainty, a grin spreading across her face. “Like model gorg.”
“Can we not talk about my employees like that?” Easton narrows his eyes at her .
“I’m just curious why you didn’t invite her to the party,” Essie, always my nosy one, says.
“We’re in a bar,” Easton says, doing a sweeping motion of the brewery. “I can’t bring my daughter here. Hence why she needs a nanny in the first place. If she came, what would I do? Hire a nanny’s assistant to watch her?”
“Fair point,” Foster says.
“You could make her an executive nanny and hire people underneath her. She’d be the boss of them,” Callie suggests.
The smiles on their faces tell me they’re really going out of their way to give Easton a hard time. I like it since he’s usually the one who’s the most straitlaced out of the group.
“She’s just his nanny,” Willow, Easton’s mom, says, shooting him a sympathetic look. “I’m actually the one who hired her. He has so much on his plate, and he needed a breather.”
“All right, let me see a picture of this nanny,” Essie says, wiggling her fingers like she wants someone to hand over the evidence.
Easton shakes his head and sips his beer. “Let’s talk about someone else’s life, please. I’m over here, just taking care of my daughter.”
“Found it!” Ava holds out her phone and shows everyone.
“Okay, she’s super hot,” Essie says, showing the picture to me, as if asking me to agree.
Hell to the no .
“You’re the only woman I think’s hot,” I tell her.
“Good answer, good answer,” Foster says as if we were in a game show, and he slaps my back.
“I’m blocking you all from my business,” Easton grumbles, snatching Ava’s phone and tossing it back to her.
Ava grabs her phone before it falls to the floor. “Hey, since I’m the part-time babysitter and great-cousin for the Jas-Monster, you can’t do that.”
My mother leans into me. “Are they always this rowdy?”
“Yes,” I say, shaking my head and laughing .
“I love it,” my abuela squeals. “You all make me feel young again.” She peers at me with affection. “I’m so happy we’re here.”
“Me too,” I murmur to her. “Me too.”
This place has changed my life.
I never knew this kind of happiness before I came here.
It’s after one in the morning when Essie and I get back to my apartment.
Since Tucker is at my place tonight, we’re crashing here. It’s half of a duplex and closer to town, only ten minutes from Essie’s office.
I’ve been on Operation Convince Essie to Live with Me. We practically live together anyway.
I sold my condo in the city and became a Blue Beech resident. Even though I loved my condo, I wasn’t sad when it sold. It was a relief and a hope for new beginnings. The duplex isn’t as lavish as my old condo, but it’s actually more comfortable.
I shut the door behind us, and Essie tosses her purse onto the couch. Tucker dashes toward us, jumping at Essie’s ankles, and she bends down for him to give her a welcome home lick to the cheek.
“I’m sooo full,” she says, pressing her hand to her stomach. “I swear, Callie puts crack in her cakes. It keeps you coming back for more slices.”
I circle my arm around her waist to drag her toward me. “Thank you for tonight.”
Having friends who care this much is new to me.
Sure, I’ve had friends, but none who’ve remembered my birthday, bought me gifts, or baked me cakes.
She plants a kiss on my lips. “Oh, this was just your first birthday. I didn’t have as much time to prepare. I’m big on birthdays, so expect fun for every single one.”
I chuckle. “I can’t wait, baby.”
“Are you ready for your gift from me?”
She breaks away from my hold to grab her purse and takes out an envelope. All her attention is on me as I open it.
I unfold the paper, and my heartbeat jolts as I read it. “Are you serious?”
“So serious.” She struts toward me, pulls me onto the couch, and then straddles me.
The paper is still in my hand as she makes herself comfortable.
I read it again, like I never want to forget everything it says.
“So, what do you think, birthday boy?” she asks, running her hands up my arms.
“You know I’ve been game for us to merge firms before I even moved here.” I hold out the paper and read the business proposal she typed out. “Thank you for making this the best birthday gift ever.” I place three small pecks against her lips and drag her body closer.
I groan, throwing my head back, as she grinds against me.
“Which gift made it the best?” she asks, dropping her head to kiss my neck.
“All of them. You giving me a second chance, throwing me a party, this business proposal. All of them make me feel like the luckiest man in the world.”
“Well, you make me feel like the luckiest woman in the world, so it seems we make the perfect couple.”
God, she’s perfect.
And she’s giving me the perfect life.