Chapter 6
Everly
“My love bug!” my mom exclaims, greeting Birdie and me at her door. “I’m so excited to see you.”
“I’m excited to see you too, Gramma,” Birdie says, skipping into my parents’ modest, split-level home. “Where’s Grandpa?”
“He’s in the kitchen, baby,” my mom tells her. “He’s been waiting for you.” I step inside and wrap my arms around my mom. “It’s so good to see you, Everly,” she whispers into my hair. “You look good.”
“Thanks, Mom.” I pull back from her embrace, taking in her slender frame. “So do you.”
Her thick hair is cut short in a tight bob at her shoulders, her hazel eyes crinkled at the corners. My mom is the polar opposite of my former mother-in-law, Miranda. Grant’s mom is cold, manipulative, and always focused on climbing the social ladder. My mom, on the other hand, is warm, kind and one of the most supportive people I know.
I’ve been trying to make a point of seeing my parents often since Birdie and I moved to Reed Point. When we lived in Brookmont, we made the trip out to visit them a couple of times a year at best, and I know it broke my mom’s heart that she saw so little of us. It was always an argument between Grant and I, but his calendar was usually packed, and he didn’t like the thought of Birdie and I making the drive on our own. Whenever I did plan a trip to see my parents, it seemed like a dinner party or black-tie event would come up at the last minute. Grant enjoyed these events far more than I did, but me being the good wife, I went along with it.
My mom gently squeezes my arms, pulling me from my memories. “How’s my baby?” she asks, concern on her face.
I inhale a deep breath and decide how much I want to tell her. Truthfully, some days it’s overwhelming, but I”m also happier than I have been in a long time. It has been a dream of mine to be able to share weekly dinners with Birdie and my parents, to watch my mom teach Birdie how to garden in her backyard. I know that moving here was the right thing to do, but some days it’s been really hard. I’m exhausted, in every possible way.
“As good as I can be, I guess,” I say.
“I’m worried about you, sweetheart. I don’t know how you’re juggling it all. Why won’t you let your dad and I help you more? You know we are happy to.”
Even though she knows I would never ask, I tell her what she wants to hear. “I will, Mom, if it gets too much. I promise.”
The reality is that I need to prove to myself that I can do this all on my own. I can support Birdie and myself without my ex’s money. No matter how tired or stressed I am, I’d still rather be working at Catch 21 and living here than be back in Grant’s mansion in Brookmont.
“Come here,” my mom says, reaching an arm around my shoulder. “I made your favorite soup. Let’s go sit down at the table.”
She steers me into the kitchen, where Birdie is already sitting on my dad’s lap playing a game on his iPad. My heart swells at the sight. Real. Pure. Love. With no strings. This is what I’ve always wanted for Birdie.
“Those two and their games,” my mom says, looking fondly at them.
“There’s my girl,” my dad says, looking up from the iPad as I round the table and give him a kiss on his cheek. “I’d get up to hug you, but Birdie and I are a little busy here.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” I say, ruffling Birdie’s curls.
“She’s been telling me some very interesting stories,” he says, giving me a knowing look over the rim of his glasses.
“Oh? What did you hear?” I take off my sweater and hang it on the back of my chair. It must be 85 degrees in here and the fan in the corner is doing absolutely nothing. I sit down, feeling immediately at home in the old kitchen. Not much has changed since I left for college. The cabinets are still a heavy oak with exposed hinge hardware and the walls are sponge painted a mottled beige.
“We can talk about it later,” he says with a wink.
I cock my head at him, trying to figure out what on earth he’s talking about. And then it dawns on me that Birdie has probably told him all about her new friend, Jake. My girl loves to tell stories.
I think back to the text message Jake sent me today. The one I still haven’t returned. The text was innocent enough, falling neatly into the friend zone. How was your week? Mine was a doozy so I hope yours was better. I feel bad for letting another text from Jake go without a response, but in my defense, I read it while I was at the park with Birdie. That was a few hours ago, though, and I have no good excuse now for leaving him on read.
I shove the guilty feeling down, turning my attention back to my family. My mom asks Birdie if she can go check on the lettuce in the garden out back for her, and my daughter is off her chair and racing out the door in a split second.
“I think that was a yes,” my mom says with a laugh. Birdie loves spending time in the garden at my parents’ place, it’s one of the reasons she is always wanting to come visit.
My dad leans forward on the table, that curious expression still on his face. “So, Birdie tells me you two made a new friend by the name of Jake.” He gives me a look that I’ve seen a million times before. The one that says, You better know what you’re doing.
I hold up my hands. “Whatever you’re thinking, it’s not that,” I tell him. “We just met Jake. You know Birdie; she knows someone for five seconds and suddenly they’re her new best friend.”
“That is true, but she made it sound like there’s something going on with the two of you. I don’t want to stick my nose in your business, honey, but you know this will make things even more difficult between you and Grant. I doubt very much he would be okay with you dating.”
I sigh. “I get that, Dad, I do, but there’s nothing going on with me and Jake,” I say again, a feeling of frustration building inside of me. “But let’s say there was… am I supposed to allow Grant Billings to run my life forever? He and I are not together anymore. Don’t get me wrong— I’m not looking to date anyone right now, but I am done with my life revolving around Grant.”
My dad nods sympathetically. “Just be smart about things. I know you will be. If you do end up falling for this guy and he’s good to our Birdie, I’m not trying to talk you out of it. You deserve a second chance.”
“Yes, honey. Grant cannot be allowed to take your happiness from you. He has already taken too much,” my mom adds, placing her hand over mine.
I’m reminded of all the ways Grant pushed me to the point of breaking, until I felt like I was dying inside. I did everything he asked of me, and it still wasn’t good enough. There was virtually nothing I could have done to stop him from sticking his dick inside of every beautiful woman who threw herself at him.
I’d met Grant at a mutual friend’s birthday party. We spent most of the evening talking and laughing, and when he offered to drive me home at the end of the night, I let him. When he asked if he could see me again, I said yes, even though he told me he wasn’t looking for anything serious. Pretty soon I was spending most of my free time with him. As far as I knew, we were in a committed relationship.
Eight months after we started seeing each other, I found out I was pregnant.
“Your mother is right, sweetheart.” My dad brings me back to the present. “Do what makes you happy. Just be careful with Birdie’s heart. She gets attached easily.”
Ever since I ran into Jake in the ice cream shop, he’s been all I can think about. I imagine his eyes—those eyes a dozen different hues of green—and his smile, especially when he smirks. Physically, I’m very attracted to him, but more than that, I love talking to him. Just being around him feels… intoxicating.
But my mom is right. I can’t let Birdie get close to Jake, only for her to be heartbroken down the road when he decides he doesn’t want to be in our lives. I have enough to deal with as it is. Jake Matthews is a distraction I can’t afford right now.
Two hours later, after a delicious dinner and a second helping of my mom’s homemade apple pie, it’s time to leave. As I slide into the driver’s seat, I feel my phone buzz in my pocket and my mind immediately returns to Jake. But when I pull my phone out and swipe the screen, I find a message from the last person on earth I want to talk to.
Grant: You’ve had your fun, now bring Birdie back home. I’m tired of this bs.
I ignore the text, my jaw clenched so tight that I feel a headache coming on instantly. You would think I’d be better by now at not letting his rage texts get under my skin. But I’m not. Lowering myself into the car, I rest my head against the leather seat while tears prick at my eyes. Easing out of the driveway, I roll down my window and turn the music up in the car as a distraction. A warm, summer breeze hits my face as I drive, and I breathe in the scent of lilacs and linden trees as I try to calm the urge to scream.
Once we are back at our apartment, I park the car and try to put on a happy face for Birdie, but for the rest of the night I’m lost in my own thoughts. I’m happy here in Reed Point where the memories of my marriage aren’t constantly haunting me. But it’s a lot. Grant, his mom, paying the rent on this tiny apartment, making a home for us, my job, Birdie. It all feels like an impossible balancing act, and I am just so exhausted. The alternative is I could move back to Brookmont, but the thought makes my stomach twist.
Maybe I just need to take a break from it all, just for a day. Do something fun. I think back to the texts that are waiting for me from Jake. Maybe he’s the fun I need.
JAKE
It’s Thursday afternoon,and I’m back on a job site installing hardwood flooring, my T-shirt soaked with sweat. The good news is that we’re back to a full crew tomorrow, which means I can get back to the office instead of breaking my back on my hands and knees. I’d forgotten how demanding this work is, and I had underestimated how exhausted I would be after a few weeks of it. The bad news? I’m in a shit mood.
Halsey pumps through the speaker of my site super’s phone while he installs a bathroom vanity. The song, Bad At Love, is about falling hard and fast for someone, and although I’m not at the point where I’m falling for Everly, the song still annoys the shit out of me. I haven’t heard a word from her. She’s obviously not interested. She made that painfully clear when she didn’t return the second text I sent to her. I need to forget about her and move on.
Unfortunately, I can’t get her out of my head. I obsess over our conversations, thinking about what I could have done or said differently. I sit in traffic and wonder what she and Birdie are doing. I close my eyes at night and picture Everly. This isn’t like me. The only time I felt anything close to this was with the one girl who ended up breaking my heart.
I know what it feels like to be in love. I was with my ex, Jade, for two years. Jade is beautiful—ice-blue eyes, dark brown hair. More than that, she got me. She had lost a parent too. When she was nine, her mother died in a car accident. She was driving home from a work function when a drunk driver swerved into oncoming traffic. Jade was the first person I met who had suffered a loss like I had, and I think that made it easier to be myself around her. She didn’t expect me to be happy all the time, she gave me space when I didn’t feel like talking. She loved me for who I was. Until she didn’t. The day Jade broke up with me I felt like I lost everything. She said we were young, that things felt too serious. She told me she wanted to see the world. Three weeks later she left for Europe, and I haven’t seen or heard from her since. That was two years and four months ago.
For a while, I really thought she would come back to me. I thought that one day I’d get a call from her saying that she was back home in Reed Point, that she realized she had made a mistake when she ended things. I think some part of me still wants that to happen. Maybe it will.
The truth is— I saw a future with Jade. It’s not easy for me to open up to people, but Jade was so easy to talk to that it just came naturally. We had a lot in common. We just fit. We matched up well in the bedroom too. The sex was mind-blowing. Jade didn’t want a gentleman in the bedroom. No, she preferred it when I pinned her up against a door, tore her clothes off, and left marks on her skin. She was always game to try new things and liked being pushed past her limits. She loved it when I was rough with her, and the dirtier I talked, the better. Her kink was being praised. Sex with her was more like a marathon than a sprint, and sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever be able to find someone like that again, someone who likes sex the same way I do.
Ultimately, I want the girl who’s going to beg me to fuck her harder while I’m whispering the dirtiest shit into her ear, not the girl who wants to have sex with the lights off.
Checking the time on my watch, I get back to work, trudging between the kitchen and the miter saw I set up outside. I work for another two hours solid, only stopping when I get a call from my sister. I step outside to answer it.
“I’m almost all packed. Are you excited to see me?” Sierra arrives on Saturday, and despite the difficult task of helping Gran move out of her home, I’m excited to see her. Four years is a long time. Too long.
“I am, Si. I know Gran is too when she isn’t losing her shit about the move.”
“Yeah, I’m sure she’s giving you an earful. I’m sorry I haven’t been there to deal with some of that.”
“You should be. She’s been a peach.” I sit down on a patio chair, groaning slightly as I stretch my legs out in front of me.
“Are you okay?” Sierra asks.
“Yeah, just tired. I’ve been working on site for the past couple of weeks and I’m fucking feeling it,” I admit.
“How old are you?” Sierra teases. “Do you need me to get you a room next to Gran’s?”
I toss my free arm over my head, stretching out my deltoid muscle, which is killing me too. “Just remember who’s going to help you unpack. Keep being a brat and I’ll fake an appendicitis.”
She laughs. “Yeah, yeah. You wouldn’t dare.”
“Don’t be so sure.”
We talk for a little while longer about the move. It doesn’t just mean a new house for Sierra, but a new job as well. She works for the Seaside Hotel company in Virginia Beach, and they have agreed to let her relocate here to Reed Point, but I know that Sierra will want to hit the ground running.
“Text me the route you’ll be taking. And call me when you hit the road, so I know what time to expect you,” I tell her. “And keep your phone charged in case of an emergency. Oh, and don’t stop at any of those dodgy road stops, people get murdered at those things. And call me as soon as you get here.”
”You do realize that I’m a grown-up, right? And that people drive on highways every day and get to where they’re going in one piece?”
“Yeah, yeah. Just drive safe.”
“I’ll drive safe, Jake,” she mutters, and I swear I can hear her roll her eyes over the phone. Sierra likes to complain that I’m overbearing and overprotective, but I think she’s used to it by now. When our parents died, I became the person who always looked out for Sierra. I was the oldest, and I know it’s what my parents would have wanted. My sister might not always agree.
She thinks I’m too serious, and she’s probably right. But I’ve had to be. While most of my friends were hanging out at the beach, I was working two jobs to help my grandparents out. When I wasn’t working or paddle boarding, I would lock myself in my room. I’ve always preferred staying in and watching movies over getting wasted at a party. Even before my parents died, I would sit and play video games for hours, perfectly happy. They used to have to force me to take a break. Looking back, I wish I had spent less time in my room and more time with my mom and dad.
My phone vibrates, and I do a double-take when I look down at the screen and see Everly’s name.
Everly: Hey, it’s Everly.
Everly: Can we still be friends? Sorry I didn’t reply sooner.
Jake: I think I can overlook it.
Everly: That’s good. I’m trying to overlook the fact that you pretty much sold my daughter on getting a cat and now that’s all I hear from her.
Jake: I guess I kind of did. Maybe I should buy her one. They are really cute when they’re kittens.
Everly: I would stab you.
Jake: Ouch. So violent.
Everly: That is how much I do not want a cat.
Jake: You better hope I don’t show up with a furry feline with a bow around its neck next time I see you then.
Everly: Who said there would be a next time?
Jake: Oh, there will be. :)
I stare at my phone with a stupid smile smeared across my face.
Everly: I better run. Night shift. I’m walking, so I need to get going.
While I watch the three gray dots bounce, I roll my shoulder forward and then back, but the movement only makes it ache more.
Jake: You walk home after a night shift? By yourself?
The gray dots appear. Then stop bouncing. Then appear again.
Everly: Yes, dad.
She follows the text up with a bald-headed man emoji.
Jake: You shouldn’t be walking so late by yourself.
Everly: My neighbor is watching Birdie for me, but she doesn’t have a car and I feel more comfortable if mine is there in case she needs it. And I’m perfectly capable of looking out for myself.
Jake: I know you are. I just want to make sure you don’t die.
Everly: I promise I won’t die.
Jake: Be careful, Everly.
Everly: I always am.
I shove my phone back into my pocket, and that stupid grin from before is back. This girl makes me feel crazy things and I have no idea what to do about it.
It’safter eleven o’clock and I’ve been standing outside of Catch 21 for almost an hour, waiting for Everly to get off her shift.
I didn’t tell her I was coming—hell, I didn’t even know I was going to stand here for this long. I have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to Everly. All I do know is that I want to see her.
I was out with the guys drinking—they were doing most of the drinking, I just had a couple of beers. I was too worried about Everly getting home safely after her shift. The next thing I knew, I was making excuses for leaving early and heading over to Catch 21.
The restaurant door swings open, and this time it is Everly. My pulse quickens and I smile as I take her in.
She’s dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a crop top, her hair pulled back in a ponytail. She has a duffle bag slung over her shoulder. She spots me, and her lips part in surprise.
“Jake?” she asks, walking towards me. “What are you doing here?”
“I was out with the guys… and, well… I wanted to make sure you got home okay.”
I hate that she walks home at night. I mean, I get that Reed Point is a small, relatively safe, affluent town, but it’s dark and bad things can happen anywhere. Everly may be tough, but she can’t weigh more than 110 pounds.
Narrowing her eyes at me, Everly folds her arms across her chest. My eyes track the movement down to her incredible tits before returning to meet her glare. I get lucky when she doesn’t call me out on it. “I told you I’m not helpless. I’ll be fine, Jake. I walk home after night shifts all the time.”
She seems irritated, but if she thinks she has a choice in the matter, she is dead wrong. “Not tonight you’re not.”
Everly’s head tips to one side as she looks at me, no doubt trying to determine how serious I am about this. I can see the gears working in her brain. If she thinks I’m going to budge, she’s dead wrong. I see a flash of frustration in her pretty, moss-green eyes. “You’re not the boss of me, Jake.”
“No, I’m not, but I’m still going to walk you home.”
“You’re going to walk me home?”
Judging from the surprise in her voice, the reality of this is just now sinking in. The anger seems to pass, and for the first time since I’ve met Everly, she looks vulnerable. A knot forms in my throat as I wonder how this girl was treated in the past. Walking her home is hardly a big deal. Besides, it’ll give me some peace of mind. I wouldn’t have been able to sleep otherwise.
“Yup, all the way. Now, are you finished arguing with me? Can we go?”
Her lips tip up in a smile, and I feel my heart pound in my chest. She even looks beautiful when she’s busting my balls.
“This one time, Jake,” she warns. “I mean it.” I take her bag from her shoulder, noticing again the heady scent of her perfume.
“How was work?” I ask, slinging her bag over my shoulder. I let Everly lead the way, and we stroll down the dimly lit sidewalk. It’s a clear night, and the moon is large and bright overhead.
“It was fine, but it’s going to be good to get to bed. I’m up at seven tomorrow morning with Birdie to get her to school,” Everly says, and I notice for the first time that she looks tired.
“Ouch.”
“Yeah, I know. I’ve been a zombie since taking this job.”
“Have you thought about trying out a different job? One that doesn’t involve late nights.”
“That’s the plan, but I haven’t been able to find anything that pays me as well. The tips add up to more than half my paycheck.”
She has a point. Catch 21 is Reed Point’s swankiest spot. The people who dine there have money, and they love to spend it. But it must be hard working nights when she could be at home with Birdie. An idea comes to mind, but I hesitate, sure she’ll shoot me down.
“How are you with computers?” I ask her anyways.
She looks at me sideways. “Why do you ask?”
“Because I might know of someone hiring. It’s a day job, so you wouldn’t have to worry about Birdie. I think it would be a good fit, and the pay would be the same or better than what you’re making now.”
Everly’s eyes widen. “Really? What line of work?”
“An office administrator for a contracting company.”
She stops and turns to face me. “Who do I contact?”
“You’re looking at him. The job is yours if you want it.”
I stand there, holding my breath, awaiting her response.
I’ve known this girl for all of a week, but it’s long enough to know that she’ll never accept my offer… not without a fight.