Finding Eva (Highland Creek Series) (17 page)

“So Eva, about Gwen …”

“She’s married,” Eva blurted out, but quickly realized her mistake when his eyes got really big. She had just made Gwen appear like a slut and a cheater and quickly tried to make it right. “That didn’t come out right,” she tried to reassure him. “She is married, but the reason why she’s in Highland Creek with me, instead of with her husband, is because he is a major asshole who just did a number on her. I am not going to tell you what he did,” Eva said in response to the question she saw lurking in his eyes, “but just know that her marriage is in flux right now.” He nodded, and she could tell he was trying to be understanding. “I don’t know what she is going to do. He did something that is worthy of breaking the marriage up, and no one would blame her, but what she needs more than anything is a friend.”

“Got it. I have just been ‘friend zoned’ by someone else.” He laughed at the irony, the playboy who got whoever he wanted and the one girl he felt a true attraction to that he had never felt before and he couldn’t even have her. She was never his to lose. “I guess she will just be getting a good friend.”

“Thanks.” Eva reached up and kissed him in the cheek, more from the friendship that had developed over the last week than anything else. “You are a great guy, and you will make a girl really lucky someday.”

“No problem.” He returned the hug that accompanied the kiss, but he couldn’t help but think that he had already found his lucky one, despite her unavailability.

One down, one to go
, Eva thought as she knocked on the door to the guest bedroom where Gwen was staying. She heard “come in” muffled from the other side of the door and opened it to see Gwen lying face up on the bed. Despite the situation, she couldn’t help but think of how gorgeous Gwen had always been, and how Nick was an idiot to cheat on this amazing woman. Gwen turned her head, the only acknowledgement that Eva was even in the room, before turning to stare back at the ceiling.

“Whatcha doing?” Eva asked, opting for light as she lay down beside Gwen. They had been friends for too long to let this disagreement ruin their friendship, but she wanted to make sure that there was no damage or ill will.

“Finding answers.” This was a constant thing with them; whenever they would have a problem, they would always lie down beside one another and search for answers. They usually did it outside, but sometimes the bedroom ceiling had to do.

“What did you find?”

“Not a damn thing,” Gwen said, her clenched hands the only sign that she was not as calm as she appeared to be.

“It will come.” Eva put her hand over Gwen’s and squeezed, silently telling her she was there. “I am sorry about earlier.” She turned so that she was facing Gwen’s profile. “I didn’t mean to come off as a bitch, or remind you that you are married. I know that you would never do anything that would negatively impact your marriage, unlike the dipshit. Conner is really nice, and I just didn’t want to see you or him get hurt if things don’t work out.”

“I know.” Gwen sighed and turned toward her. “I was feeling particularly bitchy today. I shouldn’t have said all that I did to you. It wasn’t fair to lump you in with all my feelings about Nick. And Conner was being so nice it was great to feel like someone wanted me, but the only good I am going to be right now is as a friend.”

“I know, and don’t worry about earlier. I realized how incredibly selfish I have sounded over the past couple of weeks, and although I will probably not change overnight, I am going to make an effort to not be quite a whiny, ‘poor me’ bitch. And about Conner, I know that you may kill me, but I told him that all you needed was a friend.” Gwen smiled sadly, as though she was wondering what could have been if not for all the shit that was going on.

“Thanks. I don’t want to start off on the wrong foot with Nick if I decide to go back to my marriage.” Eva was about to say something, not so much to state her opinion but more so to ask if she had decided, because Gwen definitely sounded like she was leaning toward one way.
Saved by the bell
, she thought as her phone rang, and she smiled when she saw it was Aaron.

“Hey, beautiful, how are you?”

“Amazing! Wishing I was with you.”

He groaned and she loved that he was not ashamed to let her know that he wanted her. “You’re killing me, babe. I would love to be buried inside you all day. How about I make your wish my command tonight?”

“I will have to see how everything is going tonight.”

“That works. And although I will try and respect your space, now that I have had you, I can’t wait to have you again. But before I make myself any hornier thinking about you, the real reason I was calling was to see if you wanted to come to my parents’ house for a cookout. They are having everyone over, and with the way Conner and I have been talking about you, they want to meet you.”

“That’s sweet. I will talk to Gwen, but I am sure she would love to.”

“Great. See you then, babe.” She hung up with a smile, trying not to think about the strong feelings she was having about this guy that she didn’t know two months ago. It was too soon, and although her inner control freak screamed, something else told her to embrace the chaos and uncertainty of a new relationship.

“I guess that was Aaron.”

“Yeah. His parents are having a cookout tonight, you game?”

“Free food and hot guys? Hell yeah!”

A
aron couldn’t remember being this nervous bringing a girl around his family since the pregnancy scare during college. He was so worried when his girlfriend’s period was two weeks late, and he was sure his mother was going to skin him alive. Not the best way to meet the fam, but thankfully she wasn’t pregnant, and he was a bit fanatical about safe sex since then. He didn’t know why he was worried, other than the fact that he really wanted his family to like her. If he had his way, Eva would be around for a long time, and he couldn’t see himself with a girl long term if his family didn’t like her. They were so close, it just would not be feasible.

His dad was, as usual, manning the grill when he walked to the back of the house. He had stopped to get Eva, but seeing as her car wasn’t outside, he figured she was doing those errands that she mentioned this afternoon when he’d called to ask her to the cookout.

“Hey, old man.” Aaron’s dad, Ian, turned around with a smile, ready to greet his son. That was what he loved about his parents—they were always there with a ready smile, and he was very thankful that he had such an amazing family.

“Nothing, young punk,” his father answered, as was their custom. Aaron always accused his dad of being an old man while Ian always called him a young punk. He continued to flip burgers and brats as he asked, “When is your girl getting here?” Aaron glanced at his watch, noting the time.

“I don’t know, any minute now I guess. She was running errands with her friend Gwen and then she said she would be here. I’m excited for her to meet everybody,” he started before he could stop himself. What the fuck was he doing sounding like a girl? He must have it worse than he thought, and although his dad didn’t give him shit for it, he did look at him like he wasn’t fooled.

“I am sure everyone will like her. She seemed like a really nice girl.”

“You’ve met her?” That was news to him.

“Yeah, she came over the other day to talk to your mother briefly. Mom wasn’t here, but I met her and she seemed like a really great girl.”

Aaron just stood there at a loss for words. “Huh.”

His father turned from watching the meat. “Why are you surprised? I mean, damn, Son, we live next door. Coupled with the fact that your mother was her mother’s best friend, there are bound to be questions.”

“I guess,” he said, still not convinced but had to hold that thought as he heard running and giggling, a sure sign that Kelly was here.

“Uncle A,” she squealed before slamming into him, wrapping her arms around his thighs before he picked her up and swung her around.

“Hey, baby doll,” he kissed her on the cheek before nuzzling her neck in a way that always caused her to laugh full out. “What have you been up to?”

“Nothing.” She smiled as she put her arms around his neck. “I missed you. You didn’t come see me!”

He smiled apologetically. “I know. I’ve been busy. How about we make a playdate for this week?”

“Ok!” And then in a way only four year olds could, she shifted her focus to her grandfather. “Papa!” She held her arms out for Ian, who gladly took her before hugging her.

“Are you Papa’s girl?”

“Uh-huh.” She nodded seriously, latching onto him as though she hadn’t seen him in months as opposed to days. “Can I help you cook?”

“Cook?!” He tickled her stomach, making her giggle. “Papa grills! Wanna grill with me?”

“Yes!” She pumped her hands up and down. Aaron laughed, loving his niece and his family in general, always thankful for the time he had with them. He turned at the hand slap on his shoulder, figuring it was his brother coming to check on Kelly.

“Hey, man.” He gave him a one-armed hug. “How have you been?” He hadn’t really talked to his brother about the pending divorce in the past week or so, but he knew that it was close to being finalized.

“I’m good, great actually, now that all that shit is behind me.”

“So you’re done with Ash?”

“Yeah.” He sighed deeply and rubbed his hands down his face. “She agreed to everything that I asked for, but the one thing that bothers me is the shit with Kel. She willingly, without my asking, signed over her rights to Kel and told me that she never wanted to be a mom. I mean, I knew she wasn’t the best mom, but who does that to their own child?”

“Your ex-wife.” Aaron barely restrained from calling her a bitch. He never liked Ashley, but knowing that she was pulling some emotional bullshit on his brother and niece pissed him off even more. They didn’t know what went on with his brother and Ashley, but he had a feeling it was some bad shit. His brother never discussed it, but they all thought the same thing. “Has Kel said anything about her?”

“Not really, and that makes me feel worse. If Ashley had been a good mom, then Kelly would want her, but why would you want someone who made it very clear that you were an inconvenience? I am going to see how she does, but I have thought about putting her in therapy if she has problems down the road because I know when she gets older she will eventually want to talk about Ashley.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe how fucking wrong I was about her.”

Aaron patted him on the back. “It happens to the best of her. Although Ashley was never my favorite person, she was never a crazy bitch until about two years ago.”

“I know.” Bryan turned when he heard their sisters coming down. “Let’s finish this later…” he gestured his head toward the sound of their voices “…and concentrate on meeting your girl. What time will she be here?”

“Any minute now.” He greeted his sisters, who came in bubbly as usual.

Adelaide, affectionately known as Addie, was a bit of a ball buster, but most of that came from working as an investment banker for one of the leading financial firms in the state. She said she had to be better than most, being in a male dominated field, but she never let her choice of profession impact the fact that she was truly a girl. She was always in heels and always had her hair and nails perfect, if the amount of time that she spent at the salon was any indication.

Reagan was truly the baby of the family, and the one that they lavished attention on. She had the beach look perfected, from her wavy curls to those signature blue eyes, and it never failed to amaze her the amount of attention she got from her looks. She was so unpretentious that she couldn’t imagine any guy fawning over her, but Aaron and his brothers always had to beat the boys back with a stick. Not that she knew that. She was still trying to find herself and figure out what she wanted to do, but currently she was substitute teaching to determine if she wanted to teach long term.

After shooting the shit with his sisters for a couple of minutes, both of them playing with Kelly while quietly probing him about the girl that he was bringing, he was happy to see his mother coming down with his girl. His girl? He didn’t know when he started thinking of her as his, but somehow it fit the feelings he was currently having.