Pawsitively in Love (21 page)

“Della, I do. I like having you nearby. I just would’ve liked some warning.”

“Why, so you could get in as much fucking with your boyfriend as possible before the crazy sister showed up?” she snarled.

“Don’t call yourself that.”

“Why? It’s true.”

“That’s not fair, and you have no right to say things like that to me about Austin, by the way. I’m going to make us some tea. Maybe that’ll calm you down a little.”

“Fuck you, Evan. Fuck you a lot.” Della looked around. “Where’s your dog?”

“He’s at Austin’s house.”

“So that
is
where you were?”

“Yeah, it was. We’d planned to hang out today, but I honestly needed to talk to him about some things. Explain what happened last night.”

Della stood abruptly. “And what did you tell him, huh? That I’m your nutcase sister and you wish I wasn’t in town? That you wish I was dead so you didn’t have to deal with me anymore?”

“No, Della.” He winced.

“Don’t bullshit me. I should’ve never come here.”

“What’s going on at home?”

“Nothing. That’s all. Literally nothing. It’s a shit town in the middle of shit nowhere, and there’s nothing there. I hoped there would be something here for me, but it looks like I was wrong about that too.”

“Della….”

“No. Why don’t you go back to your skanky boyfriend’s and do whatever it is that you do with him, because you obviously don’t care about me. I don’t even know why I’m surprised.”

“Can you please talk to me?” he asked.

“Why would I do that? You don’t want to listen to anything I have to say ever anyway.”

Della turned and stormed down the hallway to Evan’s guest room and slammed the door.

It was such a familiar sound. One he’d known so well most of his life… one he’d been gratefully without for nearly a year. Evan was back in his regular life, for sure. Dream over. Somehow, he wasn’t sure how it had happened exactly, but somehow in less than a day, his carefully constructed emerald city of an existence had fallen apart. And he found reality waiting behind the ruins to show him what a trick his newfound happiness had been.

HE WASN’T
ready to give it up. Della had stayed in her room the rest of the day, and although she’d probably snuck out during the night to eat, Evan hadn’t seen her. He’d gone on a walk, by himself, considered going to get Dexter because he missed his damn dog, and ended up doing a whole lot of nothing. He decided his life couldn’t have been fake happiness. He wasn’t going to let it. Somehow, he’d make it work—Austin, the dogs, the friends, his sister. She had to blend into what he’d found somehow.

“Hey, Sis?” Evan knocked on her door.

“What?” Della’s response was sharp and stiff. Evan shouldn’t have left her alone. It was a bad decision.

“Can you come out here?”

“I don’t really want to.”

“Della, I’d really like to talk.”

“Fine.” It took her nearly two minutes to open the door. She was dressed, in jeans and a chic sweater. She looked a lot more like the Della he knew, the one he loved, than the person who’d been in his house for a day and a half. “What is it, Evan?”

“Come out to the kitchen. I made tea.”

“What’s with the tea obsession?”

Evan had always loved tea. Della did notice other people than herself. Sometimes. But apparently that hadn’t been a detail she’d picked up. “I think we need to clear the air.”

“Okay.” At least she wasn’t angry.

“I do like having you here. At least I think I can.” Evan smiled and put his hand over hers. “But I also have a life here. One that’s taken me nearly a year to build. I’d like you to be a part of it, but it’s not just going to be you and me here. Is that something that you’d be okay with?”

“You know I don’t do well with lots of other people, Evan.” She didn’t. Della had a few friends back home, but she’d spent most of her time with him before he’d left.

“I never really did either. Neither of us had a lot of friends. But I’ve found some here, and I really like them.” He paused. “I also really like Austin. I want you and him to get to know each other better. He’s part of my life, and so are you.”

“I don’t like the boyfriend.”

“I think you would if you gave him a chance. Austin’s a nice guy, Dells. I really
really
like him.”

“So, what? You want me to get to be friends with all your friends?”

“No. I don’t need that. I do need you to get along with Austin, though. And to be okay if I want to go places sometimes—it would be fine if you wanted to come too.” Evan wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. He wanted to think that when she met Cole and Peter, Mary Beth, Colleen, and definitely Austin, that she’d like them as much as he did. If she gave them the chance.

“So you want me to get to know Austin?”

“Yes. That would be a good start.”

“Is he coming over?” she asked. Her face was wary.

“Not now. He’s at work.” Evan was glad for that. He needed a bit to work up to trying Della and Austin again.

“Where does he work?”

Evan smiled. He knew it was his sappy-ass Austin smile, but he couldn’t seem to help it. “He owns a pet salon. That’s how we met.” He figured he’d leave out all the drama with the shaving and the accusations. It was almost like that stuff had never happened anyway. He and Austin felt so strong.

“When do you want this hanging out to happen, then?”

Evan thought he detected something in her voice. “Dells, you have to give this a chance. I need you to try to like him.”

“I said okay. When’s he coming over?”

“He usually comes over for dinner Tuesdays.”

“Is this Tuesday?”

Evan nodded. “Is it okay if I ask him to come over?”

“It’s your house.”

“And you’ll try to get along with him.”

“I’ll try. I’m going to go take a nap,” Della said.

Evan figured he could bring up the job another day. If he got Della and Austin together and working well, that was just about all he could ask for one day. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and texted Austin that it was okay to come to dinner and to bring Dexter with him. Austin texted back that he’d be there. Evan was hopeful, so hopeful, that Austin would manage to charm Della eventually like he’d charmed Evan and everyone else around him. He hoped his sister wouldn’t be immune.

Evan spent most of the day worrying about the impending dinner. He cleaned, even though his place was as perfect as it always was, he went to the store, and he cooked. He set out candles and flowers around the room—nothing formal, just cheerful and happy. He hoped. Della didn’t do much participating. She spent a lot of the day in the guest room watching television. Evan hadn’t put a television in his own room, but he figured his guests might like it. Evan had never had any guests until Della, at least not ones who slept in a different room. Hopefully if things went well with the meet-up, Austin would be back in his bed in no time. Even though it had only been two nights, Evan missed that more than anything.

When Austin knocked on the door, Dexter and Maggie in tow, at seven o’clock sharp, Evan had worked himself into a bundle of uncomfortable nerves.
Calm down. It’ll be all right.

Della came out of her room to watch him greet Austin. Austin leaned up and gave Evan a long kiss when he walked in the door. Apparently that wasn’t the best intro for Della.

“Hi again, boyfriend.”

“I’m Austin. I don’t think we properly met the other day.” He walked right over to Della and held out his hand.

She reluctantly took it and shook it. “Hi. Della.” Della pulled her hand back as soon as she could. She was a demonstrative person with the right people—mainly Evan or her close friends when she was in a good mood—but she didn’t seem to have extended that to Austin.

“So what’s for dinner?” Austin asked.

“I made your favorite garlic bread crust pesto pizza and a
caprese
salad.”

“That sounds delicious. It smells so good in here.”

“You ready to eat?” Evan asked Della.

She shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

They all sat down at the table. Dexter and Maggie were running around each other in circles, like they hadn’t spent the entire past twenty-four hours together. It was adorable.

“What’s your dog’s name?” Della asked with a flat voice. Evan figured at least she was trying.

“Maggie. She’s about a year and a half.”

“Nice.” Della reached over and got herself a slice of the pizza that Evan had laid out and a serving of salad. “Is there any cola in the fridge?” she asked.

Evan shook his head. “I don’t have that. There’s wine and apple juice and more beer.”

“I guess I’ll have juice. Do either of you want any?” she asked.

“I’m okay with my beer,” Evan said.

“Me too, but thank you.” Austin smiled at Della. She gave him a small smile in return.

Evan elbowed Austin when Della had her back to them. He gave him a quick, discreet thumbs up. Maybe things were going to be okay.

They chatted a little while they ate. Conversation was stilted, but it wasn’t completely painful. Della told Austin a few funny stories from their childhood, with some obvious details cut out that would make them less funny and more… sad. Austin smiled and laughed when Della made a joke. He asked questions and added little comments here and there. Maggie and Dexter were icebreakers in their own way. They’d found one of Dexter’s balls hidden in a corner somewhere and were currently playing a rather intense game of keep away with it. Evan thought that it could really work. Della was trying. Austin was trying. They could honestly end up liking each other eventually.

Best part was, Evan saw real glimpses of
his
Della. He hoped they were there to stay.

“So, do you work from home, or are you planning to look for work up here?” Austin asked.

Oh shit.
Austin shouldn’t have said that. It might have seemed like a perfectly innocent topic, one that most people would ask someone new to town. But Della’s job had always been a sore spot. She’d spent hours on the phone complaining to Evan about it. He cringed and waited for Della to react. And react she did.

“What the hell right do you have to ask me something like that? You don’t know anything about me,” she said. Shouted was more like it. She’d got up and pushed her chair way back. “Just because I’m not working right now doesn’t mean that I’m a useless mooch. I just haven’t gotten around to it.” She glared at Austin.

“I-I’m sorry,” Austin said quickly. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Right. Nobody ever does. Mom doesn’t mean anything when she asks why no guy wants to marry me, Evan doesn’t mean anything when he asks why I came up here, and you don’t mean anything when you ask why ­­­I’m not working. Does it ever occur to any of you that I don’t want to
talk
about it?”

Austin threw Evan a panicked look. Evan hadn’t briefed Austin enough on the topics to avoid. There were a lot of them.

“I’m going to go in my room. I don’t want to deal with this… whatever it is, anymore. Night, Evan. I tried. It’s not going to happen.” She stalked into her room and slammed the door.

Austin stayed for a little while, but it was slowly becoming obvious that as long as Della was there and as annoyed with Evan—and Austin’s presence—as she was, things were going to be uncomfortable. Eventually, in some sort of silent agreement, they both decided he should head home for the night. Evan walked Austin and Maggie to the door. Della was in her room with the television on high volume. Austin reached out and wound their fingers together. Evan sighed, squeezed his hands, and tipped their foreheads together.

“Well, that was a huge disaster.” Evan breathed slow and deep. He remembered the charming dinner at Austin’s family’s house. The warm bubble they’d been building around themselves for the past month. It looked like it was all about to go to hell.

“It kinda was. But that’s okay. We’re probably going to have some growing pains while Della and I get used to each other.”

He was being so sweet. And understanding. And Della was still fuming in the guest room with the television blaring where she was likely to stay the rest of the night.

“I don’t know if there’s any getting used to each other with her. She… doesn’t like a lot of people.”

“I’m not that bad, am I? She’ll get to like me.”

“Maybe. When she’s having a good day, she’s really nice. I wish you’d met her on one of those. But, when she’s not in a good mood, there’s no talking to her. I just… wish you hadn’t seen any of this.”

“Ev. It’s part of your life. I want to be there too.”

“Okay. Just not today. Della and I have some things we need to work out.”

“I get it.”

“And….” Evan hated himself for saying it. “Can you please not say anything about this to your family. It’s cool if you want to say she’s in town, but… I guess I’m embarrassed in a way? I don’t know what to say. So I’ve just never said anything.”

“She’s just a little… difficult, Ev. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“Your family is just so perfect and wonderful. I don’t want to get them involved in this.”

Austin rolled his eyes. “Please. We’re
not
perfect. Nobody is. I won’t say anything, if that’s what you want. Really, I won’t. I just… please don’t compare yourself to my family and think we’re any better. We aren’t. You’re so amazing. And I’m sure one day Della and I will find a way to be okay with each other.”

“Okay… can I have a few days? I hate to ask, but I think she and I need some time together.”

“Of course.” Austin gave him a soft kiss. “I think that will be really good for you guys.”

Evan didn’t want to let Austin walk out the door. He cupped his chin, ran fingers through his sandy-colored hair. Evan felt like he was being a huge drama queen, but there was something that made him feel like he wasn’t going to see Austin again.

Don’t be stupid….

Austin smiled. “I’ll be waiting for your call. But take time for you and your sis. I bet you guys have missed each other.”

Austin nodded then, and with Maggie’s leash in hand, walked toward his car. Evan had always felt that little happy butterfly feeling when Austin’s car drove up at the end of a workday. He rarely saw it leaving until the next morning, not in the darkening twilight. But he remembered how it felt. He thought of Austin’s smile and how good it felt just to lie with him on the bed and talk.