Page 17 of His to Cherish
You have to come with us tomorrow night. Girls’ night rules.
I stared at my phone and the text that had come from one of my closest friends, Suzanne. She was one of three of my friends who I met in college. The four of us had been best friends ever since our freshman year when we were all suite mates. Suzanne and Camden went to high school together and had been friends their entire lives, while I met them, along with Paige, the day we moved in.
We instantly clicked, for which I’d been forever grateful. Four girls living together could have turned vicious quickly.
They’d been my rocks, seeing me through infertility treatments and a broken marriage. I was pretty sure I demanded more of them than I’d ever been able to return in the five years since we graduated.
But I had bailed on last month’s get-together. Derrick’s funeral had just happened and I wasn’t up for it.
This month, I wasn’t allowed excuses, although I would have loved to give one and skip out.
Mostly because I was being atotal girlwho was crushing on a man she couldn’t have.
It shouldn’t have mattered. I’d been crushing on him since I first saw him two years ago, with only the rare spark in Aidan’s eyes that told me maybe…just maybe…he felt the same way about me.
Neither of us had ever acted on it, though, and the moments where I thought he might were so fleeting I had always been able to brush them away, even while I silently yearned for something more from him.
Now, though, I knew I didn’t have a chance. If anything had changed for us, it was that I’d been firmly planted in the “friend zone.”
Aidan and I didn’t have a routine. We didn’t have nights where we planned to get together, yet they’d become important to me, and they seemed to be important to him.
So I was hesitant to declare I was in for tomorrow night on the off chance he’d stop by and I wouldn’t be home.
I’d hate to disappoint him.
Then I shook my head and replied to Suzanne’s text. I was being stupid. I could always leave him a note if I felt the need, but even that seemed desperate. A little too vulturelike.
I’ll see you there. Save me some chips this time.
I smiled. Two months ago I had shown up thirty minutes late and my friends had fallen on the chips and salsa like they hadn’t eaten in months. That huge bowl of chips was gone in a flash, along with the first pitcher of margaritas.
Don’t be late this time, twerp.
I grinned so wide my cheeks hurt. I needed this. I needed my friends and their laughter. I needed to remember there was more going on in my life than mourning fathers and depressed teenagers.
Sliding my phone across the counter, I hurried upstairs for a shower. I’d just gotten done with a five-mile run when Suzanne’s text had come and I could feel the sweat drying on my skin.
As soon as I was done showering, I threw on a pair of pajama pants, knowing it was late and I probably wouldn’t have company tonight. There was aFlip This Housemarathon on HGTV and I was a sucker for a good home-improvement show.
I had a glass of Riesling in my hand and was moving toward the living room when my doorbell rang, startling me.
My feet froze, and I looked down at my cami top with a shelf bra that did little to hide what was beneath. My pink cotton pants had white kittens all over them.
I was essentially dressed like a thirteen-year-old at a sleepover, but I couldn’t pass my front door where Aidan—and I had no doubt it was him on the other side—wouldn’t see me.
I was stuck.
Tossing back a large swallow of wine, I pretended I didn’t care that he was probably going to see my nipples under my tank top. Although I did glance at my coat closet and wonder how stupid I’d look if I answered the front door wrapped in a wool peacoat.
“For crying out loud,” I muttered to myself. “Get a grip.”
I opened the door and immediately wished I had put the peacoat on.
Aidan was definitely on the other side, a bright pink box that I’d recognize anywhere in his hands in front of him, and his eyes immediately dropped to my chest.
“Fuck,” he exhaled.
My throat was filled with a huge lump.
