“Yeah,I know. I’m sorry,” I mumbled, following behind her. “My stomach was bad.”
“Mm-hmm.”Her reply was absentminded as she grabbed the TV remote and began to flipchannels. “What else is new?” The comment was backhanded, albeit revealing abit of truth, so I consciously chuckled to disguise the sting.
Wipingmy hands against my shorts, I continued, “Anyway, I hung around with Ty andSebfor a while, before they went back to the hotel.”
“Tyleris nice,” she commented.
Shedropped the remote to the couch, after settling on some reality show I hadlittle interest in. Housewives and their extravagant lives. Ali’s face lit upwith desire and envy at the sight of their designer purses, clothes, and thelavish houses they kept it all in.
“Yeah,he’s a good guy,” I agreed, keeping up with our half-hearted conversation whiletrying to ignore the jealous glint in her eye.
“Theother one, though …” Her lips twisted with distaste. “He sure issomethin’, isn’the.”
“Sebastian?”I chuckled, as I pulled off my Rangers ballcap and dropped it to the arm of thecouch. “What do you mean?”
Aliturned and glared at the hat sitting on the armrest. “Chad, baby, come on. Ijustcleaned this couch. It’s bad enoughyou’resittin’ on it with those shorts, but when wasthe last time you cleaned that hat?”
Inarrowed my eyes thoughtfully at the cap and replied, “You knowsomethin’? I have no idea. I’ve had this thing since I wasa kid.”
Shegroaned a noise of disgust and squealed, “All the more reason to get it off mycouch!”
Witha sigh and another low chuckle, I picked it up and pulled it back on. “Sorry.”
Immediatesatisfaction pushed her lips to smile. “It’s all right,” she insisted, thenturned back toward the TV. “Anyway, I just mean he’skindarude.”
“Eh,”I shrugged, brushing off the comment. “He is who he is. He’s a good guy.”
“Ishe gay?”
Adisbelieving laugh scraped its way up my throat. “Sebastian?”
“That’swho we’retalkin’ about, isn’t it?”
Ishook my head. “Sebastian definitelyain’tgay.”
Shepinched her lips and hummed thoughtfully. “Seems like he’s over-compensating. Ithought he liked you orsomethin’.”
Withanother laugh, I laid a hand on her thigh and patted reassuringly. “He teasesthe fuckouttame, but heain’thittin’ on me.” Then, with a squeeze of my fingers, Isaid, “Don’t worry, babe. He’s not exactly my type, if you catch mydri—”
“Anyway,I was justsayin’, I’mstartin’to understand why you haven’t let me hang out with your friends before.”
Icocked my head and pulled my hand from her leg. “Haven’tletyou? I’ve invited you to our shows whenever we’ve been anywherenear—”
“Invitin’ me to some concerts isn’t the same ashavin’ your friends over for dinner,” she pointed out, andI released a heavy breath. Ali and I had never hosted a dinner foranybody. “Plus, you know I’m busy, baby.I don’t have time to go to concerts.”
“GuessI never thought of it like that,” I admitted. Although, I started to remindmyself, my parents, Sarah, and her husband had all come to a few of my shows.They’d all met the guys. They’d all made the time. “But,” I continued gently,“you still could’ve made the time to come seeme.”
Alisighed and reluctantly nodded, tightening her arms around her middle. “You’reright. Maybe I’ll come next time.”
Maybe.Maybemaybemaybe. I sniffed, scrubbing my hands anxiously againstmy shorts and the wish I’d made before blowing out my candles came back to me.That this would be my year. The year I’d start to feel better, the year I’dmake Ali my wife.
“Hey.”My voice was gruff, rasping through my throat as I turned to her. “So, I wasthinkin’ …”
“Oh,baby, we both know you shouldn’t do that,” she laughed airily, still staring atthe damn TV. “You’regonnahurt yourself.”
Isniffed again, laughing. “Nah, seriously. I …” I stretched my arm back outtoward her and laid my hand against her thigh. “I wasthinkin’,um … It’s been a pretty long time since we talked about what we want, you know,in the future, and—”
“Chad.”As though she knew what I was going to say, she cut me off with the brash hitof her voice. Then, her tone lightened as she continued, “We’re both very busypeople, baby. I’ve got my business, and God knows you’re hardly ever around.”
