Chapter 4

Iset my phone on the table and took another bite of my dinner, figuring Enzo had taken my brilliant advice. I certainly was not picturing his acai in those pants I knew he was wearing. They may have been too long, but the fabric hugged his perfect ass just right.

"So what did you and Lloyd do for Christmas, Ev?"

I raised an eyebrow at Topher while I finished chewing my delicious honey-teriyaki chicken. "What do you think we did? The same thing we did last year. Awkward conversation, exchange of meaningless but obligatory gifts, and dinner at my aunt and uncle's where my uncle lectured me on all the reasons I need to start saving for retirement now. Because do I want to be barely scraping by on social security when I'm seventy and can't afford to pay for my arthritis meds? Do I, Topher? We're talking about my joints here, man!" I wiped my mouth on my napkin and sat back with a smug grin. "Let's face it, I've put those bad boys to work. I refrained from saying that to him."

The three people at the table with me couldn't hold back their laughter, but there was an underlying pity in their eyes. I didn't need to mention the part where I missed my mom so fucking bad it hurt. That just this morning, I'd stared at the photo from two Christmases ago and remembered how we smiled through the pain, hoping that if we ignored that she was sick then it wouldn't be true.

"You should've just come here like Stacey and I told you to." Lucas reached across the table and snatched another dinner roll out of the basket.

"You know you're always welcome here, Ev." As Stacey walked behind me on her way to the kitchen, she leaned down and kissed the top of my head, her long, blonde ponytail brushing against my shoulder. I didn't think she realized how that one comforting gesture held my heart the same way my mom's gentle touch used to. Or maybe she did know and that was exactly why she did it. There was no one in this world who knew me better than the three people I'd grown up with. Lucas, Stacey, and Topher had been my best friends since kindergarten.

As Lucas shoved another roll in his mouth, Topher and I glanced at each other and laughed. "What?" he said around a mouthful of carbs.

I shook my head at my friend. "You wouldn't have stood a chance with our girl if Topher and I swung that way."

"Bullshit. She always had a crush on me. Tell 'em, honey." Lucas wrapped his arm around Stacey's waist as she passed his chair, cheesecake in hand.

With her free hand, she ran her fingers through his dark blond hair and smiled. "What can I say? I'm a sucker for a guy who thought that when the ice cream truck played music it meant it was out of ice cream."

Lucas blushed and smiled sheepishly, pulling his fiancée closer. "That was totally my mom's fault, but if that's what won you over, I'll call and thank her in the morning."

There'd been a very brief period of time where Topher and I had worried that Lucas and Stacey being together was going to ruin the friendship dynamic the four of us had had since kindergarten. Of course, the fact they hadn't told us right away that their feelings for each other had changed didn't help much. It had caused tension in the group until they'd explained they didn't want to rock the boat until they knew for sure. Topher and I ultimately understood, but it was awkward as hell for a few months once we found out.

"Maybe I should've come here." As soon as the words left my mouth, I knew they weren't true. On top of the fact that leaving my dad alone on Christmas would be a really shitty thing to do, my mom would've been so disappointed in me. My chest ached again, a deep, piercing pain I couldn't seem to reach no matter what I did.

Knowing me as well as the other two people in the room, Topher said, "Yeah, that would never happen. Lloyd can be a stick in the mud, but he's still your dad."

I sighed and leaned back in my chair. "Yeah, he is. I love him. I just wish we had…" I didn't bother finishing the thought because no matter how much I wished for it, my relationship with my dad was never going to magically become what I'd had with my mom. I'd been a mama's boy through and through. Losing her was like losing a piece of myself. Aside from my best friends, there was no one who understood me like she had.

"We all miss her," Stacey said softly, reaching across the table to take my hand.

Topher leaned his forearms on the table, the eyes of the dragon tattooed on his skin staring me down as if part of the conversation. "She made the best brownies," Topher said with a sigh as we all agreed.

"She gave the best hugs, too," Stacey added with a solemn smile.

A somber silence fell over the room until Lucas said, "But, holy crap, the woman couldn't carry a tune in a bucket."

A second passed before we all looked at each other and cracked up.

"And forget knowing any of the words to the songs she was trying to sing." Lucas's eyes widened comically and he shook his head.

"But she sang with conviction. She could convince anyone that she was singing the right lyrics." I laughed, picturing the two of us in the car, blasting one of her favorite songs and singing at the top of our lungs. "I always thought it was weird that KISS wanted to rock and roll all night, but only part of every day. And why would Taylor Swift write a song about Starbucks lovers?" As the laughter slowed, the memories sat heavily on my chest, making it hard to breathe.

"What's everyone's plans for tomorrow? Wanna get some lunch or something?" Lucas asked, effectively changing the subject.

"I have to work." It wasn't until that moment that I remembered Enzo would be back to return his suit. My pulse kicked up at the thought of seeing him again, even though he was probably at the wedding, dancing his ass off at that very moment with some beautiful woman. "There's a customer coming in tomorrow to return a suit he needed for a wedding…in Coral Pointe."

"Shit, isn't that where the asshat is from?" Topher's brows pulled together in anger from the reminder of my lying, cheating, sack of shit ex-boyfriend.

"Dun, dun, dunnn," Lucas added dramatically.

"Shut up." I laughed, rolling my eyes. "Yes, that's where he's from, but I asked and Enzo doesn't know Drake." I looked down at my plate, remembering how nervous he'd been that first day. We'd texted several times throughout the past week. Nothing too deep or revealing, but the guy made me constantly laugh. "He loved my designs, though." His compliments on my designs still brought a huge smile to my face, filling me with immense pride.

"Enzo, huh?" Topher said with a leer. My three friends exchanged a look I knew well. "That's a sexy name."

Something about the implication got my back up. "He's just in town for a wedding, so reel it in there, sir."

"The worst way to get me to reel it in is to call me ‘sir.'" Topher wiggled his brows, making us all laugh, then laugh even harder when he got too excited and dropped a bite of cheesecake off his fork. He stared down at the dessert with a pout, as if it betrayed him.

"So," Stacey cut in, "tell us more about Enzo." She raised a delicate eyebrow and took another bite of her cheesecake.

"There's nothing to tell."

"Do you know how many times you've told us the name of one of your customers? I'll give you a hint; it's zero," Lucas deadpanned.

I shrugged. "It's not a big deal. He's a nice guy but seems a little haunted by something." I focused on my nearly empty plate, picturing how he'd looked the other day. "He came back to the store a few days ago for shoes and his eyes seemed so…sad. I felt bad for the guy, you know? He looked like he could use a friend, so I gave him my number. Told him he could text me if he needed a friend."

"He came back into the store?" Topher asked.

"Yeah. He needed shoes."

"Shoes he could've gotten at the nearest shopping mall?" Stacey added, studying me skeptically.

"Why are y'all being weird?" When they continued to stare at me, I held up my hand and ticked a finger up. "One, I'm not looking for anything right now. You know this." Popped up another finger. "Two, I'm pretty sure he's older than me, which you know there's no way in hell I'm doing again. Been there, done that, have the gaping hole in my pride and the embarrassing blemish on my reputation…and heart…to prove it." Another finger popped up. "And three… He's. Not. From. Here. He said he lives in Sacramento which, let me remind you, is in California." One more finger ticked up. "Four, I'm not even sure he swings my way. I mean, I think he does, because there was this one thing he said"—I snorted and pictured Enzo's mortified expression—"about measuring his inches…" I laughed again, but the thought quickly turned sour. "If he is into guys, though, I have a sneaking suspicion he's not out. I won't be someone's dirty little secret ever again…even though it's not like I did it knowingly last time."

"You weren't that asshole's dirty little secret, Ev," Stacey said, her brows pulling together in disgust as she thought about my ex. "For all intents and purposes you were his boyfriend. You were the one he introduced to his parents and he met yours. You were the one he cheated on, not with."

It was hard thinking back to that period in my life. We'd found out a few weeks before the trainwreck with Drake that my mom was sick. My life had gone from amazing, walking-on-sunshine, head-in-the-clouds to hitting the ground so hard it knocked the wind right out of me. To be honest, I was still trying to fill my lungs back up with much needed air.

"That's not what that guy who came into my dad's store thought." Thankfully, my dad had been there at the time and made the guy leave before said asshole was able to introduce my face to the wall. Embarrassingly, I could admit that was the reason I'd been so nervous when Enzo had come into Skinner's. I'd been alone at the time and immediately started planning my escape route until Enzo looked at me cluelessly and, okay, adorably.

"That guy was a meat-head on 'roids, trying to save his own damn pride," Topher argued.

"What about the guy who started shit with me that night at Breakers, yelling about how I needed to learn to keep my fun-sized dick in my pants and leave the fucking to the big boys." That night had been so damn embarrassing, I'd never gone back to the club. "People see me and assume I'm the man-eater…and not in the way I prefer." As if because I was the youngest on Drake's sexual conveyor belt, I must not have been the one Drake had been in the relationship with.

"Another douchebag trying to save face," Lucas grumbled.

"And the way that guy in Coral Pointe looked at me as I watched Drake embarrass him in front of a roomful of people? The pity in his eyes as he looked at me still makes my stomach turn. I still can't believe I didn't put the pieces together until that day. There were so many fucking signs I ignored."

I'd dated Drake when I was twenty-two and he was thirty-four. What was twelve years when you were in love, right? So. Fucking. Wrong. When I found out what he'd been doing behind my back, I was convinced it was because I was young and stupid. It took some time for me to realize he was just a douche and some of the guys he'd screwed over—the ones who'd had the fucking balls to threaten me—had been closer to Drake's age than mine. His betrayal had nothing to do with age and everything to do with the fact that his ego resided in his dick. I'd been his arm candy, not realizing he was sticking his pixie stick in any sweet ass he could find.

"Ev," Topher said, waiting to make sure I looked at him, "I don't know about them"—he nudged his head at Lucas and Stacey—"but what I'm hearing is a whole bunch of excuses as to why you can't have some fun with the first guy you've brought up to us in too long to count. You can only hide behind what that asshole did to you for so long."

My three best friends all stared at me, waiting for me to argue, but instead of forming my rebuttal, I shut them down the fastest way I knew how. "I'm not ready, and I need you to trust that when I am ready, I'll let you know." It had been too fucking painful to go through all that humiliation with Drake; especially after thinking he was going to be the person to get me through the pain of my mom being sick. He was supposed to be the guy who took care of me and helped me during the hardest time of my life. Instead, he'd taken my trust and punched a hole right through it, all the while fucking any other tight hole he could find behind my back.

Silence hung heavy in the room until Lucas spoke up. "How about we come to you tomorrow for lunch? We'll go to the steakhouse right there."

"Yeah, maybe Reed will be working," Topher added with a wiggle of his brows.

I sighed, slouching with my elbow on the table, my chin resting in my hand. "He is pretty to look at." A grin spread across my face as I was reminded why these three people had been my ride or die since before we learned how to tie our shoes. "Sounds perfect."

The next dayat the shop was slow, even though we were only days away from New Year's Eve. Sunday was our slowest day of the week in general.

I ran my hands down the front of one of my new creations, styling it to my liking on the mannequin. Designing a suit was an escape for me. I could sit down on my couch, pencils and notebook in hand, and draw for hours. It had gotten me through the darkest times in my life when I desperately needed something to distract me from a loss so big, I thought it would drown me. Instead of suffocating in the gray depths of sadness, I focused on what color would perfectly compliment the magenta fabric I'd found or concentrated on the curve and flow of the design for an embroidered lapel.

I was lost in thought when the bell above the door rang. When I turned around, I was met with brown eyes I'd been thinking about all week. I couldn't help but smile at the gorgeous man who'd just walked in.

"Well, well, well… If it isn't Mr. Kumquat," I teased, eager to hear the man's deep voice again after texting for days. Stop it, Evian. Have you learned nothing?

"Hey, that's Mr. Fineapple to you." His smile was so gorgeous, I forced a laugh and looked away to catch my breath while pretending to fix the arrangement of shirts on the table in front of me. Did the guy have to be so damn sexy?

After regaining my composure, I faced him again. "How was the wedding?"

Enzo's face genuinely lit up. "It turned out to be really nice. My cousin's friends know how to throw a party, that's for sure. Sage and Levi lucked out with the weather."

Awkward smalltalk. Lovely. "The last thing a bride wants is rain on her wedding day. It's a death sentence for the perfect up-do."

"I don't know anything about perfect up-dos, but I'm sure Sage would've pitched a fit if even a single raven hair on his perfectly coiffed head had been outta place. Levi seemed a little less intense." He paused for a second and laughed. "That's probably why they work so well together. Balance each other out."

I swallowed hard. Two grooms. In Coral Pointe. I honestly couldn't remember the name of the guy Drake had been fucking at the same time as me, but the names Sage and Levi weren't ringing any bells. "Sounds like a perfect match." I gave him a smug smile. "Admit it, though, you were one of the best dressed men there." My eyes went rogue, dragging down the length of the man until I realized I was openly checking him out. By the time I met his eyes again, his face was a deep crimson.

He sheepishly dropped his gaze but quickly met my eyes again. "Well, not to brag, but I was elected President of the CIA after showing up in my fancy duds." Fuck, the man really was adorable.

"Fancy duds?" I barked out a laugh. Glancing away for a second, I caught sight of trouble approaching the store and groaned. "Please, ignore anything you're about to hear. I can't be responsible for the things these three people say."

The bells above the door rang for the second time in less than five minutes. Three sets of curious eyes looked from me to Enzo and back to me. I sighed, knowing there was no way out of this one. "Enzo, these are my best friends Lucas, Stacey, and Topher."

"Enzo…" Topher said as he stared at the poor guy in thought for a heartbeat. I could practically see the lightbulb flash above his head as he gasped and again—this time with a knowing smile—said, "Enzo. Ow!" He shot Stacey a dirty look, rubbing his arm where she'd just elbowed him. Realization dawned, Topher's eyes popping comically wide. "I mean, it's nice to meet you, person who I've never heard of before. Enzo, was it?"

It took everything I had not to facepalm and make the burning red of my face even worse. My eyes cautiously slid to the man standing next to me, immediately pulled in by the tractor beam of his intense but amused stare that all but asked how Topher had heard of him before.

Thankfully, he gave me a small smile and looked back at my friends. "It's nice to meet you all, too." While he was looking at them, I widened my eyes in warning at my dear, sweet friends, motioning for them to go outside and give me a minute. By the time he turned his attention back to me, seemingly nervous, I was casually standing there, like nothing happened.

Stacey—from here on out referred to as my very best friend—ushered Topher and Lucas out the door. "We'll be out here, Ev. It was nice to meet you, Enzo."

"You, too," he said over his shoulder. He gripped the back of his neck as he faced me again. "Thanks, again, for making this week a little easier for me. My life is…well, I won't get into all that, but I needed a laugh and you have a way of making me do that."

Fucking A, this man…"You make me laugh, too." Jesus, this conversation was sailing into dangerous waters at a fast speed. And because I was a glutton for punishment… "I know this is hard to believe, but texting still works from three-thousand miles away."

Was that relief on his face or just my warped sense of reality seeing things? "You don't say? Wow. What'll they think of next?"

I held out my hand and glanced down at the garment bag he was holding. "Do you want me to take that?"

His face flushed. "Oh, right. Ha…because I don't own it…"

I shook my head in amusement and took the garment bag from him, unzipping it so I could check the suit out. "Sorry. Lloyd would have my ass if I didn't make sure everything was okay with it."

"You mean you don't have complete faith and trust in a man you've known for less than a week? I'm hurt." Enzo pressed his hand over his heart, giving me puppy dogs eyes.

I stared at him thoughtfully for a second. "Nope." I popped the "p" in the word for emphasis.

Enzo sighed, glancing back over his shoulder. "Your friends are waiting for you, and I have a plane to catch in a few hours and still have to finish packing." He paused for a second and then… "I'll text you when I get home?"

I noticed he posed it as a question, asking me without asking me if it was okay for him to continue texting me. It made me feel victorious in ways I couldn't explain. "You better. We still have to finish the first season of The Big Bang Theory." Over the past week, we'd decided to rewatch the first season of The Big Bang Theory at the same time while texting. It would've made more sense to talk on the phone…or invite him over…but that was a trap I'd thankfully kept myself from falling into.

The man didn't even try to hide his relief, and it absolutely did not—in any way, shape, or form—make me want to do a happy dance right there in the middle of the store.

"Yeah, we do." Jeez, Enzo's dimpled smile could brighten the darkest room. Did anyone ever actually kick themselves? Is that where the expression came from? Because I was seconds away from taking my own shin out if it meant I'd stop drooling over a guy who was flying back to California today—who could also possibly be straight.

When Enzo reached the door, something in me made me say his name. As if I needed to see those brown eyes one more time…for quite possibly the last time. Cue the violins. Shit, how had I turned this into some dramatic moment from a poorly written Rom-Com? "Have a safe flight."

The smile he gave me lit me up from the inside out. "I will. Thanks, Evian." He pushed the door open, waving to my friends as he passed by them. "Nice to meet you all."

Their responses layered as they said at the same time… "You, too," and "See ya, man," and "Verynice to meet you, too"—Topher tilted his head and bit his bottom lip, openly ogling Enzo's ass, flinching when I pinched his arm.

As soon as Enzo closed his car door, Topher whined, "Come on! I was only looking, and I wouldn't if you'd admit you're into him."

"He must not be, Toph. I guess we were wrong, huh? That guy just doesn't have the thing," Lucas said, placing his hand on the back of Stacey's neck.

"What thing?" I asked, ready to defend Enzo because that man had all the things and then some.

"The thing that makes flirty, giggly Evian, who pretends he's not as smart as he is, come out."

"Oh, give me a?—"

"Nope, you know it's true," Lucas argued, smirking and a little too smug. "We have spent too many nights watching Evian, Like the Water in action not to know when you're into a guy. That only means one thing: You're seriously not into him." He sighed dramatically. "Such a shame. He had such potential." Lucas took Stacey's hand, leading her toward the steakhouse, and shrugged. "Oh well. Who's ready for lunch? There's a steak callin' my name."

Stacey looked at me over her shoulder, the same way Topher was looking at me when he said, "If you ask me, I'm glad he met you and not Evian, Like the Water."

"Not that I'm agreeing with any of you, but…why?"

"Because my friend Evian"—Topher linked his arm with mine—"just Evian, aka Ev, my best friend for the past twenty years, is worth knowing so much more." He kissed my cheek and let me go. "Let Lloyd know you're going to lunch. We'll see you over there."

I stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds. They'd teased me about Evian, Like the Water before, but I'd never taken them seriously. If they were right about the guy I supposedly turned into when flirting with someone, though, and if, in fact, I hadn't turned into that guy with Enzo, then why did it feel like a missed opportunity just walked out the door?