Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

Lucy: Why am I seeing a photo of Mike kissing some random girl on IG?

Lucy: What’s going on?

Lucy: Are you okay?

Gemma stared down at her phone and sighed. Clearly it didn’t take Mike more than a second to go public with his new girlfriend. The jerk.

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black…

Okay, so she had moved on rather quickly herself, but not publicly! All she had was one night of moving on, and now she was back to being sad and alone.

Lucy: If you don’t answer me, I’m going to send one of my brothers over to check on you!

Ugh. This so wasn’t the conversation she wanted to be having while on her lunch break, but she knew how tenacious her best friend could be and ignoring the texts wasn’t an option.

Gemma: Mike and I broke up yesterday.

Gemma: Long, boring story and I didn’t want to bother you.

Lucy: You can always bother me! I hate that I’m not there with you!

Lucy: Are you okay?

Gemma: I am

Thanks to a night of wild sex with your brother…

Lucy: Can I call you? I know you’re at lunch now.

Lucy: Or I can call you later and we can video chat?

As much as she wanted to say yes to all those things, her break was almost up and after not getting any sleep last night, she was planning on going home and crashing. Plus, she still didn’t want to bog Lucy down with all her problems.

And there was also the chance of her slipping up and saying something about Wyatt, so maybe it would be smarter to just put off any direct conversation until after Lucy was back in North Carolina.

Gemma: I’m fine. Really. We’ll catch up when you get home.

Lucy: I hate this! I hate the thought of you sitting home alone after something so devastating!

Lucy: Please tell me he didn’t do it someplace public.

Chuckling, Gemma shook her head and then drank the last of her sweet tea before replying.

Gemma: Nope. We were at his place. He broke the news, handed me a box of my stuff, and then I left.

Lucy’s response was an almost ridiculous amount of crying emojis.

Gemma: Then I drove around for a few hours because I didn’t want to sit home alone and dwell on it. I stopped off at the pub and just had a few beers and went home.

Lucy: That’s almost as sad, Gem.

Gemma: I almost drove to the mountains, but it was too dark to enjoy the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Lucy: But you could be enjoying it right now!

Gemma: Maybe some other time.

Gemma: I need to go. My lunch break is over and we’ve got a litter of puppies coming in for their first round of shots. I love you and enjoy the rest of your vacation!

Gemma: Drink something tropical for me!

Lucy: Will do! I wish I could send you something tropical right now!

Lucy: And please call me if you need me. I’m always here for you!

Sighing, Gemma slipped her phone back into her purse before cleaning up her lunch mess and heading back out to the clinic. Being a veterinary assistant was something she absolutely loved, but her real dream was to own her own clinic one day.

“Lots of dreams, very little realities.”

The rest of the day flew by. Lots of dogs and cats and even a couple of guinea pigs helped fill the time. At five, she gathered her things and contemplated grabbing some takeout on the way home, but it felt like too much of an effort.

“A bowl of soup, a glass of wine, Netflix, and my jammies. Such an exciting life.”

At home, she immediately went to her bedroom to change and stared at the unmade bed. Images of her and Wyatt flashed through her head. She’d never felt so satisfied in her life. Which made the fact that it was only the one night hurt even more.

“Stop obsessing,” she mumbled, whipping off her bra. “It’s soup and jammie time.” As soon as she changed, she padded out to the kitchen to see what exactly she had in the pantry. There were always a few random cans of soup in there, but what was she in the mood for?

The sound of the doorbell ringing halted her search. Her first thought was that maybe it was Mike—mainly because he typically showed up around dinnertime—but she quickly pushed that aside. Then she remembered Lucy mentioning sending her something, and although it seemed improbable, Gemma knew that didn’t mean it was impossible. For all she knew, her friend ordered dinner to be delivered for her.

“Yay, no soup!” she quietly cheered as she walked to the door. Opening it, she froze.

Wyatt.

Holding a bag of takeout.

“Wyatt.” It came out sounding a little too breathless and sexy, and she almost cringed at herself. “What are you doing here?”

Holding up the bag, he gave her a lopsided grin. “I got a call from my sister telling me I needed to pick up dinner and get my ass over here to check on you immediately.” He shrugged. “And she wants a picture to prove that I did it.”

Okay, that was definitely something Lucy would do, so she had no choice but to step back and let him in.

“Cute jammies,” he said as he came through the door and made his way to the living room. “I’m guessing we’ll eat in here, right?”

That’s what they always did when everyone came over, so…

Without a word, Gemma went to grab them something to drink while he set up their dinner on the coffee table. Wyatt came into the kitchen and grabbed plates and silverware, and then followed her out to the couch.

“I was going to get pizza, but we do that all the time,” he explained. “So I went rogue and grabbed actual dinners instead. I got you the chicken parm with spaghetti because I know it’s your favorite. And I made sure I got the side Caesar salad, extra croutons, and a slice of cheesecake for dessert.” He pointed to everything as he went. “I got myself the…”

“Wait…wait…let me guess,” she said, smiling at his thoughtfulness. “You got yourself the fettucine Alfredo and a side order of mozzarella sticks with extra marinara sauce. Am I right?”

The way he was smiling back at her made it feel like dozens of butterflies had taken flight in her belly. “Nailed it in one. Now, let’s eat!”

“Want me to turn on the TV? I was just going to scroll through Netflix until something sounded good.”

Shaking his head, he picked up his plate. “Nah. I’m good.” He took a bite of his dinner. “So Lucy texted you, huh?” Then he put his plate back down and pulled out his phone, taking a picture of all the food and then one of Gemma holding up her food. “Let’s just get that out of the way or she’ll hound the crap out of me all night.”

“She’s got a good heart. I hated that she had to take time out of her trip to think about me and my crappy life.”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” he teased. “She told me she saw a picture on Instagram. Kind of shitty if you ask me—posting crap like that right after the breakup.”

“It really didn’t bother me that much. I mean, yeah. Maybe he could have waited longer than a half a day, but it doesn’t change anything. And honestly, who am I to say anything? I jumped into bed with you—I didn’t post pictures of it on social media—but I moved on too.” She thought she sounded casual, but the look on Wyatt’s face was anything but.

Carefully, he twisted to face her. “Okay, I think we need to have an actual conversation about what happened last night. You keep making these comments and…” He groaned with frustration. “Dammit, Gemma, I know you! I know that last night meant more to you than just a favor or a way to move on! Why can’t you admit that?”

Okay, that probably wasn’t the best way to start the conversation, but he also didn’t want to spend the night tippy-toeing around the facts.

Her eyes were wide, and she looked ready to say something, but didn’t.

“While the timing kind of sucks,” he said, hating the silence, “I think we owe it to ourselves to be honest here. You’re not a casual hookup and I’d like to think you don’t see me like that either.” Pausing, he reached over and took one of her hands in his. “We’ve been friends for a long time, and I think we know each other very well. I’m sure you look at me and think my dating history doesn’t really make me look or sound good. But here’s the thing, I never felt a connection with anyone before. Not like the connection you and I have.”

“What are you saying? I thought we agreed that last night…”

“No,” he interrupted. “ We didn’t agree on anything. You seemed to have your mind made up on what it all meant, but…it meant a hell of a lot more to me than a friend helping a friend. Last night was like I was finally getting a chance with the girl I’ve been wanting for far too long.”

“What…” She gently tried to pull her hand away, but he wouldn’t let her.

“I’m crazy about you,” he admitted. “And maybe that’s weird or whatever, but it’s true. I always look forward to all the times we get to hang out and it bothered the hell out of me the entire time you and Mike were together. I knew he wasn’t right for you, but I also knew I didn’t have the right to say anything. My track record is shitty, and I know that, but I want to try with you.”

For several long moments, she didn’t say anything. “I…I don’t even know what to say. You know this has the potential to ruin our friendship, and I don’t know if I could handle that.” Tears were in her eyes, and he heard the slight tremble in her voice. “And…everything’s complicated! You’re my best friend’s brother, we all hang out together! If this doesn’t work out, then it’s going to make things weird for everyone and then I’ll be the odd one out and alone.”

“Never,” he said gruffly. “That’s never gonna happen. I won’t let it. I can’t help that Lucy’s my sister. That relationship isn’t going to change, no matter what happens between you and me. And I think we both know how fiercely protective she is of you. The two of you are more like sisters and that’s not going to change either.”

But she was shaking her head. “It’s too soon, Wyatt. And…and…it would be too weird. People are going to stare and…”

“What are you doing this weekend?” he asked.

“What?”

Nodding, he repeated the question. “This weekend. What are your plans?”

“Um…nothing really. I was going to crash early tonight since I didn’t really sleep last night.” Her cheeks flushed, and it was adorable. “But other than that, I was just going to chill out here. Why?”

“Spend the weekend with me. Take this relationship on a test drive.” He squeezed her hand. “It will be fun. Trust me.”

Laughter was her first response, but then she instantly sobered. “Wait…you’re serious?”

Another nod. “Yup. We’ll spend the entire weekend together. We’ll go out and do the things we love to do, and we’ll also spend some time doing some things we just discovered we loved doing together.” He winked dramatically. “We’ll spend the nights together and see how we feel come Monday morning. What do you say? You in?”

“This is crazy! We can’t…”

“You in?” he repeated and had to hide his amusement when she tried to look stern.

“I don’t see how one weekend is going to make a difference. It won’t change how everyone is going to react!”

Glancing over at their dinner and then back at her, he said, “The faster you agree, the faster we can eat. My mozzarella sticks are probably cold by now, but I guess I can reheat them.” Then he leaned in close until they were practically nose to nose. “And since I’ll be here all weekend, I can reheat them now or later, right?” Another pause. “Say yes, Gem. Please.” And when she still didn’t answer, he added, “I’m starving.”

Her shoulders sagged as she whispered, “Please don’t make me regret this.”

“Never, beautiful girl. I promise.” And he sealed it with a kiss before pulling back and grinning. “Now, let’s eat!”

For several minutes, that’s exactly what they did. Although, they had to reheat all of their stuff first. But when they sat down, Wyatt already knew she was going to have a ton of questions.

“Tonight, I think we should stay in,” he reasoned. “We’re both tired, and I think it will be nice to have a quiet night just to be alone together.” He took a forkful of pasta and waited for her to say anything.

“And what about tomorrow?”

“I’m glad you asked. Tomorrow, I think we should go over to my place so I can get a couple of changes of clothes, and then we can go to lunch at the pub.”

“The pub? Seriously? Can’t we go someplace maybe not in South Creek?” she asked nervously.

Shaking his head, he told her, “Nope. If I’m going to prove to you that this can work, we have to test things out locally. Besides, South Creek, North Carolina, is a great little town with a lot to offer. There are tons of things we can do, plus…let our friends and people we know see us out together.”

“And what if someone tells Lucy?”

He shrugged. “What if they do? So what? She’s in Hawaii. What do you think she’s going to do?”

“Fly home and kick our asses,” she mumbled.

“She’s not leaving paradise because we’re dating. Trust me.” He took another bite of his dinner. “Tomorrow night, I was thinking maybe we can go see a movie.”

She eyed him warily. “Why does it feel like you’ve put a lot of thought into this already?”

“Because I have. It’s what I’ve been thinking about all day when I was supposed to be getting some serious work done on the Gerrity’s kitchen. I was majorly distracted thinking of things you and I could do that weren’t just staying in and having sex.” He paused and winked. “Unless that’s what you’d like to do, because I’d be completely on board with that too.”

The blush was back as she laughed. “No, no, no. Now I want to hear what’s on the agenda for Sunday.”

“First, brunch at the South Creek Inn. I already made reservations.”

“Mighty confident, aren’t you?”

“Hopeful. I’m hopeful.”

“And after brunch?”

“After that, we can watch the hockey game over at Tyler’s with everyone. Or—if you’re not ready for something that intimate with friends and family—we can go shopping and find something fun that we can make for dinner together and pick something to stream on TV. You know, something low-key. What do you think?”

“I still think this is crazy.” But she was smiling as she said it.

“So…you’re in then, right?”

Nodding, she agreed. “Yeah. I’m in.”

Leaning in close, he took out his phone and took a selfie of the two of them, grinning.

“What was that for?”

“Sending it to Lucy to show her you’re happy and smiling so she won’t worry.”

“Aww…that’s sweet. You’re a good brother.”

He knew that. Now he just needed to convince Gemma that he could be more than a good friend too.