When I notice Hollie staring at the empty back seat, I know what, or more so who, she’s looking for.
“Mom already snagged her,” I laugh.
Hollie’s smile falls, which only makes Ollie and me laugh more.
“Oh, go on.” I wave her off, and Hollie takes off toward the front door. She stops dramatically and spins before running back in our direction and swooping me into a big hug. “Sorry, how rude of me. Welcome home. We’ll talk later.” It all comes out so fast, I’m not even sure she breathes between sentences.
I don’t even have time to reply before she’s running into the house. Of course, not without tripping up the stairs and shouting, “I’m okay.”
It’s funny that she thinks Mom will give up her baby snuggles.
“Will you put a baby in her already?” I tease and toss Ollie the keys before following him around to the back of the trailer.
“Trust me, I’m working on it.” His response may have been normal for a newlywed, but then he had to take it a step too far and wink. Typical Oliver Mosby.
Ugh, gross.
“So how are you doing, really?” he asks as he undoes the lock and opens the doors.
I debate on how to answer him. The thing is, I know that if I give him a bullshit answer, he will see right through it and call me out. I’d expect nothing less, especially since I did the same thing to him when everything went down with Hollie. His stern expression seals the deal for me.
“How am I doing?” I repeat and let out a harsh sigh. “Peachy. Why shouldn’t I be after learning that my husband neveractuallystopped fucking his ex-girlfriend, including on our wedding night in the bathroom of the small reception held after our ceremony?” Ollie’s jaw is so tight I worry he might break a tooth or two. “Oh, and I’m jobless and moving back home to share my tiny-ass room with my three-month-old daughter. Like I said, peachy.”
I guess it could’ve been worse. Funny, right? I thought I loved Joel. We were young and reckless. But it was all a ruse, I guess. Turns out I wasn’t the only girl he was seeing. His on-again, off-again girlfriend since high school, Adrienne, attended college with us. I was so dumb to think that they were only “just friends” as he constantly reassured me. One positive pregnancy test, and Joel’s parents were forcing us into a marriage because of their old-school values. Joke’s on me because even as we said ourvows of forever, he was still fuckingher.I should have known something was going on whenshewas in attendance at our small and intimate wedding.
I found them in bed—our bed,inourhouse—when I came home early from Ollie and Hollie’s wedding. Joel had claimed he couldn’t attend last minute because of work conflicts,however, his real reason was just fucking someone who wasn’t his wife.
How could it have been possibly worse than that? Well, one of the many what-ifs that has plagued my mind is what if I hadn’t started feeling bad at the reception and gone home early to discover them? Instead of starting over, I could still be living a lie. So, I have to find positivity in that, no matter how fucked-up that thinking may be.
As I slide my suitcase out of the trailer, Ollie stops me with a hand on my shoulder.
“I’m still willing to make him disappear. You know I know a guy.”
I laugh awkwardly, not knowing whether that’s true. Lord knows who he’s met over the years as a bartender. But no matter how much I’d love to meet Keith Morrison and Josh Mankiewicz, I don’t really want it to be because they interview me on my family’s own episode ofDateline.Well, at least, they couldn’t say Joel lit up a room.
I shake my head. “It’s fine. I got the best thing out of this mess, at least—Gabby.”
“No truer words spoken, sis.” Ollie grabs a box and hauls it over his shoulder as if it weighs nothing.Show-off.
We walk side by side toward the house. “And hey, Archer and I spoke, and you’ve got a job at Tilley’s, okay? Set your own hours, pay and tips are decent. Not to mention, the bosses are pretty awesome. And before you say anything about Gabby, we also already talked to Mom, who said she would watch Gabby for you.”
Of course, they thought of everything so that I couldn’t refuse.
My brothers own a bar/restaurant in town called Tilley’s. Our oldest brother, Archer, signed the paperwork the same day as his divorce papers and made it a family affair. While Archer runs the back of the house, Ollie runs the front of the house and is one of two bartenders. It was actually at Tilley’s that Ollie had met his wife, but that’s a whole different story.
“Not to mention, we have the best chef in town,” he adds.
My heart stops momentarily.Rhyland Cole—the head chef at Tilley’s, Ollie’s best friend, an honorary Mosby, and the starring role of my childhood and teenage dreams.
Cliché? Sure. But that boy, now a man, is gorgeous. His dark hair and contrasting bright emerald-green eyes have captivated me for as long as I can remember.But to him, I’ll always just be his best friend’s little sister.
I gave up on the idea that Rhyland would one day notice me long ago. Had Rhy finally seen me as something more, maybe I could’ve saved myself from this heartbreak.There I go again down that rabbit hole.But then I remember I wouldn’t have Gabby. It always comes down to her.
Could I really work that closely with him and not sink further into my pity party? It’s not like that crush will just resurface, especially when I’m the conductor of the hot mess express.
I follow Ollie into my old room and cringe that it looks exactly the same as when I left for college.
He drops the box down on the floor. “Seriously, Pay, it’s going to be okay. We’ll get you back on your feet and out of here before you know it. As Dad would say, ‘This too shall pass.”
