“You two aren’t a couple, right?” His brows dipped slightly as he caught our fingers tangled together.
I shook my head. “No, just good friends,” I said.
Just friends; where one admitted he didn’t want to be around me, while the other only wanted to make things right. It was going to be a long and painful morning.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jillian
The four of us werenow seated at a booth. Rand and Brooklyn on one side with Hutch, and myself on the other. I made sure that Hutch and I were facing the door because I knew he liked to have a view of the exit in case he needed it. I didn’t need to open the menu, so instead I casually looked around the restaurant to see if I recognized anyone before I brought my attention back to Brooklyn who was busy trying to decide what she wanted. I ordered my usual, Hutch got the blueberry pancakes, while the Shepards each picked Belgian waffles with strawberries—Brooklyn with a side of bacon, and Rand with a side of sausage.
“So, Hutch,” Rand spoke first, “my wife told me you own your own automotive shop. Have you always enjoyed working on cars?” His giant hand curled around the handle of his mug, and I wondered how he and Brooklyn had met. She had mentioned they didn’t exactly get along at first, so I had so many questions.
Hutch chewed nervously on his bottom lip. “Uh, yes, kind of.” His voice was hardly a whisper, and I gently placed my hand on his thigh to try to relax him. The muscles in his leg instantly loosened as his hand sought out mine beneath the table. “In the beginning, I wanted to be a big football star.” Hutch chuckled. “But...shit happens. I’ve always been good with my hands, and cars spoke to me, you know?”
Rand nodded. “Me too, man.” A smile lit up his face. “I didn’t plan on racing stock cars but my big brother was into it, and whatever he did, I had to do, so here we are.” The two men shared a laugh as I turned to face Brooklyn.
“How did you meet?” I blurted out before I could stop, myself making sure to keep my voice low and my hand firmly clasped on Hutch’s leg. He seemed to have calmed down now.
Brooklyn blushed. “At a race. I was there to take some pictures.” She ducked her eyes before she looked over at her husband with love written all over her face. “He really pissed me off the first time we were introduced too. Rand was an egotistical, womanizer asshole, but I couldn’t stop thinking about him.” She gushed happily.
I tried not let my own feelings show, but when Brooklyn reached across the table to touch my hand, I realized either I couldn’t stop them or she just knew. “Do you have any kids?” I didn’t want to talk about me so I tried to keep the conversation about her.
“Do you want to see pictures?” Brooklyn quickly slid her phone from her purse. “This is our son, RJ.” She flipped through her Instagram. RJ was the spitting image of his father with his dark hair, blue eyes, and long legs. Even the smile was a carbon copy.
“How old is he, because he looks like he’s almost as tall as I am!” I teased.
Brooklyn snorted. “He’s five, but since Rand is half giant, I think he’s going to be seven feet by the time he’s done growing.” She had a happy twinkle in her eye. “Do you have an Instagram account? Can I add you?”
I told her my IG name and then pulled my phone out to accept her as my account was still private. It was something I did when I left Hutch, and still regretted it. I followed Brooklyn back and then made my account public again just as the server came with our order. I glanced over at Hutch who gave me a half smile as our plates were put before us.
“Sharing with me, Jills?” He waved his hand over his mouthwatering pancakes.
“Do you have to ask?”
We quickly split our pancakes between us and began to cut them up before we ate them. Why did this have to feel so natural, so normal between us? Why did Hutch want to push me out of his life instead of at least trying to be my friend?
