Eric hugs his dad so tight I wonder if he’ll crush the big man’s bones.
Everything is going to be okay because Eric is back with us where he belongs.
Mike grimaces at the prices on Smoke & Sugar’s menu. Mom just shakes her head, winking at me. Always the same with those two. They can afford to eat at nice places, but he still complains. Eric studies the menu, scowling, but I can imagine the wheels turning in his brain. He’s thinking hard about the menu, but it’s not the prices.
Savvy, my neighbor and hostess at the restaurant, makes her way back over to us, grinning. “Vale says it’s fine if he stays.”
Frosty, exhausted from the eventful day at the extravaganza, snores quietly under the table where the girls have made a little bed with blankets for him.
“Thanks,” I say, returning her smile.
This is the first time I have been around her and not felt bitterness toward her. Her pregnant belly is barely showing, but it endears me to her. I guess I was always sort of jealous that she got Travis when I’d been the one to like him first. It feels like a million years ago now. My heart clearly healed because I don’t feel badly around her anymore.
“Oh,” she says, leaning in close to me. “I heard about the Travis fiasco. He’s mortified. Me and Cole gave him crap about it all night. We’ll never let him live it down.”
I’m amused that they teased him about his reaction to the conversation he and I’d had yesterday. “It was funny watching him squirm.”
She gives my shoulder a quick squeeze and then hurries off to greet more people coming into the restaurant. Did we just bury the animosity we have toward each other? Relief floods through me. I’m looking forward to texting Casey about it. With Casey’s husband, Brayden, being best friends with Savvy, it’s always been awkward. Maybe now we can all hang out together without being weird.
“The maple glazed salmon is to die for,” I tell anyone who’ll listen. “Everything here is good, though.”
Eric leans close to me and mutters, “They have an interesting menu.”
I knew he was studying it.
“Interesting bad or interesting good?”
“I guess we’ll see if the food lives up to what they’re promising.”
After we order, Eric finally tells our parents about why he’s here.
“They lost the best thing that ever happened to them,” Mom says, pursing her lips and frowning. “I’m just so glad you’re home.”
“If your sister gets tired of letting you shack up with her, you can come to the house. We have that extra room upstairs,” Mike tells him. “And you can always work for me until you get on your feet.”
Eric is tense at his dad’s words. I rest my palm on his upper thigh, hoping to give him some comfort.
“He’s fine staying with me,” I assure Mike. “I think after all the years of hard work he’s put in, he deserves a little break.”
Mom beams at me with pride. If only she knew how selfish I’m being. I want Eric there because I missed him. But also, there’s something charged between us. It’s forbidden and wrong, but I ache to peel back the layers to see what it is.
And to see if he feels it too.
His thumb on my lip earlier wasn’t a mistake or an accident. There was fire burning in his eyes. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel it too. I’mstillfeeling it.
Eric’s hand covers mine and he squeezes it. Under the table like this, it feels like our dirty little secret.
What would Mom think if she knew I was dying to kiss my stepbrother?
Disappointed doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface. I think she’d be disgusted and maybe a little pissed off too. And, with good reason.
Crushing on my stepbrother sucks. I need to drive these erratic thoughts from my mind because it absolutely cannot happen. These impulses I’m feeling around him are nothing more than me having missed him so much and simple infatuation. He’s a good looking guy. I’m not immune.
But you can’t look at him like that, Clara.
They’ve gone on to discuss Eric’s financial status and savings, but I’m stuck on my attraction toward him. I’m also keyed in on the fact we’re still holding hands under the table. When we get home later, I think a conversation is in order.
“Hey, Eric, I really want to kiss you, and I know you want to kiss me too, but we can’t do that, right?”
