“Why don’t you guys come with me?” I whined.
“Because we’re not school teachers with the summer off and we have to work,” Rosa explained patiently. “Besides, Peyton has Elliot.”
“Though I would totally be willing to leave my kid for a few weeks if I had the time off,” Peyton added cheerfully. “I could just leave out a bunch of boxes of cereal. I’m sure he’d be fine.”
When I still wasn’t convinced, Rosa called Andrew, who informed me he’d already ordered his private jet and if I didn’tget on it, I’d be responsible for wasting the fuel it took to get back to Austin from wherever his CFO had been using it on the east coast. He knew I was a stickler for wastefulness. Sneaky jerk.
So, in the end, I’d headed off to the Bahamas with red eyes and messy hair. And, to my surprise, I was glad I did. A few weeks of sun—and countless umbrella decorated fruity drinks—was just what I needed. I caught up on all the leisure reading I’d been too busy for during the school year. I went snorkeling. I even learned to drive a jet-ski. When Andrew called to remind me that I could extend my stay as long as I wished, I took him up on it. The last thing I wanted to do was run into Matt around town, and weeks of feeling sorry for myself before school began sounded awful.
I’d come home a few days ago, just in time to get my classroom set up, more rested than I had been in ages, and with a pretty decent tan to boot.
And while I was gone, apparently, my brother went out and bought an NHL team.
“We’re not talking about Matt, we’re talking about you getting some,” Peyton said firmly, reaching over to nudge my glass away. “And leave those poor olives alone. What did they ever do to you?”
I looked down to see the olives I had been stabbing were looking pretty brutalized. I sighed. “Look, what happened sucked. But you guys were right, getting away for a while was just what I needed. I really don’t feel sad about him anymore.”
Rosa gave me a skeptical look.
“I’m serious! I mean, I still feel angry and majorly embarrassed, but I don’tmisshim. The truth is, he was way too charming. He swept me off my feet but it didn’t ever feel real, you know?”
Rosa nodded. “To be honest, I kind of thought he was all talk.”
“And he was busy all the time,” I agreed, then winced at my words. Yeah, busy with hiswife and kids.God, I had been such an idiot.
“Well, I’m glad you’re over him,” Peyton said, and I knew from the glint in her eye I wasn’t going to like whatever came out of her mouth next. “Now we need to get youundersomeone else.”
I rolled my eyes then looked at Rosa, expecting her to look as exasperated with our friend as I was. Instead, I found her nodding thoughtfully.
“Seriously?” I asked.
“You need to get laid,” Peyton said bluntly.
“I do not!”
“You do too.”
Knowing the two of us could go around in that circle for ages, Rosa cut in. “I think a fling might be good for you.”
Peyton smacked a hand on the table. “You need to just have some selfish fun for once.”
I gave her a pointed look. “Sponging off my brother at a fancy resort in the Bahamas was plenty selfish for one summer.”
Rose made a face. “You know your vacation was not even a drop in the bucket for Andrew.”
She had a point. My brother was one of the ten richest men in America, employing thousands of people all over the world, and establishing his international conglomerate, Knight Corp, at the top of the Fortune 500. And all before the age of thirty-five. Andrew had started his tech company in his dorm room at U of M. After he relocated to Austin, one of the fastest growing tech spots in the country, the whole thing had just exploded. He'd added real estate holdings and God knows what other major investments to his massive financial empire. It was one of the great business success stories of the decade, according to thedozens of magazines that had put him on their covers—made all the more impressive by our less than humble beginnings.
My twin was kind of my hero.
“But speaking of Andrew,” Peyton went on, eyes glinting with familiar mischief, “according to Twitter, a bunch of hot hockey players have been descending on our fair city for the past few weeks. Maybe you’re just the girl to make a few of them feelwelcome.” She waggled her eyebrows. “If you catch my drift.”
“Because you’resosubtle, Peyton,” Rosa muttered.
I hid my face in my martini glass, not wanting them to see the blush I was sure was drifting up my neck.
I had never told the girls about my years-long obsession with Liam O’Conner, Austin’s brand-new star center. There wouldn’t have been much to say, in all honesty.“Yeah, I used to tutor this jock in high school and developed a huge, pathetic crush on him. I even convinced myself that he wanted to take me to prom, but he ended up going with someone else, breaking my poor little teenage heart.”
The fact that I had spent so much of the last decade thinking about him—and shamelessly stalking his hockey career—was just too depressing to share.
