I scowled at her, beginning to feel like a bug under a microscope. “Do we really have to talk about this?” I asked, discretely flashing my eyes at Trinity. I just met the woman not even five minutes ago, and we were already breaking down my sex life with her.
Some of the humor in my sister’s face faded when she realized how uncomfortable I was. “No, I guess not, but I will say, Vaughn, I think I need to meet him.”
I sighed and tried to pretend the tomato in my hand was suddenly way more interesting than this conversation. “Well, you’re always welcome to stop by the clinic. He’s staying in the loft, so he’s usually around if you really did want to meet him.”
“The loft, huh?” Bri said in a surprised tone, returning to stir the sauce.
I let the familiar aroma of Mom’s old spaghetti recipe soothe away some of my anxiety. “Yeah, he needed a place to stay for a while.”
“How long have you known him?” Trinity asked. “If you don’t mind talking about him, that is. I’m just trying to make conversation,” she added with a nervous laugh.
I glanced up at Trinity again, trying to decide how much I could divulge about Alex. Most of the shock and sudden lust over me liking men seemed to have faded, replaced with genuine kindness and mild curiosity. And even with her here, I was glad to finally be sharing this with Bri. I hadn’t realized how much I needed to talk about the whole situation until right then.
“Um, I don’t know,” I said, nervously glancing at Bri. “I met him the last time we had dinner.”
Bri’s eyes widened. “You’ve been crushing on this guy for a month, and I’m only now hearing about it?” I wasn’t surprised by her hurt tone. We barely kept anything from each other, including crushes.
“Was that really a month ago?” I asked. “Anyway, yeah, his dog was hit by a car, and he flagged me down, asking for help.” After scraping the tomato to the side of the cutting board, I reached for a cucumber and continued, “She had a broken leg, and he asked me to put her down. I told—”
“Hewhat?” Bri’s voice cut through the memories.
“I know,” I said, shaking my head. “I told him I couldn’t do that.”
“No, of course you wouldn’t. Who would put their dog down just because of a broken leg?” she demanded.
I looked at her with pleading eyes. I needed her to truly hear me and to give Alex a chance. “Someone who didn’t have a job or a home and didn’t know where their next meal was coming from, that’s who,” I said flatly. “He thought it was his only option, that he was doing what was best for his dog by taking away her pain.”
Bri’s mouth hung open. “Wait. Are you saying he was one of those homeless guys we see all the time hitchhiking through town? Please tell me you didn’t bring one of them back to your clinic, Vaughn!”
“Roxy needed my help and I had the ability to help her. She should be getting her cast off in a couple of weeks.” I tried to ignore the sharp stab of pain as that truth sank in. Shit,two weeks?Was that really all the time I had left with Alex?Unless he stayed,my hopeful heart pleaded.I doubted he’d even want to, though, and it was too early to suggest that anyway… wasn’t it?
“So you, what, offered him room and board while his dog healed? Vaughn! That’s not okay! He’s taking advantage of you.”
I glared at her with every ounce of anger I had. “No, he’s not! You saw the property. Did thatlooklike he was taking advantage of me?” She flinched, and I forced myself to take a deep breath. “If you come by the clinic, you’ll see he’s more than paid off Roxy’s care.”
She sighed in frustration. “If he hurts you or tries to ruin what you’ve worked hard for, I swear to god, Vaughn…”
“He won’t. He has a good heart, Bri.”
My sister and I stared at each other for a long time until finally Trinity asked, “Are the noodles done? I can drain them?” We both recognized it as the diversion it was meant to be and let the conversation go.For now.
After a quiet and somewhat more relaxed dinner, I carried our plates to the sink and rinsed them off, willing my mind to let this go. There were two words I kept circling back to out of that whole conversation.Two weeks.It wasn’t enough time. It would never be enough.
Deciding I’d had enough for one night, I pulled Bri in for a hug. “I’m going to head home.”
She dipped her nose against the side of my head to inhale my shampoo.
“Would you stop that?” I teased.
She chuckled. “You’re just always so irresistible,” she said. “I’ll swing by this week, okay?” Her meaning was clear. She was still worried about me and needed to check it—and him—out for herself.
I nodded because it was the only thing I could do. But the truth was, after being reminded of what little time I had left with Alex, I’d started to question whether or not it was a good idea for her to meet him at all, because I knew the moment Bri met him, she’d see what kind of guy he really was and would fall head over heels for him just as I had.
Oh fuck.
Head over heels? Was I really falling that hard for Alex? I was, wasn’t it? It’d only been a month, yet my heart was definitely a jumbled mess when it came to him.
But she did need to meet him. Otherwise, Bri’s overactive imagination would conjure up all the worst-case scenarios until she panicked and broke down my door, thinking I’m dead. Why hadn’t I thought about this before?
