She punched me in the arm, making me laugh. “Stop trying to distract me. It’s impossible. You should know that by now.”
I laughed and sat down on the curb. Nicole followed me down.
“Nick, we’re twenty-eight years old. Are you willing to take a chance on possibly allowing the love of your life to pass you by? Don’t you think we deserve a chance to be happy? If you’re dreaming about him a year later, then your big brain is trying to tell you something. ”
“But I’m so close to finishing.” I picked up a rock and rolled it through my fingers.
“What are you really afraid of?” she whispered. “You can say it.”
Turning, I looked at my twin sister. “He’s gonna keep me from focusing on my work, because I’m gonna want to be with him. And it would be really easy for him to hurt me, Nicole. He’ll have the power to tear me apart and won’t even know it.”
“How do you know that? You haven’t even been on a date with him.”
“True,” I sighed. “But I saw him talking with someone at the Draft Party and it hit me hard. Turns out she was Alejandro’s ex-wife. Ben had seen her before. Evidently, my brain already thinks he’s mine since I see him in my dreams.”
Nicole put her head on my shoulder. “I understand that, but he could be different.” She paused, making me consider her words. “Now, tell me about the dreams.”
I chuckled. “Oh, fuck no. They are NSFS.”
“What?” she laughed. “You tell me everything.”
“No, I don’t. And they are Not Safe For Sister.”
She bumped my shoulder with hers. “Just give me one little part. My sex life is non-existent right now.”
I snorted. “Same. But I am in a meaningful relationship with my hand.”
She laughed at my joke, and I knew if there was anyone in the world I could share this with, it was her. “But there was one particular dream about culinary school and macaroni and cheese that I can’t forget.”
Her eyes widened as I told her about the vivid dream, hoping she’d let it go. But that wasn’t going to happen.
“Your dreams are better than my sex life. Give that man a chance, big brother. He doesn’t even know you like him.”
“And he’s not going to. I have no guarantee he likes me, anyway. He glares at me and flirts. That’s about it.”
“Maybe you should pass him a note, like you did Cindy Matthews in fourth grade.”
Barking out a laugh at the memory, I had to admit I felt lighter about everything. I just needed to see where things went from here.
I stood up and reached for her hand. “Let’s go. I need ice cream.”
“Now you’re talking. Homemade ice cream fixes everything.”
We walked the rest of the way around the block and I thought about what she said. Nicole was right. My heart needed to be open to chances. Now I just needed to convince my head to get on board with the plan.
When I walked into work at ten to six, I’d decided I wouldn’t hide from Preston any longer. I’d just act like he was any other customer. I’d focus on school while trying to find a renovation project.
An hour later, Preston walked in and I stuck to my guns for about half an hour. It was impossible to keep from looking at him, especially when he parked himself on the stool in the middle of the bar. No more end seat, apparently.
I was fucked. And not in the good way.
CHAPTER4
PRESTON
The first thingwe did every day was to scroll through the dinner reservations on the computer. Sophia had gotten very good with the software I used. I bought it immediately when the seating chart feature automatically populated the seating area as reservations were made, then gave us the ability to shuffle the seating to accommodate parties.
The only thing it couldn’t do was give me more space. It was frustrating as hell, to say the least.
