@bethanylynn: umm YES!! Like where do I sign up??
@berwynbabe: I know he was talking but I stg I didn’t hear a word he said like…omg!
@pugs4lyf: What a shame. His voice is sinful!
@cynthia653: I don’t live in Chicago but if someone attends his class PLEASE live stream it. I will pay you.
Her notifications pinged throughout the day until Lily signed out of the gym account and back into her personal. She’d need to respond. Duet it from her own account and let her followers know she had more content on the gym’s page. Still, she hadn’t been expecting the semiviral moment. The gym had a little over three hundred followers last night. It was now pushing twenty thousand.
Neal will be happy.
Lily tugged down the edges of her white-and-yellow sundress, questioning for the millionth time if she’d worn the right thing. It didn’t matter how confident she’d acted in the “Get Ready With Me” video she’d made for her page. Standing on Kieran’s stoop, all assuredness fled her body.
What if everyone else wore gym attire all day, every day? What if they were jeans and T-shirts people? What if a get-together with coworkers, even a barbecue, was never truly casual?
She readjusted her grip on the two six-packs she’d purchased and took a breath.Come on, Lily. Just ring the doorbell.
“You heading in?”
Lily turned on her heel, meeting the gaze of a young woman coming up the street. One hand had a hot-hold bag. The other gripped the hand of little Saoirse. Both ladies were, much to Lily’s delight, wearing sundresses.
“Um, yes.” Lily smiled and hefted the bags. “I was just second-guessing if I’d brought enough.”
The woman grinned and walked past Lily, releasing Saoirse’s hand to open the door. “It’s perfect. Only a few of us will drink, anyway.”
“Hi!” The little redheaded girl left her mother’s side to wrap both, blessedly clean, arms around Lily’s legs in a hug.
“Hello again.”
“Sorry,” the girl’s mother apologized and held the door open. “She’s terribly affectionate.”
It must’ve been blissful to be so trusting of the world. Lily hadn’t been that way at Saoirse’s age. “She’s sweet. Are you Kieran’s sister?”
“Guilty.” The woman closed the front door with her hip once they entered and nodded for Lily to follow Saoirse down the hall. “I’m Maeve.”
“I’m Lily.” She smiled sheepishly at the bags in her hands. “I’d offer to shake your hand, but…”
“No worries. Let’s get all of this to the kitchen.”
Lily followed the toddler through a cozy living room complete with a taupe sofa, a black armchair and a TV. Other than a few frames atop the mantel, the room bore no decorations. They arrived at the kitchen where a few covered dishes already adorned the counters.
“You can put those in the fridge,” Maeve said as she removed a covered potato dish from her bag. “Everyone’s probably out back.”
There was still time to run. No one else had seen her yet. It shouldn’t have felt so hard—putting herself out there and making friends. After all, Lily was vulnerable online with hundreds of thousands of strangers. But that was just it. They were strangers. If their engagement got too involved, that’s what the block button was for.
Online wasn’t real, which made it perfect.
But Saoirse flung the back door open, a gleeful scream on her lips as she scurried down the steps. “Kiki!”
Maeve hooked an arm through Lily’s and gave a tug. “Come on, let’s see if the meat’s almost ready.”
With no choice but to follow, Lily donned a smile and stepped into the warm afternoon sun. The backyard was small but intimate with a chain link fence protecting the childrenfrom running into the road. Rachel, Neal, an older Black woman whom Lily assumed was Neal’s wife, and a young dark-haired teen with pale skin sat at an oversize picnic table. Sebastián manned the grill and was dressed in cargo shorts and a tank top. Standing beside the picnic table, with Saoirse balanced on his hip, was Kieran. Two other small children hung from his outstretched arm, practicing chin-ups as if he were a piece of playground equipment.
Something warm swirled in Lily’s belly. Kieran was, as he’d shown her, a jerk. There he stood, work boots and dark-wash jeans and a black V-neck shirt—he had the asshole attire down to a T. Yet the smile stretching his face as he rubbed noses with his niece was the most gorgeous she’d ever seen. Playful and open and brimming with unfettered joy.
Holding those three kids, he was every bit a certified DILF.
“Hey, guys.” Maeve waved a hand above her head and guided Lily down the steps. “Look who I found!”
