“Exactly,” Kendall says, thumbing through the magazine. I thought she’d been ignoring us all. Apparently she is the only sane one here.
“Here we all are acting as though we don’t have a past. Ours may not be as colorful as theirs I’ll admit that, but it’s all the same. We are in the now and the now is what matters. You two are pregnant and married. Adley is living with Rory and helpingraise Jayden. I’ve recently moved in with Finn, Jillian, and Kendall…”
“Are living the single life,” Kendall says, holding her hand out to Jillian and though she doesn’t seem as pleased with the fact she still high-fives Kendall.
“My point is, our guys are good guys. And they are our guys. The past needs to be left in the past.”
“Amen,” Kendall interjects once more and I give her a look. “What?”
“Do you want to fill any of us in on anything?” I ask her and she shrugs. “Nothing at all?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You talk in your sleep,” I tell her and she shifts in her chair trying to hide the fact that she is now nervous. “You admit things, you make promises, and all I’m saying is you aren’t as unaffected as you put on.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about,” she chooses to challenge me.
“Aaron,” I throw at her and she narrows her eyes. “Life isn’t as smooth sailing as you pretend it is when you choose to ignore what you truly want.”
“I don’t want anything, Sophie,” she says and I know she’ll keep playing this game. But what I don’t know is why. Why does she feel like Aaron’s too good?
CHAPTER FORTY
Finn
“Sophie.”I walk into the kitchen and trip over another pile of chew toys in the middle of the floor. I stop, slowly taking in everything around me that wasn’t there when I left. Freshly washed food and water bowls drying on the counter. An assortment of treats in chicken and beef. Another bag with bones and a dog bed sit on the table halfway hanging out of a big bag from a pet store in Montgomery.
“Sophie,” I holler once more than hear a bark echo from the backyard and my heart feels like it stops. “She didn’t,” I say as my feet start to move.
Pulling back the curtain on the window above the sink I see a streak of white go running across the backyard and my shoulders sag in defeat.
“She did,” I mumble, hanging my head in defeat.
In her defense I did say build our home. Apparently that includes a furball I didn’t know we needed.
Another bark, followed by a second one and my heart races.
“No, she didn’t.”
I step out the back door and onto the patio to find both Jillian and Sophie sitting in the grass as not one, but two, puppies jump around them happily. They are barking and playfully biting making both the girls laugh.
I stand watching, neither of them aware that I am there.
I can’t help but smile too, seeing how excited Sophie seems to be. She is loving this and though this morning when I left a dog, or two dogs I should say, were the last thing I expected to come home to tonight.
Dogs are messy and they chew things. They require continuous observation and potty breaks. But her face and that smile make it all worth it.
But two, really? She had to get two?
“Are you mad?” Sophie asks and I glance back at both ladies who are now watching me. Sophie worrying her lip and Jillian with not a care in the world as she leans back and both puppies leap into her lap.
“You look mad,” Sophie adds and I take a few steps toward them and lower myself to my knees. The two fireballs decide I’m their new chew toy and instantly shift gears, bolting in my direction. One after another tug on the edge of my shirt, nip at my hands, and bark over and over.
I hear Sophie and Jillian giggle.
“Not mad, babe, just surprised,” I tell her as I pick up the smaller of the two. “One wasn’t enough?” I ask, looking over at her tocatch the tail end of her rolling her eyes as she glances over at Jillian.
Then she looks back at me noticing I saw and smiles at me.
