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I scrunch up my face. “What?”
“Sorry,” he says. “I just mean it’s a good omen. Runaway brides mean fresh starts. Maybe that’s a good sign for our next game.”
“That’s Maddox,” Carter explains. “He’s got like three brain cells, and he uses all of them to hold every wild, silly superstition you can imagine.”
“You shouldn’t talk like that about superstitions, man. It’s bad luck.”
Carter gives me a “see?” kind of look.
I smile. “Hi, Maddox. And hi, Nolan. I’m Andi Summers.” I’m distracted when my phone buzzes from my bag, which I now notice is smeared with dirt. I glance at the screen and see a text from Jake.
Jake: Be there as soon as I can tomorrow. Don’t do anything crazy. I hope the guys are taking good care of you, but not too good. I calmed mom and dad down. They are good. Everything is good here, so don’t freak out too much.
I look up from my phone and see all five hockey players are just watching me. It’s a little overwhelming, and I’m also aware that I probably look several shades of crazy. I’m wearing my big wedding dress, my hair is wild, I’ve got a cut on my forehead, and I’m wearing a pair of old, way-too-big snow boots Jesse let me borrow from his truck. Yeah. I can’t imagine they’re forming the highest opinions of me right now.
“Well,” Nolan says, looking around the kitchen. “Are you hungry? I was just making bread.”
“You’re making bread? Like slicing it, or actually making it?” I ask.
“I’m making it. I brought my mother from home for this.”
I narrow my eyes, then lean a little to see deeper into the kitchen. “Your mom is here?”
Everybody laughs, and I smile, even though I don’t get the joke.
“It’s a cooking thing,” Nolan explains. I like the way he’s smiling. He’s not laughing at my expense. He just wants me to understand. “In cooking terms, a ‘mother’ is flour, water, yeast, and beneficial bacteria. Bakers use it for making breads like sourdough, but call it a mother. With regular feedings, you can keep it alive forever. My grandma started this one over forty years ago, and we’ve been feeding it and cooking with it ever since.”
“I know,” Jesse says. “It sounds super creepy. It’s just a jar that looks like a bubbly milkshake.”
“Well,” I say. “I, um, can’t wait to taste your mother?”
4
JESSE
Andi is at the kitchen table with Carter and Nolan. The three of them are going on and on about some TV show they all like, which is based on a book they read as kids.
Most women I’ve met would’ve rushed off to find a bathroom so they could clean up as soon as they walked in and saw all of us. I like that Andi has been sitting there looking like she just rolled down a hill in the forest and doesn’t seem to care. She’s just absorbed in the conversation, oblivious to anything else.
At the same time, I don’t like that I like several things about the small woman. She’s one of my best friend’s little sisters, for starters. I also had a very clear plan to mope and feel sorry for myself for at least a few more months.
I watch them for a little while, ignoring the annoying temptation to step in and get her away from the guys. I remind myself she’s not mine and she’s never going to be. Even if she wasn’t Jake’s little sister, I know I’m too much of a mess right now for relationships. Letting myself get tempted by her would be pointless. Hell, it would be worse than pointless. It would be painful.
I head out to the back patio and lean on the railing, taking in the swaying trees of the Vermont mountains. Liam joins me a few minutes later.
“Is this a solo brooding session, or is company allowed?” he asks.
“Company’s allowed.”
He takes a spot in one of the adirondack chairs on the deck and kicks his legs up, looking out to his side to take in the trees with me. “I’ve been there, you know. If you want to open up and talk about it, I’m all ears.”
“I don’t,” I say.
“What Sarah did was fucked up, she shouldn’t–”
“I said I don’t want to talk about it.” I pause, take a deep breath, and glance at my friend. “And it doesn’t have anything to do with Jake’s sister, if that’s what you're thinking.”
He smiles his movie star smile. Hollywood. Andi’s silly little nickname rings in my brain when I look at Liam.
