Reece wrapped his arms around me, pulling me closer into his embrace. “You’re right. I would have kissed you eventually.”
53
REECE
Not once in my life had I been nervous before picking Brooke up to go on a date. It was always easy for me—I’d pick her up, and I knew we’d have a good time. There was no way I could mess up. We’d laugh, joke around, and then eventually, I’d come up with a stupid idea and Brooke would keep me out of prison.
Today was different. It was probably the most important date we’d ever go on. If I messed up today, I was sure our relationship wasn’t going to survive it.
I needed Brooke in my life though, more than I needed oxygen, so fucking up wasn’t an option.
It’s just breakfast, I tried to tell myself. Surely I couldn’t mess up one stupid breakfast. It was only an hour or two until I’d take her back home and we’d go back to not seeing each other for a couple of days.
When I asked my therapist if I could move back in with Brooke, he said that it’d be better to move toward it slowly. He thought it was better for Brooke and my relationship if I figured out how to stand on my own feet again and avoid the risk of using my fiancée as an anchor once more.
Yes, Brooke held me together, and I honestly wouldn’tknow how to function without her, but my therapist had a good point. If I continued to use Brooke to get through the days, I was only putting more weight on her and ruining everything. The last thing I wanted was to destroy Brooke just so I didn’t fall apart. And I knew that she’d catch me if I fell again, even if that ruined her completely.
As I crossed the street with a bouquet of baby’s breath—Brooke’s favorite flowers—in my hands, my knees weak, and my breath barely finding its way out of my lungs, I kept telling myself that it was just breakfast.
God, if this was evenremotelywhat Brooke felt like on a daily, I had to figure out new ways to distract her because this was awful.
With a shaking hand, I knocked on the front door and barely a second later, Nova opened the door for me.
Her eyebrows were raised, her hands on her hips, and her curly, blonde hair hung in a perfectly styled ponytail as always. It was a little odd how she looked so much like her older sister yet not at all. Nova’s expectant look was definitely more intimidating than Brooke’s, and she had only recently turned eleven.
“Reece,” Nova said, sounding a lot less friendly than what was usual for her. I had to give it to that little kid, when it came to anyone hurting her siblings or parents, she was going to be a pain in the ass. Nova could be very rude if she had to be.
And she wasn’t stupid. She probably knew that things weren’t all sunshine and rainbows between Brooke and me, considering that my fiancée moved back home for a while. Not for long, I was sure. Once I was doing better, we’d be going back to our apartment. But until then, Nova was going to make my life a living hell, I could feel it.
Or at least give me a hardertime.
But I came prepared.
“Nova.” I pulled a single white rose out of the baby’s breath bouquet—it was the only place I could store it—and handed it to the little unimpressed girl in front of me.
She took the rose but her expression didn’t falter. “Bribery doesn’t work on me, Reece’s Cups.”
“I know. That’s why it’s not bribery.”
“Then what is this?” Despite trying not to react too much, she still smelled the rose.
“Just a rose for a cute little girl.”
Nova snorted a laugh. “As much as your crush on me is flattering, you’re engaged to my sister, Reece.”
I did not have a crush on her, for very obvious reasons. She was a kid for starters, and I was very much in love with my fiancée.
“Oh.” I covered my heart with a hand. “You’re right…”
“And I don’t even like you right now.”
I nodded. “I understand. Your rejection wounds me, Ms. Desrosiers-King, but I shall survive.”
She laughed, then instantly wrapped her arms around me for a hug. “I missed you.”
“Have you?” I chuckled and I could feel Nova nod against my body. “Didn’t seem like you did just a minute ago.”
“Because you hurt my sister, Reece,” she told me. “But you’re like my brother. How could I hate you? Yet I have to dislike you for Brookie’s sake, but like… I still love you, you know? But you hurt her big time, and so I should hate you.”
