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“Yeah. You wanna come? You can hang with Mom and Aria at the landing zone.”
Even though I knew Paul jumped at work sometimes, and he did it recreationally as often as he could, I’d never actually seen him. I wasn’t sure if it was because of my heart condition, but the whole thing made me nervous if I was being honest. Who actually wanted to jump out of a perfectly good airplane, anyway? It made my heart beat faster just thinking about it.
But instead of voicing any of that out loud, I nodded. “Yeah, sounds fun.”
“Cool.”
“Hey, guys,” Aria said as she approached our table. She slid into the booth next to her brother and bumped his arm. “What’s up?”
“Just eating breakfast,” Paul said, glaring at his younger sister for what I was sure he considered to be a huge intrusion. “You?”
“Nothing,” she replied with a sweet smile for him that turned a little devious when she looked at me. “I was on my way to the craft store when I saw you guys through the window and figured I’d come say hi.”
“How nice,” Paul said. “Now leave.”
“Why? It’s not like this is a date or anything, right?” she asked, knowing full well that Paul and I had our big date last night, and if we were here together this morning, then it had clearly gone well.
“Actually, it is. And three’s a crowd,” he replied as I stifled a laugh. They still bickered like they’d done since they were teenagers. Longer than that, of course, but I hadn’t been close enough with them to have my own memories of it. Just what I’d heard.
Aria clapped her hands and grinned at me. “Finally. I’m so happy. I’ve always wanted a sister.”
Paul bumped her arm with his elbow. “Shh. Don’t scare her away. This is only our second date.”
“Oh, please. You guys have been dating without the good parts for like a hundred years. You might as well bust out that ring and put it on the right finger this time.” She held up her hands and laughed. “I’m kidding, you can’t recycle the ring. Does Walmart allow ring returns?”
“I’m gonna kick you,” Paul warned as I failed to hide my laughter that time. “Go away, Aria.”
“Fine, fine.” My friend hopped up from the table then, coming to my side of the booth and giving me a hug. “I’m really happy for you guys.”
“Thank you,” I said against her shoulder.
“Ooh, good timing too,” she said as she straightened. “Valentine’s Day is next week. We’re hosting a catered event at the B&B if you guys want to come. There are still a handful of tickets left.”
“Tickets?” Paul asked.
Aria put a hand on her hip. “Yes, Paul. Tickets. It covers the five-course meal for two with a piano concert.”
“I don’t get the family discount of free ninety-nine?” he asked with a wink for me.
“Nope. Don’t be cheap. Shelby deserves better,” she replied.
Paul turned to me. “What do you think? You wanna go?”
“Yeah, that sounds nice,” I replied, butterflies taking off in my belly as I imagined us having a romantic dinner in such a gorgeous setting. Knowing Aria, it would be a totally amazing evening.
“I’ll text you the link for the tickets,” Aria said to Paul.
“Oh, I’m coming to the skydiving thing tomorrow so we’ll chat then.” I lifted my brows at her so she’d know I meant “gossip” when I said “chat.”
Her eyes lit up. “Oh, good. Then my annoying brother will be thousands of feet up, and I can hear all about your night last night without him threatening to kick me.”
“Go away, Aria,” Paul said again, humor in his tone.
“I’m going, I’m going. Love you guys.” She gave me one more delighted grin before leaving us, prancing out the door and onto Main Street.
I looked at Paul, who was still shaking his head. “Sisters.”
“I’ve always wanted a sister,” I said on a sigh.
“You can keep her,” he replied with a chuckle.
We spent the rest of the meal laughing and talking about all of the times we’d done things that were pretty date-like without all the good parts, as Aria had said. There were movies with no making out, easy hikes with no hand-holding, and porch-swinging that rarely involved cuddling, and when it did, it was in a very anti-romantic place of comfort on his part.
We vowed to redo as much as we could but with the good parts sprinkled in this time. And as those images flashed before my eyes, I couldn’t believe how excited I was to get started.
