AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He put a couple of pieces of pizza on his plate, then added some salad to make him feel better about indulging yet again. Soon, they were all seated in the breakfast nook.
Gareth was glad he’d come, and he realized that he’d probably stay for the movie. Just so that he could hang out with his sisters… and yes, Aria. The more time he spent with her, the more time he wanted to spend with her. Especially outside of the office.
For the first time in a long time, his heart demanded he get to know all he could about a woman, and he wasn’t sure what to do about it. Aria was still settling into her life in Serenity, so he didn’t want to complicate the situation. However, it was hard not to ask her out and then spend their time together getting to know her more.
The problem was… would she think she had to say yes to spending time with him since he was her boss? Her job wasn’t in any sort of jeopardy, but she might worry that it would be.
Maybe he should talk to Janessa. If there was one thing he could count on, it was his sister being totally honest with him. She knew Aria well, so she’d know if this was a totally bad idea. He really hoped it wasn’t.
“You’re on the worship team tomorrow, Gareth?” Charli asked.
“Yep. We had practice right before I came here. I’m filling in for Steve, so I’m on three weeks in a row.”
“You didn’t swap weeks with him?”
Gareth grimaced at Janessa’s question. “My usual group prefers not to work with Steve. Plus, I don’t mind doing it.”
“You’re a good drummer,” Aria said, making Gareth want to grin, since he very much liked that she thought that.
“He’s the best,” Charli agreed. “He should do it every week, to be honest.”
“Steve’s fine,” Gareth said. “He’s just young, and he likes to have some attention on himself.”
Charli laughed. “Yes. Yes, he does.”
“I wish I played an instrument,” Aria said.
“You didn’t want to take lessons as a kid?” Gareth asked, taking the opportunity to learn a bit more about her.
“No. We moved a lot.” Aria hesitated. “And I doubt Mom had the money to spare for lessons.”
“You know you can take lessons as an adult,” Gareth told her. “It’s never too late to learn to play whatever instrument you want.”
She seemed to consider that before she said, “I never really thought about it.”
“Our music teacher has retired from teaching now, but she might make an exception for you.” Janessa smirked. “Especially if Gareth asks her. He’s her favorite.”
“Gareth waseveryone’sfavorite,” Kayleigh groused. “He set the bar way too high for the rest of us.”
“Not my fault,” Gareth said with a laugh. “I was just doing my best.”
“You could have done just a little worse,” Janessa told him.
Gareth shrugged. “I liked school.”
“Aria always did better than me at nursing school,” Janessa said. “She was more interested in studying than partying.”
“You didn’t partythatmuch. Plus, it didn’t seem like you needed to study as much as I did. Even without studying as much, your grades were fine.”
Janessa grinned. “I was lucky. Mom and Dad would have gotten after me if my grades weren’t good, and they’d have made me stop socializing so much.”
After they finished their pizza, Charli and Janessa got out all the fixings for sundaes. Ice cream was a weakness for Gareth. And if he had to watch a princess movie while he ate his sundae, he’d happily do so.
Once Layla had her bowl of ice cream, Charli went with her down to the basement where the large television was.
“You sticking around for the movie?” Janessa asked as she handed him a bowl.
“I guess I am if I want to have ice cream.”
