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“True,” Gareth agreed. “Charli would probably have just opened the door.”
“How did it go?” Janessa asked, her grin settling into a genuine smile.
It made Aria feel good that her friend seemed to support Aria dating her brother. A small voice reminded her, however, that there were things that should Janessa learn of them, she might not be so keen on them dating. She ignored the voice, hoping it would fade away and never come back.
“We had a great time.” Gareth held out the bag from the restaurant. “Here’s your food.”
“Oh, thank you. Thank you.” Janessa took the bag from him. “Dinner is sorted for tomorrow night. I hope you got lots.”
“I got plenty. No worries.” Gareth turned to Aria. “I’d better get going. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Aria nodded. “Have a good night.”
After he said goodnight to Janessa, he gave Aria one last lingering look before he opened the door and stepped out onto the porch. Aria stood in place, watching until the door closed, blocking off her view of him.
“So you really had a good time with my boring older brother?” Janessa asked as she wrapped an arm around Aria.
Aria glanced over to find her friend staring at the closed door. “He’s not boring.”
“Maybe not to you,” Janessa said. “But give it a few, and he will be.”
“I somehow doubt that.”
Janessa looked over at her, dropping her arm as she grinned. “Well, it’s good to see that you’re already so enamored with him.”
“He’s very nice,” Aria told her. “And I very much enjoyed spending time with him.”
“Are you going out again?” Janessa asked as she turned and headed for the kitchen with the bag of food. “Just wondering where I might get food from next.”
Aria laughed and followed her, then settled on a stool. Janessa investigated the contents of the bag before putting the food into the fridge.
“We’re going to go out on Saturday,” Aria said. “But we haven’t decided where yet. He did mention something about Korean barbecue, though.”
“Oooh, that sounds yummy,” Janessa said as she folded up the takeout bag and put it in the recycling bin. “I’ll have to figure out what I want.”
“Are we going to have to bring you food from every restaurant we go to?”
“Of course. Consider it payment.”
“Uh… for what, exactly?” Aria asked. “It’s not like you’re babysitting for us or anything.”
“Oh. Babysitting for you guys? This is definitely moving faster than I had expected.”
Aria sputtered out a laugh at her friend’s over-the-top reaction. “Good grief. That was just an example. There was no talk of kids or anything like that tonight.”
“Whew. I thought for a minute I was going to have to lecture Gareth about not rushing into things.”
Aria thought back over the years she’d lived with Janessa, trying to remember what she might have said about Gareth. He’d been in medical school and doing his residency for much of that time. Janessa had talked more about Jay and Charli, though she’d shared bits about all her siblings. It just seemed she was closest to those two, which made sense since Jay was her biological brother and Charli was closest to her in age.
“Are you really okay with me dating Gareth?” Aria asked, hoping that she would not regret asking the question. What would she do if Janessa said no?
“I’m fine with it,” Janessa said. “From a strictly personal standpoint, he’s great, and you’re great. I think you could be great together. I just don’t want anything to go wrong, that would mess with the environment at work.”
Aria nodded. “I understand that. But I really do like Gareth, from almost the moment we met. I just didn’t think he’d like me back.”
“I was a bit surprised, but honestly, I shouldn’t have been.” Janessa leaned over the counter on the other side of the island. She braced her arms on it, interlacing her fingers as she regarded Aria. “Youarevery much his type.”
“He likes blondes?” she asked.
