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“What is up with my friends falling for forbidden men?” Piper joked when I’d finished.
“What are you talking about?” What could possibly be worse than falling for your sister’s husband?
“Surely I’ve told you about Sumner and her husband, Wolfe?”
“No.” I shook my head. “What about them?”
“Her husband is her dad’s best friend.”
I covered my gasp. “What? You never told me that.” My mind was reeling. “Oh my god. Seriously?”
Piper nodded, but my mind was still stuck on the fact that he washer dad’s best friend.
I set down my makeup brush. “Her dad must have hotter friends than mine.”
Piper laughed, but I mean, how much older was Wolfe? Twenty years? More? Tristan seemed freaked out by our age gap, but I had a feeling it was nothing compared to the one between Sumner and her dad’s best friend.
“Yes, Wolfe is hot. And did I mention that he was also her boss for the summer?”
“Holy—” I wasn’t even sure what to say. “What about Sumner’s dad?”
“Oh, he was pissed. Wouldn’t speak to either of them for a long time.”
“At least I don’t have that to worry about, I guess.” I frowned at my reflection, facing an onslaught of conflicting emotions. Sadness that my sister was gone. Yet a bittersweet knowledge that if she were here, well, Tristan and I wouldn’t be…whatever we were.
“I’m sorry, Ellie.” Piper’s tone was gentle. One I could imagine her using with her daughter. “I know you miss your sister.”
I nodded, forcing back tears. My twenty-first birthday was coming up, and Tessa had always made my birthdays extra special by sending me flowers and a new book she just knew I’d love. And she was always right about the book. Last year, even though my birthday was after she’d died, I’d received a book. I’d been shocked and yet not at all surprised that she’d put something in place before her surgery. But this year, I was dreading my birthday.
It was hitting me really hard that she was gone. That I was still here, living life. And she’d stopped having birthdays. She would forever be thirty-three. It all seemed so unfair.
Life is too fucking short.
“I sometimes wonder if that’s why I gravitate toward Tristan. Because he’s the only person who truly understands.” I hadn’t realized it until I’d spoken the words aloud.
“Shared experience, especially shared grief, is powerful.”
“Yeah, but—” I glanced at the ceiling and sighed. “It feels like more than that. There’s this—I don’t know. Pull. I can’t explain it, but I feel it.” I jabbed at my chest. “Here.”
“Are you surethat’swhere you feel the pull?” she teased as I closed my makeup palette and set it aside.
“Ha-ha. Yes, I’m attracted to him. How could I not be? He’s smart and witty and such a good dad.”
“Uh-oh.” She grinned. “Someone’s got it bad.”
I rolled my eyes but didn’t even try to deny it. “It’s not like I’m looking for something long-term.” I continued, just…needing to voice my thoughts aloud. To try to make sense of everything. “I’ll be leaving again in a few months.”
“True, and it could get hella awkward if you guys sleep together. You do realize that, right?”
I scoffed and opened another makeup palette. Boy, did I ever. But I was already too far in to stop, and I was tired of thinking of reasons why we shouldn’t be together.
“Surely there are some hometown hottiesbesidesTristan that you’d be interested in.”
I scrunched up my nose and shook my head. I’d hooked up with a few guys in Melbourne. Guys who were fun. The problem was, all the guys my age seemed so immature.
But it was more than that. The few guys I’d slept with were boring in bed. I’d always been told I had a vivid imagination, and compared to what I’d imagined, so far, sex was disappointing. So, I’d resigned myself to using my vibrator.
I heard a noise from down the hall and realized Rex was no longer in the bedroom with me. “Thanks for listening. I should probably get going. Rex is off doing god knows what.”
