AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Until Taylor Novak. And her godforsaken confusion about what it meant to be on vacation.
I was having a nice chat with my sister and best friend in my living room when my phone pinged. I picked it up with a grumble. “It’s fucking Boxing Day.”
My twin sister, Laney, snorted. “Since when do you celebrate Boxing Day?”
Ethan, one of my best friends since high school, shook his head. “I’m not even sure what that is.”
“It’s a public holiday in the UK and Australia.” She nestled into his side when he slung an arm around her. “But not really used for its original purpose and is more or less like our Memorial Day, sales on mattresses and stuff.”
“How do you know? No, wait. No.” Ethan pushed his glasses up his nose. “Never mind.”
I assumed my sister knew because of her ex-boyfriend, who was solely referred to as the Australian prick, if at all. Two years ago, he’d cheated on Laney, which had been the impetus for her moving back home from California. Incidentally, it had worked out well for Ethan since it gave him a second chance at a relationship with her, even though I’d had no idea about any of it until I’d found them together in bed.
And I was almost blinded.
All thanks to that Australian prick.
“So cute how you’re still so jealous,” Laney cooed, and I grimaced. I still wasn’t used to their being together even though they were getting married in March.
Ethan took hold of her left hand, toying with her engagement ring, then kissed her palm.
I ignored them and their glowing happiness and read Taylor’s “reminder” with the first line.As per my last email…
“Fuck your last email,” I snapped.
Ethan laughed. “Hey, whoa, language.”
I let out a grunt and stabbed at my phone, typing out a reply, which I wished was,It’s a holiday. Stop working and get a life. But what I went with instead was,As per my last email, I will have the contracts to you Monday by close of the business day.
“Why do you look so squinty lately?” my sister asked.
I tossed my phone next to me on the couch and pointed to it. “Because of that.” Then backtracked. “Her.”
Ethan spread his arms wide on the back of the love seat. “Didn’t we have this conversation already?”
“Yeah, Dean,” Laney said, “you gotta chill out with all the girls. Didn’t you ever listen to the lyrics of ‘Waterfalls’?”
Yes, we’d had the conversation about me sleeping with a lot of women before, but no, this hadnothingto do with that. I propped my feet up on the ottoman and let my head fall back to the couch cushion. “Yougotta chill out with all your slut-shaming.”
“I’m not slut-shaming,” she said. “I’m worried about you.”
I picked up my head to eye her. “First of all, I know how to use a condom, and second of all, I haven’t had sex in months.”
She clapped her hands over her ears. “Ah!”
“You’re the one who’s insisting on talking about it.”
“Is that why you’re so squinty all the time?” Ethan asked. “Because you haven’t gotten laid lately?”
I slapped my hand on the arm of the couch. “Dude! Don’t take her side.”
“But it’s true. You’ve been…” He winced apologetically. “Tense.”
Well…that was true. Whether it was from not having sex in a while or Taylor, I didn’t know. For a long time, my outlet for stress was coming home from work and fixing up my house, but now that I’d completed the renovations from top to bottom, there was nothing left for me to hammer or paint. And as much as I didn’t want to admit it, Ethan and Laney lecturing me about hooking up with so many girls on the weekends did strike a chord in me. Just not for the reason they thought.
For years, I’d had to watch my best friends find their “person,” and Ethan had been the last one to be single.
There was a group of us from high school. Gabe was up in Boston, and although he wasn’t married, he’d been with the same guy since college. They lived in some big brownstone with two dogs. Hank married his college girlfriend and was a dad to a little boy. Now, Ethan and my sister were engaged. A few months ago, they’d sat me down to ask me to be in the wedding, while also alluding to the fact that they thought I was trying to cover up some “bigger feelings” by sleeping around.
