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Both of our heads lift just in time for Aspen to fully enter the lobby.
“Everything is fine, Pen.” He stands, offering me a hand, which I quickly refuse as I straighten, draping my purse back over my forearm. “Midday collision. Nothing insurance won’t cover.” He offers me a wink and a smirk, like we’re sharing some kind of inside joke.
“What are you doing here, Rem?”
“I was in the area. Thought I’d stop by and see if I could take you to lunch.”
“You were in the area.” She gives him a disbelieving look.
“Okay, fine, I wasn’t exactlyinthe area.”
“Did Sutton call you?”
“Because I need my brother to call me and tell me that my best friend is having major baby withdrawal and is likely in need of a distraction. We both know distractions are my specialty.”
Best friend... So not only is her husband a Greek god, but apparently, so is her best friend, which curiously, I’ve just learned is also her husband’s brother. Given how ridiculously good-looking they both are, it kind of makes sense that they’re related. The kind of company this girl seems to keep is mind-boggling.
Suddenly feeling like I’ve overstayed my welcome, I begin to turn, but Aspen’s voice stops me mid-motion.
“Kaia, would you like to join Remi and me? I mean, he ran you over in the hallway. The least he can do is buy you lunch.” She smiles, the action as natural as breathing.
I briefly wonder what that must be like, to smile and laugh and feel something other than your grief. I wish I could say I remember that sensation, a time when things felt good. It’s been so long. I’m not sure I’d recognize it if it hit me in the face.
“Remi?” I say aloud, though I don’t actually mean to.
“Remington.” His grin is so infuriatingly cute I think I might curl up and die right here on the spot. “But my friends call me Remi. And since we’re friends now”—his smile widens—“you can call me Remi, too.”
I feel glued to the spot, like my feet don’t actually remember how to move. Paralyzed by his gaze, it takes way longer than it should to get my body to cooperate.
“Okay, well...” I finally say as I take a step backward, not sure how to exit this conversation gracefully.
“And she’s not wrong,” he quickly interjects before I can make a run for it. “It really is the least I can do. Treat you to lunch, I mean.” His stark green eyes are almost too beautiful to stare directly into. It’s kind of like looking at the sun—no matter how much you wish you could stare at it for hours, you can never last more than a few seconds. I’m quick to blink away, turning my attention instead to Aspen.
“Actually, I’m good. I have an appointment soon, so I’m just going to run down the street for a quick sandwich.”
“You sure?” It’s him who asks, but I still direct my answer toward Aspen.
“Another time, maybe.”
With that, I spin on my heel and exit the building so fast you’d think the damn thing had just burst into flames. In a lot of ways, it kind of felt like it had.
It’s not like I haven’t seen good-looking men before. They’re a dime a dozen in California. The man I was supposed to marry being one of them. But I’d be lying if I said I’ve ever met anyone quitethatattractive. Think Liam Hemsworth meets Matthew McConaughey, but younger and way hotter, which, up until two minutes ago, I didn’t know could exist.
I do my best to shake off the thought, but I won’t lie and say it doesn’t linger for far longer than it should. I replay our brief interaction on repeat for nearly the entire remainder of the day, not entirely sure why.
Then again, that’s not completely true. I kind of know why, and it has nothing to do with how incredibly drop-dead gorgeous he is, though that certainly doesn’t hurt.
It’s more about me than it is him.
I’ve been having a really hard time with my mom’s passing, and in that short moment of only a few seconds, I forgot. I forgot about the past year of my life when I gave up everything to take care of my mom. I forgot about the pain of her passing that seems to never end, lingering just beneath the surface. For one small snippet of time, I was just Kaia again. Just Kaia... But for as good as it felt, it only made the guilt I feel now that much heavier to carry.
Because now all I want to do is go home and call my mom and tell her all about this ridiculously hot guy I quite literally ran into. I can already hear her laugh, the way she would demand every detail and dissect every facial expression he made. Then she’d ask me if I was going to try and track him down and ask him on a proper date, to which I would have responded, not a chance. Guys who look like that don’t stay in the sameplacefor too long, if you know what I mean.
It’s just after six when I make it back to my aunt’s house. She’s in the kitchen, stirring a pot of what appears to be pasta sauce when I enter.
With her back to me, I can almost pretend she’s my mom for a brief moment.
They’re the same short, petite build. Same dark-colored hair. Same brown eyes. Very similar facial features. They’re actually twins. Not identical, but close enough that if you saw them side by side, you’d do a double take.
