AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I love pizza,” I proclaim, making Luna do a double inward fist pump.
“Yes!” she cheers with a hiss on the end. “Can I bring Brayden?” She looks up at her mom, wasting no time moving on to the next order of business.
“If it’s okay with his mom,” Kasey answers, pulling her bag up on her shoulder. “I’ll text her from the salon.”
“Yes!” Luna cheers again before turning tail and running back to her friends. “Brayden!” Kasey watches her daughter run off for a second before turning back to me with a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes.
“Okay, well, the pizza place is near the salon, if you want to just meet me there when you guys are done.”
“Sure,” I nod. “Everything okay?” I find myself wanting to know if I did something wrong, but I also have a genuine concern for her. She’s not the bubbly, smiling woman from the wedding, or the other night when she and Luna came by, or this morning for that matter.
“Yeah, just got a lot on my mind.” And she doesn’t want to tell me about it. I can tell by the way her eyes won’t meet mine. And as someone that doesn’t like to tell other people shit about himself, I need to respect that. Yet after she gives me a polite nod and struts out of the gym, I realize I want nothing more than to know what’s going on with her.
Chapter Thirteen
Kasey
We’re fucked.
Those are the two words that entered my mind a few moments after I watched Luna giddily skip out the door with Ben. All these years I’ve been so careful not to let any man into our lives until I was certain it was a sure thing, but this is a complicated situation. I’m not dating this man, but here he is, staying in my brother’s house, coaching my kid’s basketball team, and coming to dinner with us. He doesn’t even live close to us! He sails boats in the Indonesian islands, but it’s too damn late, because Luna and I are both smitten. Of all the guys in this world, the one that doesn’t want to be in anyone’s lives has sailed right into ours.
Ben walking into where I work, calling me Kase, and leaving with my kid to play basketball… it felt domestic, comfortable, exciting, and so incredibly good. All feelings I’ve been yearning to feel for so long, and all I can think about is how it’s not going to end on a happy note.
And besides that, I have a hard time accepting help, especially when I can’t do anything in return. With how many times people have stepped in to help Luna and me, I wonder if I’d ever truly be able to do it on my own, which makes me feel about an inch tall. Ben saving my daughter isn’t something I can assign any kind of debt to. There was no room or even a thought of pride and independence in that one. But sticking around to help out with her team… things like that make me feel like I do nothing in this world but take, take, take.
You’ve tripped all over yourself helping us since the day you met us, let me take my own damn kid home!That’s what I wanted to say when I dropped by with the snack earlier. Eventually, people get tired of helping you, and before you know it, you’re on your own again. It just seems easier if it stays that way from the get-go.
I’ve been ruminating on all of this while trying to keep a smile on my face and a bell in my voice while I chat with my last client of the day, blowing her hair out for a few minutes and letting the loud noise of the hairdryer drown out everything else while I get lost in thought.
After she’s gone I straighten up my station, and after cleaning off all my styling tools, I put them away. I’m just closing up all my drawers when the bells on the door jangle and I look up to see not Ben and Luna, but my new sister-in-law. She smiles brightly, her pearly whites contrasting beautifully with her new tan, as she trots excitedly over to me and wraps me in a hug.
“Hi!” I say, so pleasantly surprised. “What are you doing back? Has it been two weeks already?”
“Eh, thirteen days,” she rolls her eyes. “We weren’t supposed to get back until the day after tomorrow, but we caught an earlier flight. Hawaii was lovely, but the lake house is calling my name.”
“Well, I’m so glad to see you! Where’s Matt?” I ask, looking for my brother over her shoulder.
“Oh,” she giggles, “he’s outside. We weren’t sure how many people would be in here.”
“Oh, gotcha,” I roll my eyes and smirk, knowing at the very least that Lizzie and Katy would be swarming Turn it Up’s bass player.
“So anyway, we wanted to stop in and have dinner with you before we go back to the lake. Are you all done here?”
“Yeah, but um…” I stammer, looking for a way to fill her in as I pull my handbag up on my shoulder. “We’re actually going to get pizza… with Ben.”
Melanie stops in her tracks so fast I swear I just heard tires squeal.
“B-Ben?” she asks, blinking at me. “Ben from Bali? Ben who showed up in the middle of my wedding, Ben?”
“Yeah,” I confirm, pressing my lips together.
“He’s still here?”
“Luna’s basketball coach injured himself and Ben has stepped in to coach in his place,” I nod.
“What?” Her eyebrows are becoming one with her hairline. “I need to sit and process this,” she declares, sitting in the nearest styling chair and I take one across from her. “So you’re telling me,” she starts, holding her hands out, “that my scrooge of a friend is coaching a bunch of nine-year-olds in basketball right now?”
“Yes,” I confirm, sucking in a breath, “and he’s doing a pretty good job of it. I stopped by earlier and he almost seemed like he was enjoying himself…” I trail off and look at my hands in my lap.
