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“What? Bro, don’t call your sister in the middle of her date.”
“Why? It’s not like it’s going well. She texted me first.”
I smirked “She’s gonna yell at you.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time.”
I shook my head, cracking open a can of Coors Light and leaning against the counter to listen to his end of the conversation. My posture was casual, like I didn’t have a care in the world. Like I didn’t hope against all hope that this was the worst date Aria had ever had. I loved the idea of her kicking him right out of her apartment, daisies in hand and tail between his legs.
Aria must have picked up with some kind of snarky remark for her brother because the corners of his eyes crinkled as he laughed. “Well, hello to you, too,” Paul said into the phone. There was a long pause, and then his brows flew up and his heated gaze turned to me. “Are you kidding me?”
I pushed off the counter, motioning for him to put the call on speakerphone. Considering I’d known his sister about as long as he had, me taking an interest in this wasn’t weird to him. Me taking an interest in her in any other way? Yeah, that would be weird. But right now, he thought my ears were burning to hear this conversation because I was just as protective of her as he was.
“It’s for the best, though. He was a lawyer. Mom always said lawyers were nuts,” Aria said. Her mom was a legal secretary at a local law firm, so even though she’d said it with a touch of humor, her voice was laced with sadness. Something squeezed in my chest at the sound of it, especially when she punctuated it with a dejected sigh. “I just can’t believe he overreacted like that.”
“Well, it wasn’t your fault. He’s clearly got his own trust issues,” Paul said, looking pointedly at me.
I furrowed my brow, wishing I’d heard the beginning of the conversation. I reached out and hit the mute button on Paul’s phone. “What happened?”
“He saw your hoodie on her couch and jumped to conclusions. Took off saying he wasn’t interested in a girl who had a revolving door of men in her place,” Paul said in a rush, hitting the mute button again before I had a chance to respond.
“Anyway, now I’m going to dig into this baked ziti when it’s ready and watch some cheesy movies,” Aria said, oblivious to our little exchange. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Keep your chin up, sis. Better you find out he’s a jerk now than later,” Paul told her. “You deserve better.”
Aria thanked him and they got off the call, but I’d left the kitchen so Paul wouldn’t see how utterly furious I was. I mean, come on. Aria was so far from the kind of girl who had a revolving door of men in her place that it was laughable.
Sure, she dated. Not as much as I did, but still. She was confronted with happy couples every single day in her line of work, and she wanted her own happily ever after, too. I’d heard her say it enough times that her wistful expression when she talked about it was burned into my brain. And since I’d never be the kind of man who deserved to give it to her, it killed me every time.
Paul took a swig of beer and joined me in the living room, flopping onto the couch. “That dude sounds like a tool. She dodged a bullet for sure.”
“Yep.” Still seething, I sat next to him and picked up the remote, switching on the game.
“Why does she still have your hoodie, anyway? Didn’t you give it to her at the hospital that night? That was months ago.”
I bent my head to study my hands. Yeah, it was months ago. But I’d pretty much written it off. I’d seen her at family events with Paul or out in town like I had today, but I had no interest in asking her about the hoodie. The very idea of bringing up that night after almost kissing her and then telling her she was like a sister to me made me cringe. She hadn’t tried to get it back to me either, though. But I couldn’t exactly explain any of that to him.
“Eh, I forgot about it,” I lied.
Not only had Inotforgotten about it, but I’d tortured myself by picturing her wearing it. I pictured her snuggling up with it while lounging around her little cottage on the B&B grounds, looking adorable with her petite form being completely swallowed up by the size of it. But that was also something I couldn’t tell him.
Paul had focused in on the game I’d put on, so he didn’t reply. But then something nagged at me. The sad note in Aria’s voice was still clear in my mind, and I hated that she’d had a bad date because of me. Especially since I’d been actively hoping it would be a bad date.
I set down my practically full beer and stood. “I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?” Paul asked, moving to look around me as I passed in front of him to see if a three-pointer made it into the hoop.
“I’m gonna go grab my hoodie.”
Paul snickered. “Ha. Leave it. Might be a good prop for her to weed out jealous idiots.”
Feeling like the jealous idiot title belonged to me, I shook my head. “Nah, it’s my favorite hoodie.”
“Not sure why you’d rather get it back than watch this game but suit yourself. Shelby’s on the way over, anyway.”
As if on cue, Shelby let herself into our apartment through the unlocked front door. She knocked tentatively and poked her head in. “Hey, I’m here.”
“Hey, babe,” Paul called, cheering when another three-pointer found its way home. “Will bought that sparkling water you like. It’s in the fridge.”
