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23
Viv was doingher best not to mope, but it seemed that was her default as of late. Her funk was back. But this time she knew the reason, she missed Glenn. There was no two ways about it.
He’d somehow managed to worm his way into her brain, get under her skin, and crawl inside her heart. She didn’t want to think about him but that was all she seemed to be able to do.
Today had been a busy day. She’d finalized the caterer, lighting, and DJ for the Hometown Heroes event which was less than a week away. She’d taken Nonna shopping for a new dress for a “special” dinner that Mr. Lopez had planned for her. Nonna didn’t know about the dinner. She’d been recruited by Mr. L privately. He’d told her money was no object and that Viv should make sure Nonna picked out something she felt beautiful in.
Seeing Nonna and Mr. Lopez’s relationship budding in the twilight of their life made Viv think that there was hope. Maybe not hope for herself and Glenn. They hadn’t spoken since coming back from their overnight adventure. She’d seen him quite a few times over the past ten days.
She’d seen him in the backyard playing with Bree. She’d seen him at the gym training Arturo. She’d seen him at Sue Ann’s Café when she was picking up a to-go order. She’d seen him at the grocery store. She’d seen him at the gas station. She’d seen him when she went out to get the mail. She’d seen him when she left for work and he and Bree were headed out for their day. She’d seen him when she came home from work, and he was out in the front watching Bree ride her bike.
Each time they crossed paths she waved and smiled and did her best not to look like a character in a movie standing in the rain outside of a house looking through the window at a party that was going on inside. That’s sort of what watching Glenn and Bree together felt like.
They were a family. She wanted a family so badly. She’d thought about revisiting the conversation they’d had in the car on the way home from Oregon again. In the moment, she hadn’t been expecting him to ask her what she wanted. Most of the men she’d dated didn’t consider her wants or needs as a priority. The guys, by and large, weren’t dicks or anything. It was just that they all knew the score and caring for each other wasn’t really part of the unspoken, or sometimes spoken agreement.
Since she hadn’t been prepared to answer, she’d panicked and just focused on the sex they’d had. It seemed less revealing to concentrate on that aspect than to admit that she was starting to have feelings for Glenn and she wanted to spend more time with him and Bree.
But she’d played that conversation over and over again in her head, and her twenty-twenty hindsight made it clear to see that he could have walked away from that interaction thinking that the only thing she wanted was more of his magic stick.
Don’t get it twisted, she abso-freaking-lutely did want more of that. But she also just wanted to hear his voice. She wanted to watch the slow smile creep up on his face when she said something he wasn’t expecting. She wanted to smell the crisp, clean aroma of his masculine scent.
There was a knock at the door and she closed her laptop. She’d been staring at it for the last hour but hadn’t got any more work done.
“Coming!” She called out as she stood from the kitchen table and made her way to the door.
When she opened it, she was shocked to see Bree and Glenn standing on her porch.
“Hey!” Viv noticed that Bree was wearing a bandage on her ankle and her wrist. Alarm shot through her and she bent down. “Are you okay? What happened?”
“I fell down out of a tree and twisted my ankle and my wrist. Daddy said I could have anything I wanted for dinner because I was so brave and I said that I wanted to have pizza, with you.”
Viv’s eyes shot up to Glenn. Daddy didn’t seem happy about this turn of events. She wasn’t sure if he was unhappy about her being invited for dinner or if his daughter breaking her arm was causing the perma wrinkle on his brow.
“Can we have another pizza dance party?” Bree begged. “Please, please, please!”
“Um…I don’t know about a dance party but pizza…” She was looking at Glenn to see if it was okay to say yes, or if he wanted her to make some excuse not to go. He gave her a small nod.
“Absolutely!” Viv agreed and Bree bounced up and down on her good foot.
The kid had obviously had a traumatic day, but it didn’t seem to be slowing her down. Kids were resilient. She wished she had some of that.
“Just let me change and I’ll be right over.”
“K! See you in five.” Bree held up her good hand.
When she shut the door, her heart was fluttering in her chest. Bree could have anything she wanted for dinner and she’d chosen to have pizza with Viv. Even though she had plenty of cousins that she could have asked to have for a sleepover. This was exactly why Viv had made her rule. The last thing she wanted to do was to get attached to that sweet, sweet girl and then have her ripped out of her life.
To this day, she still missed Mallory. She was fourteen now. The same age as her sister’s stepdaughter Blake. She’d only been with Mitch for six months but that was all it had taken for her heart to be completely stolen by the one-year-old.
Out of all the relationships she’d had, that was the only true heartbreak she’d ever had. And it wasn’t over a man. It was over a one-year-old.
After that, she made the rule. No kids.
But, this wasn’t the same thing. First off, she knew that Bree was leaving at the end of the summer. Second, she and Glenn were not dating. If they were, she’d be having a lot more amazing sex. And third…well, she couldn’t think of a third but the upshot was this wasn’t the same situation.
Viv went into her bedroom and caught her reflection in the mirror. Her hair looked like a rat’s nest, she had two-day stubble on her legs because she’d been too busy to take the time to shave and she had dark circles under her eyes.
This might not be a date, but that didn’t mean she was going to show up for dinner looking like a hot mess. After plugging in the straight iron, she hopped in the shower and shaved her legs, armpits and trimmed up her lady parts. Then after hopping out, she slathered on lotion and flat ironed her hair into submission. Her first instinct was to grab a pair of jeans and a shirt but instead she decided to pull out the sundress that she’d purchased today.
