AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Is that your way of inviting yourself for dinner?”
He shrugs casually. “If you want the best pizza to have ever ignited the taste buds on your tongue, then you want me there, trust me.”
I laugh softly, peeking up at him from below my lashes. “Aren’t you sick of us yet?”
The look he gives me has me questioning my own sanity. “Not even remotely, Claire.”
I hesitate for a moment, mulling over our day, the night I have planned with Vivi. It includes a one hundredth showing of Frozen, for which I’m sure she’ll demand that he stay. His ability to decline her requests were shot to shit the second she hopped across my office floor to him and demanded a hug. That means we’ll have spent at least twelve straight hours together by the time this day is over.
“Okay,” I finally say. “Vivi would like that. And, um…” I reach up, tucking a loose tress behind my ear and clearing my throat. “So would I.”
At the condo, Avery follows me into my apartment, keeping his eye on a still-snoozing Vivi for me while I run her a bath. When I return from the bathroom, he’s unloaded all of our leftover picnic supplies into my fridge, even though he paid for them all.
“Please keep them.” I start unpacking them, trying to stuff them back into his hand. “You paid.”
He bumps me out of the way with his hip, re-loading my fridge. “I don’t mind. Besides, my fridge is full.” He pats his rock-hard torso. “Need to keep it fully stocked at all times.”
I roll my eyes and snort a laugh, poking his belly. “Yeah, sure looks like it there, big boy.”
“I’m gonna take Sully for a quick walk since he’s been home alone all day.”
“Are you going to bring him down with you after?”
He pauses, tapping his fingers on my kitchen island. “Would you be okay with that?”
“Of course. I think Vivi will keep him more than entertained.”
He laughs. “He’ll sleep all day tomorrow after a few hours with her.” He picks his keys up off the counter and turns to the door. “’Kay, I’ll be back in about a half hour and we’ll get our pizza on.” He leans forward and sweeps his lips across mine before disappearing into the hallway.
I’m not sure if this day has made things infinitely clearer for me, or a thousand times more confusing. My feelings for Avery are clearer, the knowledge that they’re not fleeting, but rather growing deeper every day.
The bigger problem lies in me not trusting my own judgment, not being able to tell what’s real from what I simply want to be real. If I’ve learned anything recently, it’s that my perception of reality is skewed. I thought I meant something to Aaron, and that couldn’t have been further from the truth. How do I know if I mean anything more to Avery than a pleasurable means to an end?
A steady vibration followed by a quiet chime has me reaching for the phone on the counter. Except my hand pauses, hanging in the air when I realize my phone is tucked into the chest pocket of my overalls.
It’s Avery’s phone. He left it on the counter.
I wish I could keep my gaze from sliding to his lit-up screen, but I can’t.
It feels like a mistake. I’m probably not going to like what I see there.
And I’m right, kinda. I don’t like it.
I love it.
***
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Avery
The door is unlocked for me when Sully and I arrive back at Claire’s apartment, armed with all the fixings to make homemade pizza. It’s nothing special, but it makes me kinda happy, the thought that she’s expecting me to just walk in.
As soon as we’re through the door, Sully glues his nose to the floor and takes off, familiarizing himself with the space for the second time in the last week.
I drop the bag of groceries on the counter as my gaze floats around Claire’s small apartment, something I haven’t really had the chance to do despite having been in here a few times. It’s homey and warm, glowing with floor lamps and a set of twinkly lights framing her sliding balcony door. Everything is hues of light blues and creams and there’s a large bookcase in one corner, so filled to the brim that books spill over onto her coffee table. The wall behind her couch is covered in dark wooden shelves that look ridiculously similar to the furniture Casey makes, and on each shelf are pictures and little artifacts.
Inspecting each picture carefully, I smile at the way Claire’s personality bubbles over into each one. There are pictures of her and Casey when they were little, and her and Charlee all the way from kids to adults, and tons of pictures of Vivi. I chuckle at one picture of Claire locked in a headlock by Casey while Vivi hits him over the head with a shoe.
