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In spades.
“I’m sure Nate wouldn’t mind sharing a half dozen or so of his eggs. Oh yum, you know what would settle your stomach? Baaaacon.” Michael drew the word out as he opened the package and waved it in our direction, smiling widely.
Kaleb let out a groan as the scent wafted over to the table. Michael winked at me as if I were his coconspirator. I envied the level of comfort between the two of them, especially after a fight that almost came to blows.
I realized that I was comfortable here, too. I looked at Michael, still digging around in the fridge, and at Kaleb beside me. It felt right. They felt right. I hadn’t come here expecting to find a place to belong.
Team Freak. Wonder if we could get jerseys.
The warm feeling of camaraderie faded a little bit when I reflected on the truth. Michael didn’t know everything, not really. If he discovered what my life was like four years ago … it hadn’t been a life. It had barely been an existence.
Footsteps sounded on the stairs, and Ava swung around the corner into the kitchen, her stilettos hitting the hardwood like tiny hammers tapping the floor. She made brief eye contact with me, offering a tight smile before she turned her attention elsewhere.
“Michael?” Ava asked impatiently.
He jumped before pulling his head out of the refrigerator. “Ava. How are you this morning?”
“We need to firm up our Thanksgiving plans.” She’d yet to acknowledge Kaleb. “I want to book our flight to L.A. Assuming you’re going to accept my invitation?”
Michael looked as nervous as a deer caught in the headlights of a semitruck hauling hazardous waste. “We already talked about that.”
“No, we didn’t.” She frowned, looking genuinely confused.
“It was a couple of days ago. I told you I don’t—”
“Just come upstairs, and we’ll look at flight schedules. If you’re done with”—she waved her hand in the general direction of the table—“that.”
Kaleb smirked. “Oh, if you need him, Ava, I’m sure he’s ‘all done’ with me. Michael, make sure you wash your hands before you spread any of my cooties to the Sh—Ava.”
Ava cut her eyes around to Kaleb, tilting her head in a challenge. “Drunk,” she said.
“Shrew,” he replied.
“Kids!” Michael held up his hands in a T shape. “Time out.”
Ava shot Kaleb a dirty look and left the kitchen. Michael followed.
He didn’t look back.
“Why don’t you tell her how you really feel?” I asked Kaleb when they were gone.
“I have from the beginning.” Kaleb put his arms on the table and propped his chin on his fist, gazing at me. “Kind of like I’m about to tell you that I might be in love with you.”
“Really?” I laughed. “Because of all of our deep conversations and the quality time we’ve spent together? Or was it just love at first sight?”
“Something like that,” he said, teasing.
I thought.
I lost myself in his eyes for a second. When I realized he was waiting for me to say something, I cleared my throat. “So do you have nicknames for everyone? Shorty, Mike … the Shining?”
“I guess Mike told you the backstory on that one?”
I nodded, and his grin spread across his face slowly, like honey dripping from a comb. I bet he was used to girls staring. I wonder if he always enjoyed it as much as he appeared to be right now.
“I have nicknames for the people I love and the ones I love to hate.”
I wondered if there was some deep, hidden significance to “Shorty.” “And Ava’s on the hate list.”
