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“You’re going to have to do better than that Hunter. You owe me an explanation after what you did,” I sneer, my teeth clenched. My molars most likely disintegrating as we speak.
He runs his palms down his face and drops his head to his glass. “I guess I just got tired of always watching you get what you wanted. You got the car, the trophies, the good grades, the girls, and it grated on me. I wanted Olivia. I used to walk home from school with her and I thought she liked me too. But she wanted you. It was one more thing you had that I wanted.”
“So, you thought cutting her down and breaking her heart was the way to get back at me?” My head is spinning. “I thought I knew you, but apparently I never have.”
“I’m sorry, Parker. I can’t believe I did that to you.”
“I can’t believe it either.”
“I’m sorry, Parker,” he says again.
“Fuck you, Hunter.”
I down the rest of my scotch and stand up, my fists cracking at my sides. Hunter turns his face towards me, and I can tell he’s not sure if I’m going to leave or knock him out. I don’t make him wait long for the answer. I draw my right hand back and land a punch to the center of his face. He takes it like a man, I’ll give him that much. The asshole had it coming.
* * *
“What happened to your hand, Parker?” I grimace as Livy inspects my battered knuckles. She moves towards the freezer, fumbling through its contents. She finds the bag of peas that she’s looking for and motions to the kitchen table for me to take a seat. She searches though the drawers for something else.
“Hunter’s face,” I blurt out.
She glances over her shoulder at me and her eyes go wide.
“Shit Parker, what happened?”
She finally pulls a tea towel from a drawer and wraps it around the bag of frozen vegetables. She sits in a chair across from me and reaches for my throbbing hand, resting the cold peas across my knuckles. Her brown eyes travel from my hand up to my eyes, her brows knit with worry.
“I let him know what an asshole he is.”
“Oh God Parker, I’m sorry it came down to that.”
“Don’t be. I’m not. I don’t want to talk about it. I haven’t seen you since Sunday. Can we take this bag of peas to the patio with a couple of glasses of wine?”
“We can,” she says without judgement in her eyes. She gives me a quick kiss and I push up from my chair and kiss her again.
“I missed your mouth. Fuck, I love your mouth.” My chest tightens as she turns towards the kitchen. I watch her perfect, toned ass as she walks away from me to fetch a bottle of red and two glasses. My girl has no idea what she does to me. My mind wanders to the all the different ways I could make her scream my name right now. I’ll save that thought for tonight.
For the next couple of hours, we sit together on the porch of the beach house watching the sunset. I drove home last night and asked Livy to meet me here with enough clothes for the next two weeks. I like having her around me as much as possible. It’s not the same when we are apart. She humored me, arriving with a small suitcase of her belongings. Not even remotely enough if you ask me, but I’ll take what I can get.
We spend the next two weeks in our usual routine, working during the day and spending evenings together at the beach house.
We met Miles, Kate and Ellie for dinner at Catch 21 on a Saturday night and on the following Sunday we had dinner at her parents’ house. The last and only time I met a girlfriend’s parents it was the Maddens, and that was way back in high school. Livy’s parents were more than welcoming and any tension I was expecting was nonexistent. For the most part, Livy was very much herself and her dad seemed like he was readjusting as well as possible. It was good to see the weight of everything lift from Livy’s shoulders.
We trade flirty texts during the day, and nights always end with the two of us racing home to tear each other’s clothes off. We have made the beach house our home together and there’s nowhere I’d rather be. I can’t imagine going back to my old ways, living in a hotel on my own with a different girl every weekend. That whole life feels foreign to me now. Livy is it for me. She’s the one I’ve wanted my entire life and now I have her. I just need to figure out how we are going to make this work long-term.
I have an official move date now on the calendar. In five days, I will settle into a hotel near the Cape May property we are building. Then shortly after that, my rental home will be ready for me.
The thought of only seeing Livy on weekends is killing me, but for now, it’s our only option until we can work something out. On that front, there is something Livy doesn’t know, something I need to tell her. I found the perfect spot in Cape May for a new Bloom location. It’s a bright and airy retail space in a heritage building on one of the busiest shopping streets in Cape May, and it’s up for lease. It is smack in the middle of a row of popular cafes and boutique shops and it wouldn’t take much to get it up and running. When I saw it, all I could think about was Livy. I could practically see her in the window doing what she loves and smiling back at me. I have no idea if she will love the idea and consider moving there to be closer to me, or if she might hate me for even suggesting it.
Tonight, we’ve invited my brothers, Jules and Alex and Kate and Ellie over for a cook-out at the beach house. It feels like we are all going in different directions soon, so we wanted to get everyone together while we still can.
Livy raced around all day shopping for groceries and cleaning the house. She has fresh flowers in every room and candles covering the patio. She’s made some sort of tropical drinks that smell like rum and pineapple and are going down way too easy. A playlist of her favorite country music plays in the background. She’s the perfect host.
Jules and Alex are the last two to arrive. Livy hands them each one of her special fruity concoctions before they can even get through the door. We join everyone else outside on the patio where Livy has a table full of appies laid out.
Ellie rushes over to Jules, who is standing next to me. “Jules! I’m so happy to see you. This must be Alex.” She hugs the two of them, exchanges a few pleasantries, then pulls Jules by the arm to where Kate and Livy are. The four of them wrap their arms around each other and giggle. I love how Livy has embraced a relationship with my sister, but I’m not surprised. Livy has a way with people. People gravitate towards her because she’s real and has a heart as big as the ocean.
“How’s my brother? I haven’t seen you all week. Is that what happens when you drink the Kool-Aid and fall in love?” Liam busts my balls.
