AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh, wow,” Chloe gasps, pulling out a stack of comic books from the bag. She looks at me then over to her dad. “Thank you! These are so cool.” She flips through them, checking each one out in great detail.
“Hey, I wanted to say thank you again for reaching out to Alex.”
“Yeah, of course.” He nods. “It’s the least I could do after my behavior. He’s a good man, Jules. I’m happy for you.” He smiles.
“Thank you.” Caleb had reached out to Alex a few weeks after their first meeting. Alex said that Caleb was extremely apologetic and the guys even spent a few hours together talking and getting to know each other.
Caleb has been to every appointment he’s made to see Chloe, and while I know it’s only been three months, it feels good to see their relationship starting to grow. Caleb smiles and laughs, reminding me of the man he was back when we were in college, before addiction took control of his life.
“Hey, Jules, something else I wanted to talk to you about is my parents.” I look up at him then over at Chloe. His parents are still a very sore subject for me.
“Yeah?”
“My relationship with them has deteriorated over the years—strangely, not because of my addiction, but because of their lack of interest in . . .” He tilts his head toward Chloe, who is reading one of the comic books. “While I realize I don’t have a leg to stand on here—being angry with them for not being involved—Iamangry with them. All that to say, I’ve addressed it with them and we’re working on things. I just want you to know they’ve acknowledged their poor behavior and want to work on fixing things with you and Chloe.”
I sigh. “I appreciate that, and maybe with time, but for now, let’s just focus on the three of us working on stuff if that’s okay?”
“Totally understand,” he says. “I just wanted to put it out there and I do hope that someday we can all work through things.”
“I hope so too.” I smile. “We should head out. We’re going to a get-together at a friend’s house today.”
Chloe and I drive back home to meet Alex and head over to Blaire and Jameson’s for a cookout.
“You ready to face the wolves?” Alex laughs as we pull up outside their house.
While our friends know that we had a littlethingwhile I was his client, we haven’t told anyone he’s officially moved in and that we’re a couple. We wanted to keep it between us and just enjoy our little bubble of intimacy.
“Can we finally tell everyone now?” Chloe says, exasperated, making us both laugh. We told her not to tell anyone, which she was not happy about.
“Yes, sweetie, we can tell them today.”
“Finally!” She pushes open her door and hops out of the car.
“I knew it!” Harper shouts, pointing toward us as we head up the walkway hand in hand. “Didn’t I, Blaire?” she says, turning toward her then back to me. “I told Blaire and Aspen that you seemed way too happy to have just had a fling and it was over. Chloe, how could you?” she says, pointing toward her.
“They made me lie about it!” she says, pointing toward Alex and me.
“Okay, fine, I’m sorry, but we just wanted to enjoy some time without all of you hyenas surrounding us, asking for details.”
“So you guys are together, like, for real?” Blaire asks with a huge grin.
“For real,” Alex says, looping his arm around my neck and pulling me in for a kiss.
“Well, shit, never thought I’d see the day.” Luka laughs, slapping Alex on the back.
“Yeah, I thought you were our ‘confirmed bachelor’ forever,” Harvey adds.
“That’s rich coming from you, man. Still pining after your new, mysterious neighbor?” Alex teases and Harvey shakes his head, quickly glancing over his shoulder then back at Alex. “What’s that look for?”
“Nothing.” Harvey shrugs, tossing his empty beer bottle into the recycling bin.
“On that note, I’m going to go talk with the ladies while you and the men chat. No details,” I say, pointing my finger at Luka and Harvey.
“So, now that it’s just us ladies,” Harper says, bouncing her eyebrows, “what’sitlike?”
“It’s, um . . .” I make sure Chloe is out of earshot as she plays with Harper’s daughter, Daisy. “It’ssogood—like really, really good.”
“What is with these men?” Blaire asks. “Seriously, they all seem to know exactly how to please a woman.”
