Page 37 of Blindside Love

“Ugh. I’m not talking to you right now,” I tell him, unable to help the little smirk fighting to take over my face. He’s sweet for bringing me tonight after knowing I was in a bad mood, and I love that he didn’t want to leave me to be alone with my feelings.

He just smiles as he drives us to his parents, letting the music keep us company.

It’s peaceful, and that’s not something I ever feel when Addy isn’t with me.

This has to be the most normal family in the history of the world. They are so kind, so loving, and down to earth that I almost feel like I’m in an alternate universe.

It’s easy to realize how Trevor became the man he is today. His father is so welcoming and funny as hell. They are like two peas in a pod laughing, usually at his sister’s expense.

What surprised me even more than the family dynamic was watching Mr. and Mrs. Adams interact. They are obviously still so in love that I couldn’t look at them without smiling. At one point, while she was cooking dinner and we were all in the living room, I peaked in to see him spin her away from the stove and slow dance with her.

That’s the kind of love I want, the eternal kind. You can tell they are best friends and lovers and that just seeing the other person makes them smile bigger and their eyes brighter.

Trevor notices it too. I caught him watching them with a smile more times than I could count.

“So how do you know Trevor?” Celeste asks as we sit at the kitchen bar after finishing up dinner, a bottle of wine opened between the three of us girls.

“They’re neighbors,” Mrs. Adams says, a little twinkle in her eye as she watches us.

“Yeah, I moved in about a month ago. I’m right next door.”

“In the apartment that’s been vacant forever?” Celeste asks.

“Yeah, it’s my dad’s place in the city, well, one of them. They never use it, and when we needed a place to live, he offered it to me.”

“We?” she questions.

“My daughter, Addy and I. I’m kind of in the middle of a divorce with her father. He’s?—”

“Trash and not worth your time,” Trevor cuts me off as he and his father walk in the kitchen, a glass of bourbon in hand.

Both Celeste and her mom look at him, eyebrows raised as they look back at me.

I just shrug.

“He’s not wrong. I did a very bad job of picking out a father for my little girl. We tried to make it work, but I don’t want my daughter to grow up in a loveless house, at least from him. He wasn’t a good husband, and he’s not a good father, so leaving was the best choice I could make. At least this way, she knows happiness and love in one of her homes.”

I look around and see the four of them watching me, and I realize I just word vomited my life problems, at least part of them, on this family at their lovely dinner.

I’m about to apologize, but his mom beats me to the punch.

“Well, he sounds like a grade-A asshole, and I’m glad you kicked his ass to the curb. You seem like a good girl with a good head on your shoulders, even if you are choosing to be friends with my son.”

Then, Mrs. Adams winks at me like she sees right through my mind to my secret thoughts about this evening, wondering what it would be like to be a part of a family like this.

If they welcomed me to dinner as his friend, how would they treat me if we were more? I expect his mom to be disappointed finding out about Addy and the fact that I’m in the middle of a divorce. I guess I can’t even say I’m in the middle of a divorce. I’ve filed, but the lawyer I filed with no longer wants to represent me once Tom threatened to destroy his career. Now, it seems like no one is interested in taking my case.

“Calling him a grade-A asshole still feels too nice for him,” I say truthfully, earning a laugh from everyone.

“Well, Trev can be an asshole, but he’s still okay to be around,” Celeste says, earning a shoulder to her side from her brother, who’s leaned against the table next to her.

“Oh, fuck off,” Trevor adds, earning a glare from his mom. “My bad.”

I want to laugh at his almost immediate apology from a single look from his mom, but it’s cute that you can tell he’s a mama’s boy from just a night of seeing them together.

“What? It’s not a lie. But you’re usually only an asshole to people who deserve it.”

“Like you,” Trevor says, putting his arm around Celeste.

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