Page 20 of Pretty Heartache

“No!” I blurt out. He looks up from his phone. “Let me make you dinner.” I pause, swallowing as heat spreads across my half-naked body. I’ve never been more thankful for the cover of the counter I’m standing behind. “As a thank you.”

He falls back into his seat and eyes me. “Did you buy bread?”

SEVEN

Fuck me.

When I showed up here after my brother basically fired me, I didn’t expect to see Adeline wearing nothing but an old Nirvana T-shirt, her long, bare legs on display.

Heat shot straight to my groin, and my cock twitched.

She’s my best friend’s little sister. These aren’t reactions I should be having when I look at Adeline. The last time I saw her, she was the sweet eleven-year-old, yelling at me for embarrassing her in front of the entire country club. She’s two years younger than the age I was when we last saw each other. I begin doing the math in my head, having never thought about it before. I’m twelve years older than her. My mind is at war with itself when she opens a cabinet and reaches for two plates. Her T-shirt rises, exposing the bottom curves of her round ass.

I avert my gaze and pick up my phone, pretending to scroll through social media. Silently telling myself to calm down, I bounce my leg nervously under the counter. As if she has sensed my reaction, she places the plates in front of me.

I look up as she crosses her arms over her chest again, hiding her pebbled nipples.

“Um, I’m going to go change.” Her cheeks redden. “I’ll be right back.”

I grin. “Okay.”

She disappears, and when she comes back, she’s wearing the sweater I saw her in this morning and a pair of shorts. I sigh with relief, even if the shorts still show off her toned legs.

Flashing me a quick closed-mouth smile, she grabs the loaf of bread and the new jar of peanut butter from the cabinet before dropping them near the plates she set out. She opens the fridge and pulls out a jar of strawberry jam along with two sodas.

I catch the can she slides over to me before she starts on our sandwiches.

“I didn’t buy any fluff,” she says while tearing off the seal to the peanut butter. “I hope you like strawberry jam.”

“Strawberry is fine. I’m surprised you didn’t buy fluff. Peanut butter and fluff sandwiches are a New England staple.”

She shrugs, digging the butter knife into the peanut butter and smearing it across a slice of bread. “I never ate them too much when I was a kid, and they aren’t exactly popular out in LA. Or the diet of a model.”

“Yeah, I never really eat them when I’m away from home,” I say, watching her squeeze the two slices of bread together.

She cuts the sandwich diagonally down the middle and passes the plate to me. I don’t start eating immediately, instead waiting for her to finish making hers.

“Do you still do a lot of traveling?” she asks, smearing a large glob of jam onto her bread before she pauses and looks at me. “I mean, I’m only going off what Archer used to tell me.”

“I do.” I nod, careful with my words.

I don’t want to dive into my history too much. Our conversation has been lighthearted, considering we haven’t spoken in years. When I left Lennon’s office, I considered where to go. My plans to travel to Barcelona for work may have beensuddenly squashed. Technically, I still could have gone—perks of having an endless amount of money at your disposal—but my conversation with my brother soured the idea of traveling. I couldn’t stay at Lennon’s after our talk in his office. I didn’t want to barge in on Jude and Victoria, considering they’re adjusting to life with a newborn when they already have three other children at home.

I love my brothers, but sometimes when I’m around them, they are constant, living reminders of where I should be at this phase in my life. The path I could have taken had I not fucked it all up.

It’s as if we were all walking down the road side by side until, one day, I’m suddenly staring at their backs. Both are married with children now. Lennon is head of the company. Jude is doing what makes him happy, helping Victoria run her bookstore while dabbling in construction every now and then.

“What’s your favorite place you’ve ever been to?” Adeline asks, interrupting my thoughts.

She pushes her plate to my side of the counter, then walks around the island to join me before sliding into the barstool beside me.

I don’t have to think long on my answer. “Ireland. When I was twenty-five, Archer and I took a few weeks off work and decided to backpack our way across the country. We made it a point to hit every single tourist attraction but got lost along the way in a small village. They had the most welcoming people. It ended up being the best trip I ever took. I think because, for once, I was traveling for fun, not work.”

“I’ve always wanted to go to Ireland.” She grins, picking up half of her sandwich.

I do the same, taking a bite. The combination of flavors hits my mouth in a way I don’t expect. It’s comforting and delicious. I can’t remember the last time I ate this for a meal.

“You should go,” I tell her around the peanut butter glued to the roof of my mouth.

---