Page 69 of Just a Heartbeat Away

“Oh.” Via looked up quickly, wiping her pretty mouth with a napkin. “He’s still upstate with his family.”

Upstate.

She’d said she had stuff to do upstate and then had spent the next week crying. Seb forced the traitorous wine down his throat and crammed a bite of pasta in his mouth, avoiding everyone’s eyes. He could swear that both Mary and Fin were looking at him.

His mind raced as his stomach tightened down like a tank preparing for battle. Seb figured there were a few different things that could have happened here. Either she’d gone upstate to visit her boyfriend and then cried her eyes out because she had to come back to Brooklyn and just missed him so badly. Or maybe going upstate had nothing to do with Evan and it was all a coincidence? Or. Or. Or. She’d gone upstate, and things had gone badly.I mean, he’s not here on her birthday,a little, asshole-ish voice whispered in Seb’s ear. What if they’d broken up?

When he finally looked up again, the conversation had flowed on, and it was past 7:30. Matty pushed his bowl of pasta aside and laid his head on Seb’s crossed knee. Seb absently pushed his son’s hair from one side to the other. The candlelight flickered as Fin rose to clear everyone’s plates and Seb’s eyes lifted to Via’s naturally. She was looking at him. At his hand on Matty’s head. But then she was looking directly in Sebastian’s eyes. Unwavering. Her eyes were a dizzying color, somewhere between gold and brown. And for a minute, all they did was just look at one another.

Seb felt drunk and disoriented when Fin came back in with a lit birthday cake, and Via broke their staring game to laugh and clap her hands.

He had only had one glass of wine, but he felt like he was currently floating in a lazy ocean the temperature of a Jacuzzi.

He shook his head and joined in with everyone as they sang for her birthday. Matty perked up at the prospect of chocolate cake, and Mary brought out her present for Via.

“Ugh.” Seb groaned as Via carefully peeled back each layer of tape and wrapping paper. “You’re one of those people? Just rip it!”

“Sebastian, you have so much to learn about our Violetta,” Fin told him, a little smile on her face. “She’s gonna save that paper, and later, she’s gonna iron it.”

“Serafine!” Via admonished as a healthy blush bloomed on her cheeks. “There’s no reason to waste it! It’s reusable!”

Seb’s stupid, wasted heart thumped hard. An idiotic, clumsy ka-bump. He hoped his smile wasn’t as dopey as he thought it probably was. Look at him. So far gone, he was crushing on her wrapping paper habits.

“The coasters I wanted! Oh, Mary!” Via flung herself across the pillow fort and grabbed Mary up in a hug. They both laughed.

“I take that to mean that you like them.”

“Give them here, sister,” Fin requested in that slow, curling drawl. She inspected the coasters. “That’s nice frosting.”

“Frosting?” Tyler asked.

“Jetty, the woman who raised us,” Via explained, “used to say that a good, steady life was like cake. And that every once in a while, you deserved a little frosting. Just little things, little gifts to yourself. Things that don’t make sense to spend your money on unless you’ve paid your bills and have a job and all that. Frosting.”

“Via’s always liked her frosting extra shiny,” Fin said, a loving smile on her face.

Seb thought of the copper utensils and pearl-inlaid knives in her kitchen. He looked around at her decor, little bursts of prettiness all over. Colored glass that caught the light, a pillow with little mirrors embroidered around the edges. He thought of those little gold studs she wore, understated and still, somehow, princess-like.

Seb felt like he could have stayed in the soft, comfortable cave of the candlelit pillow fort with his friends for the next couple of weeks. He didn’t want the world to make him leave. But his lonely dog was whining at the edge of the fort, and his son’s head had lowered to his knee again. The sun had long since set, and it was a school night, after all.

Via was one of those people who cleaned up the kitchen as she cooked—Muriel’s wet dream, although he tried not to think about that for all sorts of reasons—so there wasn’t much cleanup to do, besides the pillow fort.

“Sorry to bail,” Seb said as he rose up with Matty in his arms. The kid was already spider-monkeying himself around his dad’s hips and neck, one hot cheek on his shoulder and cake breath wafting up into Seb’s face. Seb tightened his arms around his boy, filled with love for him.

“No, no.” Via waved away his apology. “It’s almost bedtime. I’m just so glad you stayed. Fin and I probably would have eaten at the regular old dinner table instead of a pillow fort.”

“You liked the fort?” Matty asked sleepily, tilting his head to see Via.

She stepped over to Matty and Seb, absently stroking a hand over Matty’s back. Her hand briefly brushed over one of Seb’s, and he refused to clench it into a fist, even if it felt like he’d been sunburned in a good way.

“Ilovethe fort.”

“It was my birthday present to you.”

Seb knew he was biased, but damn, his kid was sweet sometimes. Apparently Via thought so, too, because she leaned forward, puckering her lips, and gave Matty a kiss. The top of her head brushed against Sebastian’s chin, and he shifted a little. He was extremely conscious of their nosy-ass friends all watching him.

“All right.” Was that his voice? All gravelly and gruff as hell? “Thank you for having us. Sorry we’re leaving you with a mess.”

“I’ll stay and help clean it up,” Mary insisted.

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