Page 105 of Sincerely, Your Enemy

Finn flattens out his palm in a silent request. Dia eyes her fiancé’s hand reluctantly at first but eventually caves, giving him her phone. Finn answers by slipping it into his pocket and pulling her in to press a loud kiss on her forehead. “That’s my girl.”

We barely have a chance to climb out of the car before we hear the rumble of tires approaching. We all turn to see Chance’s car rolling up the long driveway, and a pit of anxiety settles deep in my stomach.

I’ve never been more nervous to see TJ, and I think my nerves are justified, considering I still haven’t answered his text, and we all know how much TJ justlovesbeing left on read.

Maybe I’m being harsh, but he had plenty of opportunity to talk to me last night. Instead, he chose to run away scared.

Not sure what made him temporarily allergic to me, but if he thinks I’m going to accept this hot-and-cold behavior from him, he’s in for a big reality check.

I’m not going to be that girl ever again. The one begging for scraps of a man’s attention. If he wants me, he’s going to have to get over his issues with Aaron andstat.

Chance pulls up next to us, rolling his window down to say, “Sorry, folks, no solicitors allowed.”

“Funny. Now, will you hurry up and unlock the door? My bladder’s going to burst,” Aveena says.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear she and Xavier would be joining us this weekend. Aveena’s due date is next week, but she could give birth to little Tyler any day now. That’s mainly why wetook Xavier’s car. So that they could leave in a hurry if the need arises.

Chance smiles at Aveena’s blunt request, parking right next to Xavier’s car. My breath hitches when he, Theo, Aaron, and TJ all step out of the vehicle.

It’s as though a magnetic force is drawing me to TJ from the moment he pins me with a look I can only describe as annoyed with a pinch of worry. I deny him the satisfaction of sustained eye contact, though, immediately walking to the trunk of Xavier’s car to unpack while the others exchange greetings.

The first thing I see when I pop the trunk is the cooler we filled to the brim with food when we stopped by the grocery store on our way over. I’m naïve enough to think it’ll be a breeze to carry until I try to lift it and fail miserably.

“Let me help you with that.” A masculine voice startles me, and I whisk my head to see Aaron standing behind me.

I crack a small smile, stepping aside and letting him do the heavy lifting. “Thanks.”

Aaron responds with a warm smile. “Don’t thank me. It’s the least I can do. How was the drive?”

“Fine. Although, we stopped three times because Aveena had to pee.”

Chance jogs toward the front door to unlock it for Aveena, then joins us in unpacking both his and Xavier’s car.

I should be given an award for how skilled I am atnotmaking eye contact with TJ. Seriously. That shit takes hard work. Especially since he’s been staring at me since he got here.

He doesn’t say anything or approach me, though, so I take it he’s still conflicted about whatever he and Aaron were discussing last night.

Ten minutes later, the trunks are empty, and we’ve unloaded the contents of the cooler into the fancy, French-door fridge in the kitchen.

“Who’s up for a tour?” Chance offers, and the answer is a no-brainer.

If the size of this kitchen is anything to go by, Aveena will be having her baby before the tour’s over.

Chance stopsbefore the cabin in his backyard, searching his pockets for the keys. “Now, I present to you my favorite place in the whole world—the observatory. Pretty cool, huh?”

“Pretty cool? Dude, I thought the pool table was cool. This is fucking mental,” Theo speaks my mind.

Chance’s lake house has four bathrooms, seven bedrooms, a hot tub, a pool table, and a freaking observatory. We’re way pastcool, and I think we all know it.

“Just wait until you see the inside,” Chance adds as he unlocks the door.

Sure enough, the inside of the observatory is breathtaking.

It’s separated from the house, and it looks like a big shed from the outside. The dome-shaped glass roof catches my eye as soon as we walk in, but the rest is just as fascinating, starting with the maps of constellations and celestial bodies covering the walls and the large telescope sitting in the center of the room.

Chance goes on to tell us that his dad and grandpa had this thing for stargazing, and his grandpa had this built for his son’s thirteenth birthday.

“For my thirteenth birthday, I got socks,” Theo says before throwing himself onto one of the beanbags scattered all over the space.

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