Page 73 of Sunsets & Slow Dances

“Yes, Felicity!”

I did not see that coming. I assumed Chloe would’ve been thrilled that her brother was with Felicity for the social media reach alone. Plus, I assumed with the influencing they would have something in common. Chloe was always doing TikToks, and Felicity had nearly two million TikTok followers.

“All she does is talk about herself. It doesn’t matter what anyone says; she finds a way to make the story about her,” Chloe continued. “She issocondescending to Nora and Buzz, but she tries to pretend she’s being nice. Like she says, the farm is sorusticandquaint, and sheadmireshow they live such asimple life,but she’s really insulting them.

“And sheonlyspends time with Matty when she wants to post him on her social media. If he asks her to read him a book, play a game, color with him, or go outside to ride bikes or see Shadow and the chickens, and it’s not something she’s going to post, she ignores him or says she’s tired, but then I’ll hear her in the room doing a makeup tutorial or a clothes haul. She’s only a parent to him when she wants to use him as a prop.”

She took a breath and barreled on, “She treats my brother like he’s her personal assistant. She asks him to get her water when she can get it herself. She asks him to chauffeur her around even though he works full time. She goes shopping every day and refuses to bring her bags in from the car. If Callum’s not home, she asks Buzz to do it. Which I won’t let him do, so I do it. She’s awful. I’m not going to live with her. I can’t.”

I could see how scared, angry, and sad she was. There was so much emotion in her eyes.

“Have you talked to your brother about this?” I asked as we pulled up in front of Kendall’s house.

“No. Why would I? She’s Matty’s mom.” Chloe grabbed her backpack. “It doesn’t matter what I think.”

She reached for the door, and not knowing what else to say, I apologized, “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” she asked as she looked back at me.

“For shitty, self-absorbed, narcissistic, asshole people.” I didn’t say any names, so technically, I wasn’t badmouthing Matty’s mom. If anyone took it that way, I would just ask why they thought I was talking about her.

Chloe’s lips twitched, and then a small grin pulled at the edges. She leaned over, gave me a quick hug, and then hopped out. I waited until she got into the house before I drove away. All day, no, scratch that, all week, I’d been so worried about what was going to happen with me and Callum when the truth was, whatever did happen was up to us. We were both adults who could make our own decisions. We had control, something Chloe had none of.

Chloe was a child. She lost her mom. Then she had to move in with a brother who, for all intents and purposes, was a stranger into her father’s home whom she never knew, with his wife and father, which had to be intimidating. Just when she was getting used to her new environment, her soon to be sister-in-law showed up and disrupted the fragile ecosystem that they’d built.

As I drove home to have my talk with Callum, I wasn’t nervous about what he was going to tell me anymore. I was nervous about what I should tell him. Someone had to advocate for Chloe, and even if it made me look like a crazy jealous ex, then so be it. Honestly, it was pretty on-brand for me.

26

CALLUM

It had beena week since I’d left Nadia sleeping peacefully in her bed in the early hours of the morning, and I hadn’t seen or spoken to her since. I wanted to, but I hadn’t had a moment to spare. Hank was behind on two jobs, and with the flu going around, everyone was dropping like flies, so both crews were working crazy overtime. I was getting home late, showering, grabbing a few hours of sleep, getting up, and doing it again. But tonight, I got off work early and invited myself over for dinner after she said she was free and we could talk.

“Watch out,” I told Peanut, who was under my feet as I carried out steamed carrots and macaroni and cheese to the table I’d set for dinner on the deck.

After placing them on the table, I grabbed the tongs off the side of the barbeque and plated the chicken that I had been grilling for the past fifteen minutes. I set the platter in the center of the outdoor dining table and checked the time; Nadia should be arriving any minute. Nerves were bubbling up inside of me like carbon dioxide in a can of soda left in a hot car right before it explodes. I felt like the week we’d spent apart was the steam ina pressure cooker with no release valve. I was hoping tonight’s dinner would defuse the situation.

Looking around, I double-checked to make sure everything was perfect. I made one of her favorite meals, had a good bottle of wine, string lights hung, which she’d talked about several times, and the table was set.

I leaned across the table and was lighting the candles as the screen door slid open. I turned around and saw Peanut rush across the deck to greet Nadia. I watched her bend down and give him a kiss on his head.

She was wearing baby blue sweatpants and a matching zip-up hoodie. I wondered if she’d already gone upstairs and changed, but then I remembered it was casual Friday at school, and most of the faculty wore loungewear. Her hair fell over her shoulders in soft waves, framing her sweetheart face. After greeting Peanut, she looked up at me, and I saw that the blue hoodie matched her eyes perfectly. Her lips were a deep raspberry shade, and she licked them nervously as she stood back up. It was taking an extreme level of self-control not to walk over and kiss her.

Every time I saw her, she got more and more beautiful. I always used to think that I would build up an immunity to her beauty, but the opposite happened. The more time I spent around her, the sexier, cuter, prettier, and hotter she became.

“Wow.” Her eyes widened as she took in the string lights she had in her garage that I hung up over the deck. She walked to the center of the deck and beamed at the farmhouse table, which I set for dinner, complete with an entree, veggie, rolls, wine, and three pedestal candles in the center for ambiance. “What is all this?”

“Dinner. Are you hungry?” I asked.

“Starving, but you didn’t have to do this.”

“It’s not a big deal.”

“Yes, it is. This looks amazing.”

“You look amazing.”

Her head dipped as she brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. I loved the moments when she got shy. They were so few and far between. Most of the time, Nadia was in your face, take no prisoners, bold, and shameless, and I loved that side of her. But that was the side she presented to the whole world, and I believed that was the side she’d had to create as armor for self-protection and preservation growing up in the house with her mom, who treated her more like an equal than a child and who brought a parade of men through their lives and homes.

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