Page 41 of Hard Lessons
A moment later, the door opened, and Gabe stood in front of us. “Hey, guys. Come in,” he said, taking a step back and holding the door for us.
I led her into the house and turned to face Gabe. “Gabe, this is Anna. Anna, this is an old friend of mine, Gabe.”
She smiled warmly and offered him her hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“You too. Elliot has talked about you all summer long, so I’m glad you finally made it in for a visit.”
“Hey, where’s Evelyn? I want her to meet Anna.”
Gabe waved his hand through the air. “Oh, she’s at the library or something. She’ll be in later. You guys want to go hang out by the pool? I’ll grab us some beer from my dad’s garage fridge.”
“Yeah, sounds good.” Keeping her hand in mine, I led her toward the patio.
I took a seat on a deck chair, and I pulled her down into my lap. My hand slid up her thigh, and when she turned to tell me to stop, I slipped in a kiss.
Eve never came home that night to meet Anna. She’d ended up staying at her friend’s house. And Gabe?
All he did was stare at my girl.
EVELYN
The restaurant closed at ten, but I didn’t get out of there until after eleven. I had walked out into the darkness with a smile on my face. It had been a good night—an excellent night, thanks to Elliot’s hefty tip. He left more than enough to cover the meal that was getting taken out of my check and then some. His tip plus all the others I’d earned that night meant that I wouldn’t have to worry about my rent for at least a month or so. It was a huge relief.
I stepped out with my head down as I returned a text to Madison. When I looked up, I found Chase right in front of me. He had his hands tucked into his jacket pocket, and he was giving me a warm smile.
My phone dinged, and I looked down at the screen.
MADISON: Thank me later.
I looked back up at Chase. “What are you doing here?”
“Madison told me that you walk home from work every night. I thought that maybe I could walk with you.” He shrugged. “Would that be alright?”
A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth despite warning bells going off that I needed to tell him no.
“Sure,” I agreed. I knew if Elliot found out, he’d be pissed. But what was I supposed to say? Even if I told him no, he’d still have to walk back anyway.
He turned and walked alongside me. “So, how was your night?”
“It was good. Stayed busy enough to make the time pass quickly, but it wasn’t so busy that I didn’t get a breather when I needed it. I made good tips too, so now I can focus on school rather than stressing out about rent.”
“You have your own apartment?”
I nodded. “If you can call it that. It’s more like a large closet,” I joked. “My scholarship came through late, and by the time it was all said and done, all the housing had been claimed. My brother had to help me get the first month’s rent and deposit together, but I’ve been making all the monthly rent payments on my own since then.”
“What about your parents?”
My mood shifted.
“They passed away a couple of years ago. Car accident.” It felt like my heart spasmed, but I had learned that it was just the pain of losing them that I knew I’d carry with me for the rest of my life.
“Oh, shit, I’m sorry for asking,” he said, turning his attention back to the sidewalk ahead of us.
“It’s fine,” I assured him. “You didn’t know.”
It was quiet for a moment, but then he turned to look at me again. “So, you have just the one brother then?”
“Yep, just the one. His name is Gabe. What about you? Why don’t you tell me about your family?”
