Page 4 of Enemies with my Bestie’s Brother
“I’m sure Jared wants nothing to do with me after everything that went down between us.” I make a face. “It’s good to get out of town though. Keene is so small that everybody knows what happened, and keeps asking me how I feel about it.”
Penny nods. “I can understand that. You know that you’re welcome to stay here as often as you like.”
“I know. I really appreciate you taking me in like this.”
“Anything for my best friend.” Penny gets up and looks around the room. “You can do whatever you want to the room to make it yours. It definitely doesn’t compare to the ones you design.”
“I like it. It’s different from the homes I design.”
“Alright, well, I’ll let you get settled in a little bit, and then we’re taking you out to dinner to celebrate.”
“Penny, you don’t have to take me out to dinner.”
She shrugs as she opens the door and steps out into the hall. “I want to celebrate. We’ve missed a year’s worth of birthdays and holidays. Consider this our opportunity to catch up.”
Guilt slams into my gut again. This last year is the longest that we’ve ever gone without seeing each other since we became friends. It’s all my fault. Penny asked me to come to San Francisco several times in the last year, but I kept turning her down.
After my breakup, it felt like it was finally time to put on my big-girl pants and stop avoiding the city where Grayson ditched me.
“Fine,” I say with a smile as I stand up. “You can buy this dinner, and I’ll get the next one.”
Penny grins, nodding before she walks out of the room. The door closes behind her, leaving me alone to think about everything that’s been going on in my life lately.
The breakup was hard, but it was a long time coming. Jared and I were never going to work, if I was being honest with myself. Although, if I could, I would have changed the way the relationship ended.
I look around the room, trying to distract myself. I didn’t come to San Francisco to spend time dwelling on my failed relationship. This is supposed to be a reset for my life and everything that’s been going on it in recently.
Humming to myself, I grab my suitcases and hoist them onto the bed one after the other. I cross the room and open the door to the closet, smiling to myself when I see the walk-in space.
The entire room is done in shades of grey and sage, pink accents thrown in here and there. It isn’t the bold rooms I like to design, but there is a classic and cozy elegance to it.
It’ll make a great bedroom for Baby J when he gets a little older.
I work quickly to put all my clothes away before getting changed for dinner. After taking some time to refresh the curls in my blonde hair and line my blue eyes with black liner, I head to the living room.
Parker grins as he cuddles Baby J, cooing to the little boy while Penny talks to the babysitter. I immediately head straight for Parker. He grins and hands Baby J over to me.
“Hi,” I say, my voice soft as I stare down into his big blue eyes. “How’s my favorite nephew doing?”
He gives me a little smile as I walk around the room with him in my arms. He is perfect in every way, and I can’t believe that I missed his birth. It’s something that I’m going to spend the rest of my life making up for, even if Penny has said that it’s okay.
I doubt she would think it was okay if she knew the real reason why.
“Okay,” Penny says, taking Baby J and handing him off to the babysitter. “You two ready to go?”
Parker nods and smooths down his shirt, making sure it’s tucked into his slacks properly. Penny watches him, her gaze dreamy, like he is the only person in the world to her.
One day, I want to be in love like that.
“Alright,” she says, grabbing her purse from the armchair. “Let’s go.”
Therestaurantiselegantand dimly lit. People are gathered around small tables, talking quietly as soft instrumental music plays in the background. We sit at a small booth in the back. The candles in the middle of the table burn low as we finish our dinner and move onto dessert.
“So,” Penny says as she scoops up a small piece of cheesecake on her fork. “Are you sure that you want to go back to Keene in a couple weeks?”
I shrug. “My business is there. I don’t have anything here. I would have to spend time getting myself established and building my business from the ground up again.”
“You know that I would be able to help with that,” Parker says, grinning as Penny feeds him a piece of cheesecake.
