Page 56 of Fall to Me
Nineteen
River
“What?!” I practically yell, my eyes wide. “When did this happen?”
Aspen continues to assemble her vegetable tray while keeping her mouth shut . . . something she doesn’t do often. She always has something to say, and usually, it comes out in the form of a smart comment. She’s straddling the line between being friends with Hannah and being her boss. Plus, the fact that her mom is dating Hannah’s dad. Something I know can’t be easy for her.
Hannah looks at Aspen then back at me. “The night of Aspen’s wedding.”
“Two months! You two have been sneaking around for two months and you didn’t say anything?”
She shrugs as tears well in her eyes. “It wouldn’t be sneaking around if I told you. God, I’m so stupid. I knew his reputation, and I had to go and tumble into bed with an asshole.”
“Don’t do that,” Aspen pipes up, shaking her head. “You’re far from stupid.”
Hannah covers her face. I move around the island, pull out a stool, and sit down, wrapping my arms around her. “I’m sorry . . . guys are such jerks.”
She nods and wipes her face with the back of her hand. Aspen looks over at us, and I wonder what she makes of all this—her assistant, who also happens to be the coach’s daughter, getting involved with one of her players. This is so messy. Hannah cries into my shoulder, and I feel so awful for her. She has the kindest heart, and I hate seeing her so sad.
“You know what you need, babe?”
“Better taste in men?”
“Besides that. You just need a good ol’ ‘get ‘em out of your system’ dance sesh. Don’t you think, Aspen?”
She giggles. “Oh, definitely. I’m here for it!”
“What are you two taking about?”
I walk over to my tablet sitting on the counter and look for a song on my playlist.
“Momma taught me that music is good for the three H’s: hurting, hating, and healing,” Aspen says.
“Yeah. Whenever I’d go through a break-up, Aspen would make me dance it out. Didn’t solve my problems, but it always made me feel better.”
Aspen wipes her hands on a towel. “Believe me, she went through a lot of them. I eventually ran out of songs.”
“Hey! Watch it. High school was rough. Ooh, this one’s actually perfect.”
Aspen looks over my shoulder and laughs. “Yeah. That’s pretty fitting.”
I connect the Bluetooth and turn the music all the way up. “Truth Hurts” blares from the speakers, and Aspen and I belt outthe first line. I crook a finger at Hannah, and she laughs through the tears as I encourage her to join in.
“Come on, Hannah Bobannah. Don’t be shy,” I call out to her over the music.
She giggles and shakes her head. Grabbing her hand, I pull her off the stool, making her dance with us around the kitchen. She picks up a wooden spoon, using it as a mic, one arm up in the air, while she dances and sings at the top of her lungs with us.
“Yes, get it!” I call out.
God, this feels so good. I haven’t done this in years. When the song stops, Hannah throws her arms around me. “Thank you. I needed that.”
Our moment is interrupted by a round of applause. I jump, startled by it, and spin around. Standing at the entry to our living room is none other than Sean, along with Carter, Cal, Aiden, and Tucker. Carter, Cal, and Tucker laugh, while Sean has his hands in his pockets looking down at the floor. And Aiden, well . . . that’s weird, his eyes are shooting daggers at Sean.
I narrow my eyes at Carter. “How long have y’all been standing there?”
“Uh . . .” He looks around at the guys. “Not long?—”
“Since the intro,” Cal interjects, earning a glare from his own wife.
