Page 8 of Wrapped Around My Heart
Landon passes me his phone and I gasp at the photo of the sweetest little angel. Her face is mostly black on top with light brown on her jaw and up the sides. Her ears are floppy, almost comically big compared to her head, but she’s adorable.
“Ma, look at this face,” I say, flipping the screen to show her.
She scowls harder. “Well, now I’m even more mad at him for not bringing her.”
“I’ll make sure he knows just how upset you both are that he chose to withhold puppy cuddles.” Landon laughs, plucking his phone from my hand.
Needing something to do with my hands, I grab the knife and block of cheese to finish cutting just as my dad comes in through the back sliding door.
“Hey, kiddos.” He beams, setting the empty plate and tongs on the kitchen counter before coming to my side, where he wraps me up in a side hug. “When did you two get here?”
He lets me go, moving to give Landon the same hug.
“I’ve been here for a while,” I tell him as I add the rest of the cheese to the tray Mom put in front of me.
“I just got here,” Landon says.
Dad nods and I smirk when I notice him looking around the kitchen in confusion.
“Where’s Dean?” Dad finally asks and I bite back a laugh as Landon goes through a similar explanation with our father.
With half my glass of wine already gone, I don’t let myself overthink anything as I pull out my phone and open my text messages. Dean and I rarely text outside of the many different group chats we are in together, and I ignore the nerves that bubble in my gut when I notice the last time we “talked” was just after they lost the championship last season.
Me: FYI, everyone is very upset at your choices right now.
Dean: Shit…
Me: YUP. Next time you better bring little Miss Cora AND mom’s favorite whiskey.
Dean: And what do I need to do to make it up to you?
“Ari, can you grab my glass of wine for me?” Mom asks, making me jump in my seat. My phone drops to the counter as Ilook up, noticing my dad and brother are now gone. Mom raises an eyebrow, glancing between my phone and my face before shrugging. I don’t miss the smirk she fails to hide as she lifts the tray of cheese, crackers, and dip.
“The boys want to eat outside. I’ll carry this, if you can just get my wine for me.”
“Yeah.” I shove to my feet, deciding to leave my phone in here as I gather both our drinks and follow my mom out to the back deck. Their house has always been my favorite place to escape to. Having been born and raised in the desert heat of Arizona, the beach front is a welcome change.
When Landon got traded to the Bobcats Hockey team, I was going into my senior year of high school. However, my parents did not hold back on making it known just how ready they were to move. Even I could see how much it killed them not to be able to attend frequent games for my brother. Mostly because I felt the same. We’ve always supported each other as a family, so when Landon left, it felt like something was missing.
Up until that point, I hadn’t really thought about where I wanted to go to college, but seeing how much my parents struggled with being far apart, it made my choices easier.
I secretly applied to two of the colleges here in Florida that had good art programs and waited until I was accepted to tell them all over the holidays. It was still nice that the school I ended up picking was over four hours away, so it felt like the best of both worlds. I could drive up to Tampa for a weekend game or to hang out with my parents while still feeling like I had space as a college student. It wasn’t even until two years ago that I decided to move closer to Tampa.
It was a relief to find a house just outside the city. While I love my family, I knew if I was close enough, they would all show up unannounced. At least with living forty-five minutes away, there’s always a heads-up. We’re close, but a girl needs privacy.
While we dive right into yapping about everything under the sun, my mind continues to drift back to the last message from Dean.
Was he flirting? Or am I reading too much into it because we haven’t seen each other outside of weekly dinners? Yeah, I saw him briefly after the opening season game, but those interactions were impossible to get a read on. After the second or third time of hooking up, we both agreed thatifit were to happen again, it couldn’t happen at my parents’ house. It was one thing to sneak around with my brother’s best friend, but doing so under my parents’ roof felt wrong. So we’ve kept it to neutral grounds like the bar or his place…or that one time at the arena.
But if that’s truly the case and we’re silently slipping back into how we used to be, why can’t I help but hope that hewasflirting with me?
By the time dinner is done and our parents are sending us off with enough leftovers to feed us for the week, I still haven’t brought myself to answer Dean. The entire drive back to my house is spent brainstorming the perfect response that is both flirtyandnormal. That way, if he wasn’t flirting, I can plead the fifth and say neither was I. And if he was…
An hour later, I plop onto my bed, finally open the text message chain, and hold my breath as I type out my response.
Me: You know what I like
CHAPTER 4
