Page 39 of Rebel Heart
When I was convinced that they were no longerpaying attention to us, I nodded slowly and confirmed, “Yes. I met him a few weeks ago.”
“Where? Who is he?” Ivy pressed.
I was honest when I said, “I’m not sure that really matters much at this point.”
“What does that mean?” Skye questioned me.
“It’s kind of a long story,” I told them.
Ava leaned so far over in my direction; she was practically in my sister’s chair with her. “Well, we don’t have anywhere else to be, and it is your birthday. Tell us about him.”
I’d been doing everything I could not to think about him, to try to forget the way I felt whenever I was around him, so I could forget that any of it happened. Evidently, that wasn’t going to happen today, especially not now that these people who loved me the way they did knew that something had happened.
I let out a long breath. “His name is Beau Easton, and he’s a professional skateboarder,” I revealed.
“Wow. Really?”
“Yep. Anyway, he walked up to my bakery one day earlier this month when he visited Westwood’s with a couple of his friends,” I started.
I went on to tell my family about everything that had happened between Beau and me from that first meeting when he bought those cookies from me right up until I got his phone call and subsequent voicemail this morning.
They listened intently, and none of them hid their excitement at all the good parts of the story, which hadbeen nearly all of it. Of course, that also meant that for the last bit of it, they couldn’t hide their melancholy.
I’d glanced at the men once or twice and realized they’d taken notice at that point—evidently that’s what happened when you were in love—so I dropped my voice an octave or two.
When I finally finished telling them everything, Skye rasped, “Oh, this hurts my heart. I’m so sorry, Jules.”
“Thanks. Me, too.”
Rhea asked, “Are you planning to respond to him this time?”
My heart desperately wanted me to, but my mind knew it would be a stupid move. I shrugged. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Why not?”
“I guess I’m having a difficult time seeing what the point of that would be.”
There were a bunch of solemn faces looking back at me, and I expected they couldn’t argue with that line of thinking. But there was a small beacon of hope in the voice of a girl I’d known nearly as long as my own sister.
Ava said, “The fact that he hasn’t stopped trying to reach out to you might be a sign.”
Ivy had finally scooted over enough to give Ava room to squeeze onto the lounger with her. “You think this guy is now interested in my sister?”
“I mean, I don’t know him, so I really can’t say. But I don’t think there’s any harm in trying, in at least listening to whatever he has to say,” Ava reasoned.
Rhea didn’t hesitate to chime in. “I say you deserve better.”
“I’m with Rhea on this,” Ivy added. “I love you, Ava, but my sister deserves to be happy. It wasn’t that long ago when I was in her shoes, wanting more, and going about finding it in all the wrong ways.” My sister, tears welling in her eyes, pinned her stare on me. “I still can’t believe all this happened, and you didn’t say anything about it.”
The last thing I wanted was to make her upset, to make any of them upset. “I was just having some fun and living a little. I’ve been focused for a while on my career and becoming successful. Beau felt just a touch wild and dangerous. Not in a bad way, though. I forgot to mention one other thing.”
“Which is?” Skye pressed.
I licked my lips. “He’s thirty-four.”
“Oh my God,” Ivy mumbled, more to herself than anyone else.
“Hey, Tate’s older than me, and that’s not a problem.” Ava was doing anything she could to see the bright side.
