Page 116 of Wanted You More

While I’m all for people living their best lives, this doesn’t sit well with me. “You don’t, like, love him, do you? Because if they’re still married and willingly sleeping around then it’s not like he’d leave her. He probably would have by now if he was going to.”

Her lips twitch. For the first time ever, I think there’s a solid chance she may love somebody. Amalesomebody. Throughout our friendship, she’s claimed to have loved people, but they were always short-term infatuations.

“Belles,” I say cautiously.

Her shoulders drop. “I know it’s dumb, but this guy makes me feel good about myself. He doesn’t talk down to me or treat me like I’m immature. I feel like an adult around him.”

Having no idea what to say, I reach out and take her hand. “I’m glad he treats you well, but I don’t want to see you get hurt. Promise me that you’ll be careful.”

She nods. “I will. It isn’t like I expect him to get a divorce for me. I just want…” Her shoulders lift limply. “I don’t know what I want. Him. His attention. To be taken seriously.”

I get that, but I don’t think this situation will end the way she hopes it will. Something tells me I don’t need to tell her that, so I choose to let the topic go.

For now.

“So,” my bestie says, leaning back. “How much trouble do we want to get in this summer?”

***

The sun beamsdown on my body as I lounge on the beach next to Wolfe. When Dad asked us if we wanted a family beach day, my brother and I shared the same concerned look. As if the sudden trip wasn’t shocking enough, I’d been more surprised when Wolfe asked Dad if he could invite a friend.

Not just a friend, hisgirlfriend. Even though he’s insisted nothing is going on between him and Raven, it’s obvious he’s interested in her. The handheld game he brought has barely been touched unless he was showing her how to play it.

Grabbing my phone, I send a quick reply to Marybelle, who’s being forced to have family time since she’s been spending most of her time with me. She’s been blowing me up all morning about the outing her dad has planned to meet more industry people closer to home, which makes both of us wonder how much he knows about her time in California.

“Is that Noah?” Wolfe asks, finally looking from Raven to me.

I shake my head, resting my phone on top of my bag. “No, he’s at work. I’m talking to Marybelle.”

Wolfe hasn’t said much about Noah and me since he drove me home and followed me inside. I didn’t introduce him as anything, but our conjoined hands seemed to say enough. Dad stared at the two of us, but Kamala—Sue—was there, so it offered him a distraction from obsessing over the boy beside me.

My brother eventually says, “You seem happy. Like Dad.”

I look over at him with a teasing smile. “I think there’s something in the air.” Gesturing toward Raven on the other side of him who’s engrossed in whatever video game he brought, I wiggle my eyebrows. “I am. You like Noah, right?”

He shrugs nonchalantly. “I guess.”

“And what about Sue?”

Our eyes both go to where Dad is walking with my former professor along the water.

My brother looks back at me. “She’s nice. It was pretty strange having a woman over at the house, but…” His lips start to curl downward.

“What?” I press.

“Sometimes I don’t remember Mom,” he admits quietly, eyes going back to Dad. “Do you ever feel like you’re cheating on her memory or something?”

I rub his arm. “You can’t think of it like that. Don’t you think Mom would want Dad to be happy? That’s what people who love each other do.”

He bobs his head from side to side before nodding. “I guess so, yeah.”

I smile in amusement. “Real convincing.”

All he does is roll his eyes and focus back on Raven, pointing at the screen and getting animated about whatever is happening.

Dad and Sue start walking back, but she gestures toward the concession stand and veers off as my father approaches, where I set my towel up on the sand.

“Hey, pumpkin,” he greets, sitting beside me with an easy smile on his face. “Are you having fun?”

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