Page 18 of Enemy Daddy Next Door

“Really?” I gape. It’s all I’m able to focus on with Hunter.

Then again, I’m not in love with him.

“Really. Grant and I are best friends,” she says.

“Don’t let Dad hear you say that.”

Harley rolls her eyes. “It’s different. We just get each other. The only times I realize how old he is are when we talk about having more children and when he complains about his cholesterol.”

I laugh loudly.

“What?! It’s true!”

“I know, I just didn’t even think about that.”

We both remain silent for a few moments with our backs up against the wall. Feels like we’re little again, sitting outside Dana’s room while she and Gillian talk about Mom and Dad in hushed whispers, not wanting us to hear because we were “too young”.

“I think about how he’s going to start changing faster and faster as the years go on. But so will I. And so will Tana,” Harley continues. “But who he is won’t really change. Our connection won’t change. I hate to say it, but age really is just a number when you have a connection like we do.”

My heart is pumping hard in my chest. “That’s beautiful, Harley.” More than that, it’s made me excited. Between my conversations with Jordan and now Harley, Hunter Ricks doesn’t seem like such an untouchable entity anymore.

He’s just a man. A very handsome man with long black hair and more muscles than I knew existed who is starting to sneak into my subconscious more than I’d like him to…

Still. Even if I open my heart to him, it just feels like I’m setting myself up for failure. He’ll never see me like I see him. I’d just be dooming myself to a crush that will make it impossible for me to be around him.

“Don’t worry about us, Amy,” Harley says. “Grant and I are fine.”

I don’t have the heart to tell my sister it’s not her I’m worried about. It’s me.

* * *

I manage to sneak out around eight. Yes, we obviously ran way over Kira’s precious schedule much to her chagrin. Gillian’s house is topsy turvy, boxes and things scattered everywhere.

And don’t even get me started on the tension. Everyone is ready to snarl at each other the second something goes awry. That’s one of the downsides of having so many sisters. When we get angry, we get feral.

But first, we’re passive aggressive.

When I said I was leaving, Kira looked at me with lasers coming from her eyes. I thought she might just melt the lenses of her glasses with that look. “What do you mean, you’re going?”

“I mean that I need to get home. I’ve got stuff to do in the morning for work.”

“We all have stuff to do for work, Amy,” Gillian retorted.

“I have a meeting first thing in the morning!” I replied.

Dana gave me a doe-eyed look. “Amy, we all promised that we would help Gillian get things ready to move in with Axel.”

“I know that, but it wasn’t supposed to –” I’m the youngest. I can wiggle my way out of most anything. I used to be able to do it by being cute. Now I’m twenty-four and no one falls for that anymore.

Kira cut me off before I could finish. “You know what? Go. We’ll be fine.”

It was very clear that it was not fine. Still though, with four sisters, I operate under the assumption that if people aren’t saying they’re mad at me, I couldn’t possibly know that they are. So, I smiled and said, “Great!” and left without another word.

I try to release all that pent up tension on the drive home, deeply sighing over and over. I roll down the windows, feel the California air tickle my skin. But it’s no use. No matter how much sighing I do, I can’t shake Hunter from my brain.

I’m starting to get embarrassed of myself. And the only person who knows is me! I’d probably die if anyone else got wind of my teensy crush.

When I get home, I trudge into the house. No one else is home. Kira is back at Gillian’s, obviously, and Dad is still out with Stella. That means I can just…unwind. I go up to my room, ready to immediately collapse onto the bed and wallow in my building dread.

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