Friends Falling

EVELYNN

TODAY

“Okay, ladies. I don’t want to be a total buzzkill, but I need some advice. If you don’t mind, I want to lay some heavy questions on you, then you both give me all the fabulous advice I need, and then we can all return to our happy hour.”

“Like I didn’t just become the downer on our girls’ night out,” I say contritely.

My two best friends just look at me with expectation. That’s why I love these two ladies: no matter what, they have my back.

“Okay, first things first. McKinley wants a daddy and she demands I get on it ASAP,” I blurt out.

Megan immediately starts laughing. “That’s my girl! She knows exactly what she and her Momma need and she’s not ashamed to say it.”

Only Megan would find this situation funny. How in the world she became a school teacher I’ll never know. Ignoring Megan, I look to Gina for her expert advice.

Gina purses her pretty pink lips and says, “Well, sweetie, what did you expect? I mean, every kid wants a mommy and a daddy. It’s natural that McKinley would get to the age where she would wonder why she doesn’t have a father.

“Heck, even Megan and I don’t know anything about McKinley’s father.” She pauses and glances at Megan askance, who just shrugs and nods, signaling she doesn’t have a clue either.

I sigh. “It’s a long and complicated story, one that I don’t want McKinley to ever learn about. It hurts me just to think about it myself,” I manage to say without expressing too much condemning emotion.

Gina reaches over and pats my hand, nodding in understanding.

Megan speaks up, “Well, Evie, if her bio dad’s out of the question, how about taking your daughter’s advice and finding a good man for yourself and a father for her?

“Look, hun, I know that you had a hard time going to college and taking care of a baby. And I understand why all your focus was on her and finishing school, but now you’ve got your degree, you’ve moved out of your granny’s house, and you’re working as an accountant for that publishing company.

“It’s time to start thinking about you for a change. I meant what I said earlier even if I didn’t mean to say it the way I did. I’ve never seen you with a man before—”

She stops for a second and gets an odd look on her face as if something just occurred to her.

“Oh no, no, no!” I interject, my voice raising a few notches. I shake my head, pointing at her. “I know what you’re insinuating, and I’m not—I’m not a lesbian. I have nothing against all that, but I like man candy.”

Megan holds up her hands with a wicked little smile on her face, her green eyes sparkling with mischief. “Okay, okay, if you say so.”

Gina just looks at the two of us and shakes her head, laughing softly.

Did I say I loved these two? I’m thinking I may have to retract my earlier statement. I give Megan an evil side glare.

“So now that that’s settled,” Megan says with a smirk, “what’s the other issue you need advice about?”

I lean back in my seat, looking up at the low-hanging light above our table. “Trevor called and asked me if his buddy who’s separating from the military soon could stay with me until he gets settled in.

“The guy is willing to pay rent and my brother knows that I could use the extra money. He claims that’s why he suggested it. I’m just worried about having a stranger move in with McKinley and me. I don’t want her to get the wrong idea, especially since she’s been obsessing about having a father lately.”

“A friend of Trevor’s, huh? How’s that gorgeous brother of yours doing anyway?”

I roll my eyes at Megan’s question, and Gina interrupts before I can give Megan some type of snarky response.

“It would be a great opportunity for you to earn some extra money, Evie. I think that if you explain to McKinley that Uncle Trevor’s friend is staying with you guys until he can find a place of his own, she’ll understand.

“Tell her it’s just like when you and she lived with Granny Mabel until you could get a place of your own,” Gina says, departing her infinite wisdom in that soothing way of hers.

I feel a smile spread across my face, and my burden feels just a smidge lighter.

“You’re absolutely right,” I tell Gina.

“Now all I need to do is call Trevor and find out about this buddy of his,” I mumble halfway to myself as I start digging around in my purse for my cell phone. Pulling it out, I look at the screen.

“Oh crap, Trevor’s been blowing me up for the past hour. I must have had the damn thing on silent.”

I start to scroll through my texts when I look up and see Trevor walking through the front door of Shay’s.

I’m stunned, but my excitement soon takes over, and I start running toward Trevor. I see a man walking in behind him, and I slow my pace, thinking this must be the buddy Trevor has been talking about.

He’s almost as tall as Trevor, which would put him at about five foot eleven to Trevor’s six foot. I’m getting a good look at the man as he walks further into the restaurant.

Whoa, this guy is hot. He’s a total Daniel Henney look-alike.

Hell yeah, he can move in with me; I’d let him be my Maverick any day.

Before I can even start conjuring sexy scenarios in my head about the hot, new Asian guy, another man walks through the door behind him that stops me dead in my tracks.

My heart constricts in my chest, and I feel like I can’t breathe. If I could breathe, I just might vomit, but first I need to run.

Before I can do any of those things, Trevor has me in a bear hug. Over his shoulder, I see a ghost from my past, one I’d hoped to never lay eyes on again.

HUNTER

I’m nervous as hell, I’m not going to lie. Evie’s not going to be happy to see me. This shit is not going to go well. Why am I doing this again?

I shake my head, running my hands through my short blond hair. It doesn’t matter because I’ve already set everything in motion, and there’s no going back now.

Trevor and Tony are walking into the restaurant ahead of me. I’m dragging behind, delaying the inevitable, but I’ve got to get a handle on myself before I face her.

Taking a deep breath, I wipe my sweaty palms on my jeans, clear my face of emotion, push my shoulders back, and walk in behind Tony.

I see Evie running toward Trevor with a bright smile on her face.

I drink in the sight of her delicious golden-brown complexion, her silky straight hair, big brown almond-shaped eyes, and the most kissable-looking pouty lips. She’s as beautiful as I remembered…maybe even more beautiful.

I see her eyes land on Tony and a look that can only be described as pure lust fleetingly crosses her features.

I feel a knot of jealousy form in my chest. My lips form a thin line, and I clench my fists a few times, then I relax. I realize that I have no right to the feelings that are taking hold of me.

I can tell when Evie’s eyes finally land on me because the smile leaves her face along with the light in her eyes. I just stare back in silence.

“Hey, baby sis!” Trevor says to Evie as he places a brotherly kiss on her forehead.

He looks down at her as if he’s just now noticing the change in her demeanor. His eyes follow the direction of her gaze to me and he sighs audibly.

“Look, Evie, I know you weren’t expecting to see Hunter, but you two have got to get over whatever bullshit it is that caused your falling out. Tony and I have orders to deploy overseas next week, so we took a few days of leave to help Hunter get settled in. That’s why I’ve been trying to reach you, but Granny Mabel told me where you are. So here we are.”

I can see realization dawn on Evelynn’s face. “You and Tony? What? Wait a minute…”

She’s stammering and I can tell she’s trying to get her thoughts together.

“You mean to tell me that Hunter is the buddy that needs a place to stay? Hunter Douglas? The HUNTER-FUCKING-DOUGLAS that I never wanted to lay eyes on again in my life?”

I can tell that Trevor is completely blown away by her reaction.

Evelynn almost never loses her temper, and she definitely isn’t one to throw the word fuck around.

Trevor gives me a look that lets me know that we’ll be having a heart-to-heart later.

For the past five years, I’ve been brushing off his attempts to find out what caused the rift between me and his baby sister and why I never go home with him to visit anymore.

I always play it off like it’s no big deal, but in the face of Evie’s anger, I can see the writing on the wall. I won’t be able to sweep this shit under the proverbial carpet anymore.

His eyes are telling me that it’s time to come clean, but there’s no way in hell I’m telling my best friend that I slept with one of his sisters and broke his other sister’s heart…and my own in the process.