Crazy Stupid Bromance

by Lyssa Kay Adams

  She read it twice quickly and then a third time, pausing at key words and phrases that painted a picture in her mind. A picture of prosperity and privilege. Of security and stability. Of health and comfort.

  Resentment churned in her stomach. Growing up, Alexis had never, not once, wished for more than she had. And even when she began to realize that they lived differently than other people, her mother had been enough.

  But what if her mom hadn’t had to work so hard? What if she hadn’t had to go into debt so Alexis could go to college for a better life? What if they’d had adequate health insurance and her mother hadn’t been forced to spend her last few months worrying about leaving Alexis with unpaid bills?

  A sour taste burned her tongue as she pushed the computer away. “I knew he was married. I don’t understand what this—”

  “Look at the date, Lexa.”

  Her eyes zeroed in on the date at the top of the page. April 3, 1989.

  At first it meant nothing.

  Until it meant everything.

  That couldn’t be right. Alexis was born in April 1989.

  Her gaze snapped back to Noah’s as an inexplicable emotion clogged her throat. “He’s not my father.”

  “It doesn’t necessarily mean that.”

  “Of course it does. How could he be my father? My mom would’ve had to have gotten pregnant while he was engaged.”

  Noah gave her a look that managed to make her feel both naive and stupid. She shook her head. “No. My mom wouldn’t have had an affair with a man who was engaged to someone else. Not unless . . .”

  “Unless what?”

  “Maybe she didn’t know he was engaged. Maybe . . . maybe he was cheating on his fiancée and my mom didn’t know and when she told him she was pregnant, he broke up with her.” Her words tumbled out in a desperate rush of justifications. Anything to make this all make sense. Anything to answer the loudest question screaming in the back of her mind. Why?

  Noah shut his laptop and leaned forward. “We’re getting ahead of ourselves.” His voice was calm, soothing. “The easiest way to find out if he’s truly your father is to get a blood test.”

  He was right. Alexis nodded and looked at the twisted knot of her hands in her lap.

  “Or . . . ,” Noah said.

  “Or what?”

  “Or you do nothing and tell them all to leave you alone.”

  Her head snapped up. “I can’t do nothing!”

  “You are under no obligation to get involved.”

  “He’s dying, Noah.”

  “Which you didn’t even know until yesterday. You didn’t even know about him until yesterday.”

  “But now I do know.”

  Noah sat up and shoved his fingers into his mop of curly hair to shove it back from his face. A vein pulsed at his temple, as if unspoken words were literally pounding to get out.

  “What?” she said.

  Noah shook his head and stood, mug in hand. “Nothing.”

  “Stop. We don’t nothing each other. Say what you want to say.”

  Noah walked over to the island and turned around. He opened his mouth and shut it. Then, with a heavy breath, he said, “It’s not your job to save the world, Lexa.”

  “I’m not trying to save the world.”

  “Then what are you doing?” Noah set down his mug and returned to the table. He sat down and leaned forward until his knees nudged hers. “You know how much I admire what you’re doing at the café. And not just for the survivors but, Jesus, even the cats you find families for.”

  “But?”

  “You’re running yourself ragged. And then you add all this shit on top of it? When are you going to stop and just take a breath?”

  A lump formed in the back of her throat. She stood quickly to cover it. “I have to get ready for work.”

  “Hey.” He reached for her hand, and the warmth of his fingers in hers made her bruised heart thud with a dull ache.

  As he spoke, the pad of his thumb brushed her knuckles. “Just remember that you matter, too, Alexis.”

  The ache became a sharp, pointed pain. And not just because of what he said, but because of how he said it. Or maybe it was just her imagination. Wishful thinking and all that.

  Alexis cleared her throat and tugged her hand away. “Thank you for staying last night. And all this.” She gestured at his computer.

  Noah leaned back in his chair. “Whatever you need. You know that, right?”

  Her nod was more of a tremor.

  “I’ll leave the stuff I printed,” he said, standing. He kept his distance from her, literally backing up to avoid brushing his arm against hers. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

  No. I’m not okay. I’m reeling from the punch of a thousand different fists. “Yeah. Fine.”

  He raised a single eyebrow.

  “Well, maybe not fine but . . .” She sucked in a breath and let it out with a shrug. “I don’t know what I am.”

  His face sobered. “Come here.”

  With a single step forward, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a warm embrace. His heart pounded beneath her cheek. Strong. Solid. Reassuring. He held her and let her catch her breath, pressing his lips to the top of her head, just like he’d done when she rested her head on his shoulder last night. His hands rubbed gentle circles in the center of her back.

  “We’ll figure it out,” he murmured against her hair. “You don’t have to make any decisions right now.”

  “But I have to make them soon. Candi said he’s running out of time.”

  Noah held her a moment longer and then pulled back. “Call me if you need me.”

  She folded her arms across her chest. “I will.”

  “I mean it.”

  “I know.”

  He studied her silently for a beat, searching her face. “I’ll pick you up at six.”

  They were silent as he gathered his things. She watched, frozen in place, as he slid his laptop into his backpack. As he swiped his car keys from the counter.

  He was reaching for the door when she finally found her voice. “Noah.”

  He turned.

  “I mean it. Thank you.”

  His smile was as reassuring as his words. “What’re friends for?”

  Alexis waited until she heard his car back out of her driveway before heading upstairs to shower and get ready for work. A half hour later, she lured Beefcake into his cat carrier. It was just after seven when she pulled into the alley behind ToeBeans. This was late for her, even for a day when she didn’t open the shop. But Jessica and Beth had things well in hand when Alexis walked in. A line stretched from the counter to the door. Alexis quickly donned an apron and joined Jessica at the counter while Beth filled a customer’s latte order.

  Jessica looked over from the cash register and did a double take. “Whoa. You okay?”

  “Fine,” Alexis lied. She turned to the woman who’d just moved to the front of the line. “Good morning, Mrs. Bashar. How’s little Max doing?”

  Max was a calico kitten that Mrs. Bashar had adopted just a couple of weeks ago during one of ToeBeans’ adoption events. The woman grinned and dug out her phone. “Oh, he is just the sweetest little thing.”

  She turned around her phone to show off a photo of the kitten sleeping on her husband’s chest.

  Alexis laughed. “And to think your husband didn’t want another cat.”

  “The tough guys always have the softest hearts,” Mrs. Bashar said, returning the phone to her purse.

  Alexis quickly filled the woman’s normal order, promised to stop by her yarn shop up the street soon, and then fell into the wonderful routine of the morning rush hour. It would last until at least eight o’clock, when it would finally slow down just long enough to restock the pastry display before the next wave hit.
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  At precisely eight fifteen, Alexis served the last customer in line and then went into the kitchen to load up on more muffins, scones, and apple turnovers.

  The swinging door flip-flapped behind her, and before she had time to turn around, Jessica’s voice echoed against the stainless-steel appliances. “What’s going on?”

  Alexis pulled a tray of muffins from the tiered cart against the wall. “Nothing. Why?”

  “First you ran out of here last night like you’d just seen a ghost. Now you come back in looking like, well . . . like shit.”

  Alexis set the tray on the counter. “Gee, thanks.”

  “What’s going on? And don’t even think about pretending you’re fine. I know you better than that.”

  Alexis paused, her hands hovering over the muffins. Jessica did know her. They’d been through hell and back together. “I don’t even know where to start.”

  “Try the beginning.”

  Alexis planted her hands on the edge of the counter and let out a long breath. Words tumbled out with it. “Noah spent the night at my house last night, and I think I found my father.”

  Alexis might’ve laughed at Jessica’s openmouthed expression if the entire situation weren’t causing actual heart palpitations. Jessica closed her mouth, swallowed, and blinked several times.

  “So, okay,” she said. “We’re going to get back to the Noah thing, but first things first. What do you mean about your father?”

  Alexis returned to the task of transferring muffins from the tray to a bakery display platter. “That girl last night. She says she’s my sister and that my long-lost father is apparently dying and needs a kidney transplant.”

  “And you believe her, this girl?”

  “I don’t have any reason not to, at this point. We have the same eyes, and someone named Elliott sent flowers to my mom’s funeral. It all adds up so far.”

  The pinch of Jessica’s eyes forecasted an incoming storm. “Where the hell has he been all your life?”

  “I don’t know.” Alexis tasted the sour tang of betrayal at the back of her throat. “I don’t know if he knew about me.”

  The words stung. Was it possible her mom hadn’t even told Elliott that she was pregnant back then? Would her mother have done something like that? Would she have purposely denied Alexis her own father?

  Alexis shook her head to clear away the thought. No. Her mother would never have done that. The only thing that made sense was that Elliott had simply told her that he wanted no part in Alexis’s life because he was about to marry someone else.

  Jessica moved closer and softened her voice. “This all feels a little too coincidental, though. This girl just happens to find you through some ancestry DNA test when he needs a kidney?”

  Alexis’s stomach fired a warning shot. “What are you suggesting?”

  “Your face was all over the news last year. Maybe . . .” Jessica shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe this is just some twisted joke or something.”

  “No one is that cruel, Jessica.”

  “I don’t even know how it’s possible that you of all people can still believe that.”

  Alexis shrugged. “I try to assume the best about people until they give me a reason not to.”

  “Which is why you are a way better person than I will ever be.”

  Alexis shook her head and shoved the platter aside to make room for another. “Anyway, Candi said she took the DNA test three years ago.”

  Tiny bolts of lightning flashed in Jessica’s eyes. “Are you kidding me? And she just came to find you now that he needs a kidney? You’re not a farm for harvesting.”

  Alexis winced and looked away.

  Jessica immediately softened her tone. “I’m sorry. That was . . . I shouldn’t have said that.”

  “It’s true, though, isn’t it?”

  Jessica chewed on the corner of her lip, a sure sign that she wanted to ask an impertinent question but wasn’t sure if she should. A moment later, she let out a breath and blurted it out. “What if you’re not a match?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “What does Noah think?”

  Alexis’s cheeks burst into flames.

  Jessica tilted her head. “Maybe we should talk about the spending-the-night thing now.”

  Alexis walked back to the tiered cart to get another tray of muffins. “I was upset last night, and he said he didn’t want to leave me alone. It wasn’t really that big of a deal.”

  “Then why are you blushing?”

  “I’m not.”

  “So he spent the night and just left this morning and nothing happened?”

  You matter, too, Alexis. The sound of his voice came back, and with it, the tingling in her knuckles where his thumb had caressed her.

  “I don’t know,” she said quietly. “I think . . . he looked at me, and I—” Alexis groaned and covered her face with her hands.

  “And what?” Jessica prompted.

  “I think maybe he was looking at me. Like looking looking at me. But what if I was wrong?”

  Jessica laughed. “I guarantee that you were not wrong. He’s been looking at you for a long time. You’re the only one who doesn’t seem to notice.”

  Alexis lowered her hands and focused on the muffins. “It doesn’t matter. It can’t happen.”

  “Why not?”

  “It could ruin our friendship forever.”

  “Not possible.”

  “Noah is one of the best things in my life. I can’t lose that.”

  “The best love affairs start as friendships.”

  “But that friendship is way too important to risk.”

  Jessica rested her hand on Alexis’s arm. “Maybe he wants to take the risk too.” At her silence, Jessica backed up. “You deserve to be happy, you know.”

  “I am happy.”

  Jessica tilted her head like she didn’t believe it. “Can I ask you something else?”

  Alexis managed to nod.

  “What if you are a match?”

  Alexis didn’t answer and probably didn’t need to.

  There was no point in trying to pretend that she hadn’t already made up her mind.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Lexa’s house was the physical manifestation of her. The sunny yellow siding and white shutters reminded Noah of a cottage on Cape Cod. She’d decorated the wraparound porch with wicker chairs and bright pillows, and, at one end, a swing that he’d helped her put up at the beginning of the summer. Afterward, they’d sat on it side by side and shared a Summer Shandy until the fireflies began to light up the willow tree that draped lazily in the front yard.

  She had recently swapped the summery pillows for deep fall colors and fluffy blankets. Pumpkins, gourds, and pots of mums descended the porch steps in an artfully casual way that was probably unplanned. That was the magic of Alexis. Without even trying, everything she touched was beautiful.

  Except for the demon staring out the window beneath a sign that read BEWARE OF CAT.

  Beefcake followed with his eyes from the window as Noah walked up the porch steps shortly before six and knocked on the front door. The cat slowly lifted one leg and started licking his nonexistent balls. Noah had never been so summarily dismissed yet threatened in his entire life.

  “It’s open,” Alexis called faintly from inside.

  Noah walked in slowly, cautiously, eyes darting left and right for an ambush.

  “I’m in the kitchen,” she said.

  As he passed the living room on the left, Noah glanced at the couch. Beefcake was nowhere to be seen. Noah gulped and did a fast sweep of the room and the hallway with his eyes.

  The kitchen was as cheery as the exterior of the house. She’d recently repainted the cabinets a bright turquoise and traded her mother’s old stainless-steel appliances for a retro brand in
bright red. In the center sat a 1950s-style café table surrounded by red vinyl chairs.

  “Hey,” Lexa said breezily over her shoulder. Too breezily.

  “Hey. Something—” His voice and mind stopped working when she turned around. She wore her hair in a long braid over one shoulder, and she’d wrapped a wide flowery scarf thing like a headband around the crown of her head. Several curls had sprung free and hugged the curve of her cheeks. Dangly earrings hung from her earlobes, and as she walked toward him, the sleeve of her long blue dress slipped down to reveal one creamy shoulder. She tugged it up absently, apparently unaware that tiny flash of skin had just taken a year off his life.

  She smiled, but there was a brittle quality to it. “Something what?”

  “Huh?” He blinked. “Oh. Sorry. Something smells good.”

  She shrugged with one shoulder. “I made way more food than I needed to.”

  “Per usual.”

  Alexis lived in fear of people starving to death. He’d never once left her house without enough leftovers to last him at least three meals. But he sensed that today’s overabundance had more to do with her needing a distraction than anything else. He knew the feeling.

  A timer on the stove sent Noah into cardiac arrest.

  “The mushrooms your sister likes,” she explained.

  Alexis pulled a foil-covered dish from the oven and set it on the counter. Then she retrieved something from the warming drawer. “I also made a big batch of cheesy potatoes for your mom. And for you . . . ,” she said with dramatic flair as she removed the dome off an opaque cake plate. “Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.”

  She’d made his favorite cake for his birthday. The tightness in his chest became a thickness in his throat.

  Her smile this time was almost shy. “Happy birthday.”

  “It—It looks amazing,” he rasped.

  Alexis held his gaze for a moment before doing another one of those half-hearted shrugs. “What’re friends for, right?”

  “Lexa—”

  She replaced the dome over the cake. “I need to grab my purse from upstairs and feed Beefcake. Do you mind carrying the food out to the car?”

  “Sure.”

  It took him two trips to carry it all out, and then he waited by the front door while Lexa got Beefcake settled on his perch of discontent on the back of the couch. He held her coat for her, a long, red vintage thing that she’d found in a thrift shop. With a quiet thanks, she waited for him to go out first before pulling the door shut and locking it.