by Alexa Martin
Bad news? I was right. She’s definitely not my fan.
“Listen, Em. I love you, and I can’t wait to see Finn, but if this is how you’re going to act around Marlee, you can leave.”
“God. Madison was right.” I can’t see her face from a level up and behind walls, but I’d be willing to bet there’s a nasty snarl on her face. “This girl makes you blind.”
Our trip was going way too well. I should’ve known something big was about to happen.
“Do not mention Madison, Emerson.” Oh. He called her by her full name, a page ripped out of the dad book. “You have no clue the things she’s done. I already talked to mom about her a week ago. I’m not hiring her again. I don’t know if I’ll ever talk to her again.”
“This is absurd, Gavin,” his sister yells, startling me so much, I hit my head on the door frame I’m leaning against. “Madison has been one of your best friends since you guys were in what? First grade? And you’re going to throw it all away over some girl who already doesn’t have the best reputation?”
“Emerson.” His tone is so cold, I get goose bumps.
“Gavin.” Oh. Looks like the name response runs in the family.
“If you’re going to act like this and take Madison’s word over mine without even asking my side of the story, then we’re done here, and we can try when we’re back next time.”
“We? You’re going to come back with her again?”
All right, now I’m not sure I care if she likes me because I’m not too crazy about her either.
“Yes. I am. Marlee’s my girlfriend. I love her. When I come back, she’ll be coming along.” Poor guy sounds exhausted. Logically, I know this isn’t my fault, but I can’t help but feel guilty hearing them fight because of me.
“You just feel like you have to keep watch on her so she doesn’t cheat on you with your teammates like she did to her ex.”
Oh hell no.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” At least he doesn’t sound tired anymore. Now he sounds flat-out pissed. “Don’t come here with that bullshit. I was in the locker room with him while they were still together, and he was always bragging about how many girls he fucked over the weekend. Never once was there any whisper of Marlee cheating on him. You know why? Because it never happened.”
“Why would Madison make up something like that? I get that you like this girl, but you aren’t using your head.”
“Take a search around YouTube and get back to me. Look up ‘Gavin Pope’s Girl’s No Nun,’” he tells her, his tone softening. “Madison isn’t who you think she is. She’s vindictive and for some reason, has made it her mission to bring Marlee down. I understand she’s your friend and you want to believe her, but she’s lying to you.”
“Don’t patronize me, Gavin. I’m not six years old anymore, I don’t need you to try and protect my feelings, just like I don’t need to believe everything you say. You want this girl in your life? Fine with me. But don’t expect me to sit around and let you bring her around my family. When you get yourself together, come see me. But don’t you dare bring her with you. I will not allow my son to be around somebody like her.” Then the door slams and tires screech as she speeds away.
Ouch.
I may not be Emerson Pope’s biggest fan, but there is no denying the effectiveness of her closing. The girlfriend or the sister/nephew? Quite the ultimatum.
What am I supposed to do with it? I can’t ruin the life of the guy I love. It’s like all I do is bring problems into his life and the situations keep escalating. Causing problems with his family is a burden I can’t carry and I know, because he’s Gavin, he’s going to try and protect me from it.
When I hear his footsteps up the stairs, I walk to the door and meet him. It took him a while to join me after Emerson left and now the purple and pink sky is being chased away by the black night.
“I’m assuming you heard what went down?” he asks when he sees me.
“Yeah.” I shift on my feet, my eyes focusing on the old wood floors. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t ever mean to put you in a situation like this.”
“Hey.” His hand moves under my chin, forcing my eyes to meet his. “You didn’t. Madison did. That had nothing to do with you.”
“You’re sweet for saying that, but it does have to do with me. I knew Madison liked you the moment I saw you two in the elevator with me and Chris.”
“I’d thought of her as a sister. It wasn’t like that between us.”
“For you, maybe. But for her? She loved you. And not in the he’s-my-best-friend-I’ve-known-him-forever way either. No, she was biding her time until you realized she was the love of your life, put a ring on it, and then put all the babies in her.”
I wish I still had the ability to have some sort of sympathy for her, but she has sucked it out of me with her evil, emotion-sucking, vampire ways.
He ruffles his already messy hair as he walks across the room and stares out the window. “But how does she think fucking with you would make me like her?”
“Gavin. I don’t know.” I cross the room and stand beside him, looking at the dark night sky. “I know she’s your friend—” He starts to cut me off, but I talk over him. “Yeah, yeah. You’re pissed at her now, but she’s still been your friend for what? Twenty years? Even if you want to, it’s not so easy to shut off a friendship. But I think in her messed-up mind she thought she was helping you. Warning you away from the big bad slut. And no matter what I told her, I was never going to be as good as her.”
“Well, fuck.” He drops his head and takes a step away from me. “I don’t even know what to do with that. Do you care if I go for a run?”
“Of course not.” My response is immediate, but not entirely truthful. “Go, clear your mind.”
But even though he doesn’t say it directly, I know what he means. He needs space to think . . . space away from me. I just hope once his mind is clear, I’ll still be in there.
Gavin changes into some of the workout clothes he left behind and when he leaves for his run, he just shouts a quick good-bye.
I have no idea when he comes back.
I fall asleep alone.
Thirty-four
We’re leaving tomorrow—which sucks—so we’re spending today with Gavin’s family. Well, probably just his parents. Last night and this morning are the first time in months I’ve woken up alone. But instead of discussing it, I just focus on baking a red velvet cake to bring to his parents’ house tonight.
My red velvet cake is always a hit, but there is one tiny little detail: I suck at shopping. At the store this morning and I forgot to buy cream cheese. And you cannot have a red velvet cake without homemade cream cheese frosting. It’s a law.
I am near a full-blown panic because I can’t show up at his parents’ house with a red velvet cake with plain old vanilla frosting now can I? No! But lucky for me, I’m dating Gavin Pope who, at the first sign of my meltdown, offers to run to the store to grab cream cheese, becoming a real-life superhero.
The timer on the cake goes off at the same time there’s a knock on the door. He always buys too much at the store, and his hands are probably too full to open it.
“One sec!” I call to him, balancing the two cake pans on my oven-mitt-covered hands.
There’s another loud knock as I’m setting the cakes on the cooling racks on top of the flour-coated countertops.
Hey. I said I was a good baker, not a neat one.
“Here I come! You were quick.” I run to the door, twist open the locks, and when I swing the door open, I’m met with familiar eyes on an unfamiliar face.
Emerson.
Of course it’s her. Murphy’s an asshole.
“Oh hi, Emerson, hey.” I’m so taken aback by her presence I stumble over my words. “Gavin ran to the store really fast, but do you want come in and wait?”
“Sure. Thank you.”
Her tone is much different than it was yesterday, thank you Lord. She doesn’t seem annoyed or disgusted to see me, and I’m taking that as a good sign.
She walks into the family room, then stops and swings around to face me.
“I’m not sure if you heard what I said yesterday, but I want to apologize to you.” She sounds sincere, but I was in a relationship with Chris for years while he lied straight to my face, so I might not be the best judge. “It was rude of me to make the assumptions I made.”
Okay. Now that? I’m pretty sure if I looked at her palm, those exact words in Mrs. Pope’s handwriting would be there.
But who am I to kick a gift horse in the mouth?
“Thanks.” I walk into kitchen to avoid eye contact.
“It smells awesome in here.”
She tells no lies though, my red velvet cake never fails. I’m a little thrown by the compliment, but I guess she’s trying.
“Hope your family likes red velvet.” I point to the cake pans on the cooling racks. “I asked Gavin for suggestions, but he was no help, so I guessed.”
“So Gavin. If you need him, he will be there in a heartbeat, but little details? He has no clue.”
Do we know the same Gavin? Because my Gavin doesn’t forget a single detail. I mean, he kept my necklace for years!
“Really? That seems unlike him.” I’m trying to take the high road, but this better-woman crap is hard. I really want to say he only forgets things that don’t matter.
“He still has no idea what my favorite color is and it’s been the same since I was nine.” She comes into the kitchen and sits on a stool at the island.
“What’s your favorite color?” I feel like we’re on a first date asking that question.
“Yellow.” She points to her yellow diamond wedding ring and yellow pea coat.
“That’s my favorite color too!”
Look at us. Bonding and shit.
I put the few dishes I’ve gotten messy in the dishwasher. When I finish, she has her head tilted, watching me inquisitively and my need to not be in silence kicks back in.
“Are you guys coming tonight?”
“What really happened with you and Madison?” she asks instead of answering my question and yet again, I’m wishing I would enjoy the silence for once.
“I’m not sure anything happened, to be honest.” I put the dish towel on the counter and move to the seat next to her. “I think she hates any woman Gavin shows attention to because she’s in love with him. But with me dating Chris, it gave her all the extra ammunition she needed to really hate me.”
“You have to understand. Madison has been my best friend since before I could walk. Our parents are close and we grew up together.”
“Emerson.” I take her hand into mine when I see her eyes beginning to gloss over. “I don’t want to get between you and Madison. I already feel guilty about what’s gone down between her and your brother. But I can’t give you a specific moment where I said or did anything other than falling for your brother. Which, by the way, was not something I wanted.”
Her eyes widen with surprise at my last tidbit and I don’t blame her. She’s his sister, she knows what a catch he is. I doubt there are many women on the planet who would even think twice about falling head over heels for him.
“You didn’t? Madison has been telling me you’ve been chasing him since the moment he got there.”
“Well, Madison has quite the imagination,” I say with a little too much attitude and have to take a deep breath to get it under control. “Listen, besides your brother, Chris is the only other guy I’ve ever dated. And when it ended, it was nuclear-level bad. Honestly? It’s embarrassing and not something I like to talk about, but I can tell you I had no intention of dating an athlete ever again. But no matter how hard I tried to deny my feelings for Gavin, he wouldn’t go away.” The smile I always have to fight when I’m talking about Gavin breaks free. “Your brother’s kind of like a knight in sweatpants. After so many times, I had to accept what we have.”
“Shit.” She purses her lips. “Does Gavin have wine?”
“Already on it.” I walk to the fridge and pull out an unopened bottle.
I pour two extra-large wineglasses to the rim and bring them to the island. We sit on the hard stools in silence until the creaking of the front door opening snaps us out of our heads.
“Um. What the hell did I miss?” Gavin eyes shift between me and Emerson until they settle on the almost empty wineglasses.
“Just a little girl talk,” I tell him as Emerson takes her final sip of wine.
“Yeah, bro.” She stands, scratching her stool against the hardwood floors. “Walk me to my car?”
“Um. Sure?” he answers.
Gavin’s still standing in the same spot, staring at me. “Go!” I motion after his sister.
“What did I miss?” he mumbles under his breath as he heads to the door.
Hell.
I’m asking myself the same damn thing.
Thirty-five
Gavin has hinted at it in the past, but here at his parents’ house, there’s no denying the fact. The Popes have some serious money.
Their house is the non-poser version of what Chris wanted his to be. There’s a chandelier in every single room. Even the bathrooms. There are old paintings his mom points out that have been passed down for generations. Even the silverware she set the table with is from her great-grandma.
Gavin’s been trying to play it cool since we walked into the quiet house, but he chose football over drama for a reason. It’s clear to see that Emerson not being here upsets him. I wish he hadn’t come home while we were sitting together. His hopes got too high.
“Come.” Mrs. Pope directs us into the kitchen. “I have a few appetizers and wine for us while dinner finishes.”
We follow her in and sit down at the kitchen table covered in finger foods. Her definition of a few is clearly different than mine.
“This is amazing, Beth,” I say as I formulate a game plan for how I can eat as much of the cheese as possible.
“Oh, it’s nothing.” She waves off the compliment, but by the way Gavin laughs and shakes his head, I know this isn’t nothing.
I’m busy launching a full-on attack on the prosciutto-wrapped mozzarella when we hear the front door open.
“Nonna!” the sweetest little voice I’ve ever heard calls out. Finn bursts into the kitchen, followed closely by Emerson and her husband.
I glance at them for a second before all my attention turns to Gavin, who looks like someone breathed life back into him. His eyes shine with love, and the dimple I’ve missed finally makes an appearance. It takes every bit of my strength not to jump up and fist pump like I’m on Arsenio.
“Hey, Gavin,” Emerson says before looking to me. “Good to see you, Marlee.”
“You too.” I ignore the way her smile changes from natural to forced when she talks to me. At least she’s talking to me.
“Well then.” Mrs. Pope, forever the hostess with the mostess, gets our attention. “Now that Emerson has brought me my favorite grandson, dinner is ready.”
* * *
• • •
AFTER DINNER, WE’RE all sitting around the table, some of us with the top button of our jeans undone, when something I’ve never seen before happens. The guys each give their lady a kiss, gather the plates, and go do the dishes.
Now my dad is pretty fantastic, but never once in my entire life have I seen him wash so much as a spoon. He’ll go to the store and buy plastic dinnerware before sticking something in the dishwasher.
“Oh yes, dear,” Mrs. Pope says, no doubt noticing my look of awe watching the guys standing by the sink. “If we do the cooking, they do the cleaning. I’m a wife and mother, not a servant.”
While t
he guys finish up in the kitchen, Mrs. Pope excuses herself for a second and comes back holding four giant photo albums.
“You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this moment,” she says as she sits down next to me and spreads the albums on the table.
“Get ready, babe,” Gavin whispers in my ear when he walks into the room. “I was the cutest kid ever, and my mom is about to spend the next two hours proving it to you.”
“He doesn’t let me take pictures anymore so I have to search the internet for good ones the team posts and reminisce about the days he would just say cheese.”
“Finn’s way cuter than I ever was, Mom. Start taking more pictures of him.”
“That’s true,” Emerson speaks up. “Finn makes you look like a troll.”
“Haters gonna hate,” Gavin sings—yes, sings—to her.
Emerson sticks her tongue out at him and blows a raspberry, while his mom swoops Finn into her arms and silently shakes her head at her grown children arguing like toddlers. Once she’s out of the room, we all dissolve into a fit of laughter. It feels nice, getting along. Emerson might not be on my team yet, but I have faith she’ll get there eventually.
Thirty-six
Life gets a little crazy for me when we get back from Oyster Bay. HERS missed me while I was gone. With football over, two new seasons of Real Housewives starting, and our idea for Bravo trivia to win free drinks, it’s getting busy. But poor Gavin has nothing. He misses football, and even though we might have just left them, he misses his family too. I think our trip out east made him realize how much he misses being home.
But luckily (and I use the term very lightly) for Gavin, Donny flies in to talk about the upcoming free agency and see where Gavin’s head is.
“Gavin. You aren’t really telling me you want to spend another season in this fuckin’ icebox, are you?”
I try to hide my smile behind my huge wineglass when Donny shouts across the table of one of Denver’s nicest restaurants.
