Diamonds and Dirt Roads

by Erin Nicholas

  “Whoa. Hang on there. Really, Ms. Workaholic? At least I know how to have fun and not let everything get so serious. I think you could use some downtime.”

  “Of course you know how to not let everything get so serious! Nothing is serious for you!”

  “That is not true. I’m getting seriously pissed right now, if nothing else.”

  “I’m just saying that Brynn might be right,” Ava said. “You could use some stability.”

  “And maybe it could pull that stick out of your butt.”

  “Hey!”

  Suddenly they both stopped and turned to face Brynn. The sweet one.

  Who was now frowning and looked almost on the verge of tears. “Knock it off.”

  Cori took a deep breath. “Sorry.”

  Ava looked sheepish as well. “Me too.”

  “I’m going,” Brynn said. “I’ll go alone if I have to.”

  She wouldn’t go alone. But as Cori looked closer at her sister, she had to admit that Brynn looked as serious as she sounded.

  “You can’t go alone,” Ava said.

  “Oh, yes, I can. And I will. I will work in the pie shop and date the entire town of Bliss and…enjoy it.”

  But her hesitation over the “enjoy it” part was what finally made Cori say, “There’s no way I’m letting you date an entire town without me there to help you.”

  Brynn looked relieved. “Okay. Good.”

  Cori grinned at her. “I have a feeling you’re going to love Bliss.” She gave her sister a wink and Brynn blushed.

  Ava was watching them. “I don’t want you to go without me.”

  “Why not?” Cori asked. “You can stay here and be miserable if you want.”

  Cori expected Ava to point out that they all three had to go to Bliss for it to count. But a little bit of Cori wanted to go anyway.

  Instead Ava said, “But you’ll have fun without me.”

  Surprised, Cori nodded. “Yep, we totally will.”

  “I can’t believe you want to do this,” Ava said to her.

  “My therapist thinks it’s a good idea. For all of us, incidentally. She said she thinks Dad knew us better than we realized.” After picking up the groceries, Cori had taken a few minutes to call Karen. Even though she’d already known her shrink would love the idea of Cori making a commitment to her sisters that involved more than a wild weekend.

  “You are seeing a therapist?” Ava asked.

  “Uh, yeah.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, shocker… I have issues.”

  “And you’ve talked to him about us?”

  Cori laughed. “Her. And yes. You’re my sisters. We’re triplets for fuck’s sake. You’ve come up. Especially with all of this.”

  “And she thinks we should all go?” Brynn asked.

  “Yep.”

  “But you’ve…been talking to someone else?” Ava asked, still frowning.

  Cori focused on her. “Yes. Why?”

  “I just…shouldn’t you be talking to us?”

  Cori snorted at that. “To my kick-ass, no-one-tells-me-what-to-do corporate shark sister and my sweet, smarter-than-anyone-I-know sister about my feelings of inadequacy?” Cori asked. “How would that work? You can’t tell me you’re not all of those things and it would just make you feel bad.”

  “Like how I feel right now, you mean?” Ava asked.

  Cori looked at her for a moment. She’d love for Ava to be someone she could go to with problems and questions. And vice versa. Like it used to be. “Come to Bliss. Be a little out of your element. Be around so I can talk to you.”

  Ava swallowed hard. Then she looked at Brynn. “And you’re really going to date the town?”

  Brynn nodded, but she looked less than confident. “Sure.”

  Ava sighed. “Well now I have to come.”

  She didn’t look happy about it, but suddenly Cori felt a surge of anticipation go through her. “I know you love what you’re doing and that you’re good at it. But finding out you’re good at other things, things you didn’t even know about, is empowering. And finding out you’re not good at some things is humbling. And being empowered but humble is awesome.”

  Ava narrowed her eyes. “You’re always trying something new and going somewhere new.”

  “And I’m empowered and humble,” Cori said. But she shifted on the sofa cushion. That all sounded a lot stronger than she felt.

  “But now you’re talking about going somewhere to live and do the same thing for a year,” Ava said.

  Cori swallowed. That was a good point. She was curious about Bliss. She felt like this was a dare from her father that she had to take. But doing it for a couple of months would be a lot better.

  “Well, I—”

  “You’re right,” Ava decided. “We should go.”

  Cori blinked at her. “Huh?”

  “If I need to shake things up, then you need to…unshake things.” She frowned as if that hadn’t come out the way she’d intended. “You need to settle down some.”

  “Hey,” Cori protested. “I’m fine. I guarantee that my blood pressure is lower than yours and when I take ibuprofen it’s because of a muscle strain from climbing a mountain or a back ache from sleeping on the beach all night, not because of a tension headache or eyestrain from staring at a computer screen until two in the morning.”

  “You sure the backache isn’t from having sex on the back of a motorcycle or a camel or something?” Ava asked.

  “Having sex on the back of a moving motorcycle would be really dangerous,” Cori told her.

  “Well, obviously not while it’s moving,” Ava told her.

  Cori didn’t say anything. Because there had been this one time…

  “Oh, my God, you’ve had sex on a motorcycle?” Ava asked.

  “Hey, at least I’m getting laid. I’d highly recommend it for you, in fact,” Cori shot back.

  The sound of the doorbell interrupted whatever Ava was about to say. She gave a little humph sound, but set her glass down, tossed off the blanket she had over her lap, and pushed herself up. But the second her butt cleared the cushion, she wobbled and leaned to brace her hands on the glass-topped coffee table.

  “Whoa there, princess,” Cori said, coming up from the couch and guiding Ava back down. “I got it. You just sit.”

  “Okay.” Ava sighed and leaned back into the thick cushion behind her.

  Yeah, Cori really needed to get Ava drunk more often. She was a lot easier to get along with when she had some vodka coursing through her veins.

  Cori went to the door and pulled it open.

  “I have a plan. Just hear me out.”

  “Mr. Stone.” Cori was completely surprised by the way her heart thunked in her chest, seeing Evan on the other side of Ava’s door.

  He was still wearing the jeans and white button-down shirt, but it was wrinkled now and his hair looked like he’d been running his hands through it.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked him.

  “I want to be your boyfriend for the next six months.”

  Cori felt surprise, then temptation shoot through her. And then comprehension.

  But still, she had to hear this. She propped her shoulder against the doorframe. “Go on.”

  Ava Carmichael looked completely hot.

  Maybe it was just getting her out of her office, or maybe it was his sudden desperation to make this work, or maybe it was that her long, blond hair was pulled back, her makeup was wiped clean, and she was wearing a tiny, fitted tank top that hugged her breasts…and no bra. Her nipples were prominent against the pink cotton top that also left a strip of skin bare between it and the top of the loose pants that sat low on her hips. Evan was surprised that the pants were covered in bright multicolored stripes. And that her feet were bare. But of course, she’d be barefoot at home. Just because she looked like she’d been born in heels didn’t mean that she never took them off.

  Yeah, he could definitely be this woman’s boyfrien
d for six months. She might be cool and confident and give off a there’s-no-way-I’m-ever-going-to-find-you-charming vibe that was, honestly, pretty foreign to him, but if he could keep her out of her pencil skirts and shoes, he might have a chance at not fucking this up. Because this woman? Yeah, there was a lot to like here.

  “I fit all of the requirements,” he said as she folded her arms—which plumped up those very nice braless breasts—and propped her shoulder against the doorframe and looked up at him with a mix of curiosity and humor.

  Yeah, he could work with that too. If she’d go braless and smile, even every other day, he’d be okay.

  “The requirements?” she asked.

  “In the trust,” he said. “Your dad said that you never go out with a guy until you know his grad school GPA, his political affiliation, and his cholesterol levels. And he said that you have to date a guy without knowing any of that about him.”

  She looked surprised at that, and Evan figured she’d had no idea that her father had been that observant. Evan wasn’t sure how Rudy knew about Ava’s checklist of characteristics for her dates, but he’d said that she made online dating sights look like child’s play.

  “I totally fit,” Evan went on. “I’m from Bliss, I’m a nice guy, and there’s no way I’m telling you my GPA, so you can’t make judgments about that. I don’t really have a political affiliation and even I don’t know my cholesterol levels.”

  She seemed to take all of that information in. “GPA was that bad, huh?” she asked, a smile teasing the corner of her mouth.

  He was surprised at that show of humor, but then he caught a whiff of liquor. Ah, so she’d had a drink to wind down after the long day. Not a bad idea. If she’d go braless and drink in Bliss, he’d definitely be good.

  “I passed the bar, that’s all that really matters, right?” he answered.

  “Hmm,” she said, noncommittally. “And how about the cholesterol thing? I mean, I don’t need to know exact numbers, but I definitely need to know how you feel about onion rings and cheese.”

  Okay, there had to be at least an iota of honesty in their relationship, right? “I’m a huge fan of both. But I also run and take vitamins.”

  She laughed at that.

  And Evan felt like he’d been punched in the stomach. Wow.

  Yeah, if Ava Carmichael was braless, drinking, and laughing, even some of the time, these six months would be a piece of cake.

  “So what’s the plan?” she asked.

  The plan. The thing that was going to solve every problem for every person. Just that.

  “Date me for six months.”

  “I didn’t think we really…connected,” she said.

  Yeah, he hadn’t either. But that didn’t matter. “That’s the thing,” he said, “it doesn’t have to be totally real.”

  One eyebrow lifted. “Oh?”

  “I mean, it will be real enough,” he amended. “We’ll go out and stuff. I’ll make sure you have some fun and don’t work all the time. We won’t talk business. We won’t hang out with a single person who makes seven figures. We won’t ever say the words hedge fund.” Considering he had no idea what that even was, that would be easy. “That was what was important to Rudy. That you don’t work all the time. That you see that there’s more to life. That you have some fun. I can do all of that. But there won’t be any expectations beyond the six months and really, there won’t be any expectations during those six months. We only have to make it seem like we’re in a relationship. And this way no poor unsuspecting Bliss guy will fall in love and be devastated when you leave.” Evan gave her one of his best come-on-I’m-pretty-cute-right? grins.

  “We don’t need to talk and get to know each other? Spend time alone?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “Only needs to be public.”

  She tipped her head. “What’s in it for you?”

  “It takes away one of the things that you’re concerned and frustrated about,” he told her. “Basically, it gets you to Bliss. That’s important. It’s what Rudy wanted.” And will keep Parker from poisoning me slowly and painfully.

  “And that’s all you care about? That this would make Rudy happy?” she asked.

  Well, and Parker and Noah. And… He took a deep breath. “Okay, there’s also this girl.”

  “Ah.” She nodded. “Okay, there is something direct in it for you. You need her to think you’re taken.”

  He supposed it was good that Ava know this. So that if his grandmother—or Jill’s—ever walked by and he suddenly grabbed and kissed her, she’d know why. “I need the town to know I’m taken by someone other than her.”

  “The town wants you to be taken by her?”

  At least part of the town did, Evan thought. Then he realized that no, pretty much the whole town probably did. “Yes.”

  “And why can’t you just tell them you’re not interested?”

  “Because I’ve known Jill all my life and she’s awesome and any guy would be lucky to have her. Not being interested…now…would make me seem like a commitment-phobic ass. I need a really good reason to not be interested. Like you.” He gave her a wink that worked to soften up the woman he was talking to nine times out of ten. “Because, on paper, Jill and I seem like the perfect couple.”

  Ava gave him a look that said I know that you think that wink works for you nine times out of ten. “But you actually are a commitment-phobic ass?”

  “It isn’t actually a phobia. Per se,” he protested. “It’s being responsible.”

  “Sleeping with women you have no intention of committing to is responsible?”

  He stared at her. “How did you know we slept together?”

  “Because you’re trying to talk a woman you just met into pretending to be your girlfriend so that your hometown doesn’t think you and this girl, who you’ve known your whole life, should be together now.” She tipped her head. “Something must have changed between the two of you and everyone must know about it.”

  Evan blew out a breath. She was good. “Okay, we slept together. But it was mutually a friends-with-benefits thing. She doesn’t want anything more either. But it’s up to me to come up with a really great reason for us to not be together.” Something Ava had said a minute ago occurred to him. “And by the way, never promising to give them anything more than I can deliver is responsible.”

  “What can you deliver?” She looked curious. And slightly amused.

  He could work with that. “A few laughs and a few orgasms.”

  She lifted her shoulder. “Well, that’s not nothing.”

  Evan grinned. It felt like he was talking to Cori again. Of course it made sense that Ava and Cori would have things in common. He supposed as triplets even their sense of humor could be crazily similar. That was good. He was attracted to Cori. Which meant, he could be attracted to Ava too.

  “You’re just not into serious relationships?” Ava asked.

  “Well…” He wanted to be. Or he wanted to want to be. “Mostly, I can’t be responsible for penguins being cared for by a sub-standard vet.”

  Ava’s eyes widened. “Penguins?”

  “Jill’s a wildlife vet. Specializing in penguins.”

  “And there aren’t a lot of penguins in Bliss?”

  “Not a one.”

  “But there are in…”

  “Omaha. At the zoo. It’s her dream job.”

  “Ah.” Ava took a breath. “You’re worried that she’ll give it up and you won’t live up to the hype.”

  Well, no. Not exactly. Okay, maybe. A little. He lifted a shoulder.

  “Was this the first time you’d slept with Jill?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “And why now?”

  “It was an unusual situation,” he said carefully. “Normally I wouldn’t have let it happen.”

  “What was the situation?”

  Evan rolled his neck, but he said, “It was just after your dad’s memorial service. I’d had a few drinks and she brought me
lasagna and—”

  “Well, that explains it.”

  “It does?”

  “It’s lasagna.”

  Evan would not have pegged Ava Carmichael as a comfort-food girl. But he also wouldn’t have imagined how relaxed and normal she’d look at home. There were some layers here. That could make the next six months much more interesting.

  “Exactly,” he said. “I was sad and drunk and there was a lasagna and she said that she was there for me, anything I needed and…” He trailed off, assuming she could fill in the rest.

  Ava groaned. “You Harry-ed her?”

  He paused. But no, that didn’t make any sense even when he repeated it in his head. “What?”

  “You Harry-ed her,” she said again. When he shook his head, she sighed. “When Harry Met Sally? The movie? Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan? They’re friends forever and she’s really sad one night and he comes over to comfort her and they end up sleeping together and afterward she thinks their relationship has changed, but he doesn’t.”

  Evan stared at her.

  “You Harry-ed her,” she said again, as if to drive the point home.

  “But I was the one that was sad and needed comforting.”

  “Well, maybe you Sally-ed her.” Ava scrunched her nose up, thinking.

  And he found that adorable.

  He sighed. “And neither of us thought the relationship would change. But okay, we screwed up. So, I propose this—you come to Bliss, and we act madly in love, and Jill will act brokenhearted and like she can’t wait to get away from having our happiness rubbed in her face, and everyone will give up on the idea of her and me. Then she’ll escape to Omaha, you’ll fulfill the dating provision in the trust, and I’ll prove that I’m a changed guy who is capable of being with a woman for more than sex.”

  “Except that you won’t be a changed man. You’ll be a man trying to get out of a sticky situation.”

  He leaned in, propping his elbow on the doorjamb just above her head. “But maybe you can change me.” That tone of voice always worked. And this was a good idea. For both of them.

  She didn’t look amused. Or particularly turned on. But she didn’t move away from him either. She simply asked, “Do you want to change?”