218 First Hugs

  218 First Hugs

  E. L. Todd

  This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious or used fictitiously. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher or author, except in the case of a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

  * * *

  Hartwick Publishing

  218 First Hugs

  Copyright © 2017 by E. L. Todd

  All Rights Reserved

  1

  Amelia

  Bree and I couldn’t have the conversation right there on the couch since Evan was down the hall. So she left with a terrifying look of accusation heavy on her face. I knew the second the sun was up and we had some privacy, she would drill me like she was trying to get through solid rock.

  The next morning, I let Evan out before the girls woke up. I felt dirty, like I had a nasty secret that would be the death of me. Bree knew exactly what I was doing, and I was afraid she would tell Ace, not that he would care anyway.

  I walked Evan to the door and hoped he would leave without further conversation.

  Of course, he didn’t want that. “Everything okay with Bree?”

  “Why did you come into the living room?” I countered.

  His face fell in confusion. “Just wanted to see if everything was okay.”

  “No one was yelling or screaming. Everything was under control. So you were either being nosy, or you wanted Bree to see you.”

  His face turned into a stone wall, completely unreadable. “What does it matter if she sees me? I know you tell her everything anyway.”

  “I definitely wouldn’t tell her about this.”

  “Well, you should.”

  “There’s nothing to tell. We aren’t getting back together. We’re just fooling around.”

  “For now.”

  My eyes narrowed. “Have a good day, Evan.” I turned back to the couch, needing to get away from him.

  He grabbed me by the arm and yanked me back. He planted a hard kiss on my mouth before he let me go. “I hope everything is alright with Bree. You know you can call me.” He walked away without another word.

  I got the girls ready and dropped them off at school before I walked up to Amelia’s Place. There was no doubt that Bree would be there, and once everyone else left, she would turn on me.

  When I walked into the office, no one was there.

  Except Bree.

  Damn.

  She sat on her desk with her legs dangling down. She wore a black shirt and jeans, ready to head to the café as soon as this conversation was over.

  I was surprised the rest of the gang wasn’t there. But I guess it wasn’t surprising that Cypress hadn’t made an appearance. After his last conversation with my sister, he was probably laying low.

  Bree started talking the second she saw me walk through the door. “You’re back with Evan?” She shrieked so loudly I was certain people on the bottom floor heard every word she said. “What happened to all that talk about not getting back together with him?”

  “We aren’t back together.” I tossed my purse on my desk and sank into the leather chair. “And would you keep it down? Everyone is going to hear you.”

  “So what?” she asked. “If you aren’t back together with him, then what are you doing?”

  “I don’t know…I’ve just been depressed over Ace, so I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

  “Why would you still be depressed over him? You hooked up one time.”

  I couldn’t tell her the truth without throwing Ace under the bus, so I kept the knowledge to myself. “I don’t know…it’s just taken me a while.”

  “Amy, Evan is the biggest douchebag on the planet.”

  “I’m aware.”

  “And yet, you’re sleeping with him?”

  “I’m not saying it was the best decision. But I wasn’t happy, so I made a dumb decision. It happens.”

  “It better not happen again. He doesn’t deserve you, Amelia.”

  “I know he doesn’t.” I’d never been so lost in my entire life. I loved one man, but he didn’t see me as more than a warm body to sleep beside. The man who betrayed me wanted me back even though he didn’t deserve another chance. I was jealous of people who lived simple lives…if such people existed. “What’s going on with you and Cypress?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You said you broke things off. Have you spoken since?”

  “No. But we aren’t talking about me right now. We’re talking about you. I need to know you aren’t getting back together with Evan.”

  “I’m not.”

  “I need a promise, Amy.” She pointed her finger right at my chest.

  That was a promise I couldn’t give. I had no idea what the future held. “Why do you care so much? I know you want the best for me, but you’re getting really involved in my personal life. When it came to Cypress, I gave you your space.”

  “Because I lost my memory. Totally different situations.”

  “Not really. I know you don’t like Evan, and neither do I. But I’m going through a hard time right now. Instead of being judged for it, I should get some slack.”

  Bree finally realized she was being too hard on me when she sighed and hopped off the desk. “I’m sorry. You’re right.”

  My sister was stubborn as hell, but she came to her senses eventually. “It’s okay.”

  She joined me and hopped on my desk so we were close together. “Why do men have to be such assholes?”

  A question no woman could answer. “I don’t know…”

  “They’re such pigs. All of them.”

  “Yeah.”

  She hopped off the desk again and grabbed her purse. “I need to get to work, but I’m glad we had this talk. I can’t explain how much I hate Evan. I want to run him over with my car. Like, that’s how much I hate him.”

  I chuckled. “I know.”

  “I want you to be with someone better.”

  That someone better didn’t want me. “Me too.”

  “I hope we both find a happy ending someday. Right now, it doesn’t seem possible.”

  My outlook on life was just as bleak. “Yeah…but let’s keep hoping.”

  She sighed and headed to the door. “And dreaming.”

  * * *

  I waited until we closed down Amelia’s Place and all the employees left. Cypress didn’t say more than two words to me either, so he obviously didn’t want to talk about my sister.

  I wanted to talk about it even less than he did.

  We locked all the doors and broke down the two registers.

  Cypress counted the cash and rolled it into wads, his eyes concentrating on what he was doing.

  I stood at the counter and stared at him, waiting for him to acknowledge me.

  He didn’t.

  “Cypress, we’re gonna have to talk about this.”

  He slammed the register harder than he should, making a loud, ringing noise. He clenched his jaw as he swallowed back the cold retort he had on his tongue. After he squeezed the edge of the counter, he looked at me. “I guess we do.”

  “Why did you tell Bree anything?”

  “Because she asked. I can’t lie to her.”

  “But the kiss was just a stupid mistake. She doesn’t need to know about it.”

  “Which is why I didn’t tell her you were involved. If I did…” He shook his head. “She would feel betrayed. I know she would.”

  “But she’s willing to divorce you over this, Cypress.”

  “I know. I was there when she told me.”

  “We can’t let that happen.” I c
ouldn’t let Cypress lose the woman he loved because of my stupid mistake. I couldn’t let Bree lose the man who loved her more than anything. This was all my fault—and I should take responsibility for it.

  “It’s already happened. I know I can’t change her mind about this one. There’s nothing that can be done. I have to let her walk away.”

  “Cypress, we aren’t doing that. I’ll tell her what happened.”

  “No.” He looked me in the eye with his menacing gaze. “That’s not an option.”

  “I don’t like it either, but that’s the only way to fix this.”

  He shook his head. “She’ll never forgive you. She’ll never forgive you for kissing me.”

  I knew she would be angry, heartbroken, and every emotion in between. And she would have every right to be. “She won’t forgive me right away. It’ll take her some time. But I know she will. Even if she doesn’t, she deserves to know that you were always faithful to her, that I kissed you, and you pulled away. She’s probably assuming something far worse than what actually happened.”

  “She’ll be so hurt, Amelia. She’ll be more hurt than she is now.”

  “When I tell her how depressed I was…how broken I was…she’ll understand.”

  He shook his head again. “She’ll never understand how her best friend, her sister, could kiss her husband. She’ll never let it go, Amelia.”

  “She gave you a second chance, didn’t she?”

  “But you’re her sister. It’s totally different. She’ll see it as a worse betrayal.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. But we’re still blood, so she’ll forgive me.”

  He looked down at the counter between us, his eyes shifting back and forth. “Are you really willing to risk it?” His fingers dug into the wood until his knuckles turned white. When he released the edge, he grabbed the money and tossed it into the leather pouch. “I don’t want her to lose you. I don’t want you to lose her. I love both of you, and I can’t rip you apart.”

  “And you think I’ll let myself rip you two apart?”

  He zipped up the bag full of cash and tossed it on the counter. “I love my wife more than anything in the world. That being said, she can always find another husband. She can’t find another sister. You’re the only family she’s got in the entire world, Amelia. I can’t let her lose you.”

  I grabbed his left wrist, the hand that held his wedding ring. “You’re her family, Cypress. You are more family than I am. We have to do the right thing. And the right thing is me telling her the truth.”

  “There’s a chance she won’t take me back anyway. Her seeing Vanessa just fucked everything up.” He ran his hand through his hair, sighing in irritation. “That stupid bitch fucked everything up. God, I hate her.”

  I hated her more. “You’ll recover from that. Bree will know she’s just being jealous.”

  “I’m not so sure.”

  “I am. Bree needs to know that kiss wasn’t your fault. It was my doing. It’s gonna suck. It’s gonna hurt. But we’ve gotta do the right thing.”

  He pulled his hand away. “No. She needs you more than she needs me.”

  “Cypress, you’re being ridiculous right now.”

  “I’m not gonna tell her. I’d rather divorce her and lose her forever than have her lose her sister. It’s not worth it.”

  “And I’m not gonna let you suffer for a crime you didn’t commit. I’m gonna tell her the truth, whether you like it or not.”

  He pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “It’s a bad idea, Amelia. You’re risking both of us losing her. The second you tell her, I’m still complicit in the situation. There was still a kiss. So she might still divorce me anyway. At least this way, there is only one victim, not two.”

  “We’re gonna have to see what happens—together.”

  “Amelia—”

  “I have to tell her, Cypress.”

  “You weren’t gonna tell her before. So why tell her now?”

  He was right. I wasn’t going to tell her. I thought it would only cause harm instead of good. “Because now she’s gonna lose the best thing that ever happened to her. I have to stop it.”

  “There’s nothing you can do to stop it, Amelia,” he said quietly. “This relationship is just too complicated. Now we’re gonna make it more complicated. Nobody can come back from this.”

  “That’s not true,” I whispered. “We’re family—and we’ll come back from this.”

  2

  Blade

  I worked at Olives with Ace that afternoon. The lunch rush was just as hectic as the evening rush, even more so because people didn’t usually make reservations during the day. We had to accommodate large parties without being prepared for them.

  “Any new ladies in your life?” I cycled the hot food to the front of the counter and handed the hot plates to Isabella, who rushed them to customers in the main dining room.

  Ace took the clean dishes sitting on the wash counter and stacked them so the cooks could grab them easily. “Not really. Just been doing my own thing.”

  “Lady hasn’t come back around?”

  “Nope. We haven’t spoken since I ended things.”

  “I’m surprised she wanted to be serious. She seemed pretty easygoing.”

  Ace shrugged and got back to work. “What about you?”

  “Nothing has changed with Celeste and me. She’s awesome as hell, and I’m trying not to fall for her.”

  “That’s pretty insane considering you’ve never fallen for anyone in your life.”

  “I know. Pretty shitty.” I remembered the night we slept together, and it was difficult not to get hard thinking about it. “By the way, don’t call me when I’m about to get laid. Really bad timing.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You called me after we left Cultura. I was literally making out with Celeste against the wall when you wouldn’t stop calling me.”

  Ace was about to carry a batch of dirty dishes to the sink when he halted. “Dude, what are you talking about? I never called you after we met up at Cultura.”

  “For one, we never agreed to meet up. You just crashed my date. And two, yes, you did. Celeste answered the phone and said I was too busy getting laid to talk.”

  Ace still wore the same confused expression. “Dude, wasn’t me.”

  “If it wasn’t you, then who was it?”

  “I don’t know. Why don’t you check your phone? Isn’t that what the call log is for?”

  Come to think of it, I’d never looked. If Bree or Cypress were the ones who called me, they probably would have mentioned by now. “Good idea.”

  Ace rolled his eyes then walked out to the dining room to help bus tables.

  I pulled out my phone and scrolled through the log, seeing who called me at that specific date and time.

  Mom.

  Fuck, my mom called me.

  Shit.

  She was the one Celeste had been speaking to. No one else called me that night. Actually, no one had called me that entire day.

  God fucking dammit.

  I didn’t embarrass easily, but this had to be the most humiliating moment of my life. The woman I was seeing told my own mother I couldn’t come to the phone because I was about to fuck her.

  Jesus Christ.

  Ace returned with a tray of dirty plates and silverware. He placed everything on the counter next to the dishwasher then turned back to me. “Why do you look so pale right now? You just ate lunch like fifteen minutes ago.”

  I wiped my damp forehead then held up my phone for Ace to see the name.

  He squinted his eyes as he read it. “Mom? Your mom was the one on the line?”

  I nodded. “Man, this is bad.”

  Ace tried to hide the grin that stretched over his mouth, but it made him look like he was cringing. “I think that’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all day.”

  “It’s not funny. This is the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened
to me.”

  “You think your mom doesn’t know you have sex?”

  “I’m sure she does, but I doubt she thinks about it.” I shoved my phone back into my pocket. “No wonder why she hasn’t called me in a while.”

  “Must think you’re busy,” he teased. “At least you don’t have to worry about your mom ever meeting Celeste.”

  “Why?”

  “Because she’s going back to Paris,” Ace said. “So maybe it’s good it didn’t work out.”

  Even with the embarrassing episode, I’d still rather have Celeste stick around and meet my parents. “That doesn’t make me feel better, man.”

  He grabbed two plates of hot food then handed them to the waitress who stepped into the kitchen. “Look, we’re all adults here. If you explain that neither one of you knew who was calling, it should be fine. You guys can have a big laugh about it.”

  “Not anytime soon.”

  “Your mom will get over it. Don’t worry about it. I’m sure she’s found your porn or your old condoms in the garbage can in the past. Moms know everything, I swear.”

  “But it’s gonna be so awkward when I talk to her. Maybe I just won’t talk to her ever again.”

  “Good luck with that.” He chuckled before he walked out with two more plates of hot food.

  I watched the cooks work over the blazing stoves in their white hats and jackets. The world continued on around me, but I was stuck in the haze of the past. I’d have to work this out with my mom eventually. May as well get it over with sooner rather than later.

  I texted Celeste. Can I see you later? I have a story to tell.

  Come by when you get off work. I’ll cook dinner.

  I loved her cooking. I loved being in that beautiful French house with a beautiful French woman. I didn’t mind taking her out for a nice meal, but I would take her home-cooking any day. I’ll see you then.

  * * *

  I’d never gotten a woman flowers before, but I picked up purple irises before I knocked on her door. Giving a woman flowers was cheesy and overdone, but anytime I came over, she had fresh flowers in vases on every table, even on the picnic table outside. It seemed like something she would genuinely want.