After paying, she hands me a three-dollar tip, takes her dog out of the bag, and leaves without so much as a thank you. Cleaning up my station so I can leave, I listen with one ear as Chris recounts his run-in with Sage to Ellie, Selma, and Sejla, who ooh and aah over his story. You would think by the way he describes it that it was the most amazing night of his life and that he didn’t get punched in the face.
I don’t care that he’s telling them about what happened, since Ellie knew from the beginning that Chris and I have never been anything more than friends. And Selma and Sejla are cool, but I don’t know them enough to feel embarrassed that they know I lied about Chris being my boyfriend.
“So what now?” Selma asks, and I hear a pause in the conversation and turn to find all eyes on me.
“What?”
“What now? What are you going to do now that he knows the truth?” Selma clarifies.
“Nothing,” I say, and Sejla frowns.
“Nothing?” she repeats, studying me with a disbelieving and disappointed look in her eyes.
“You need to at least give him a chance!” Selma cries, spinning around in the chair to face me, dislodging Ellie’s hands from her hair.
“I agree. You need to at least hear him out,” Sejla says, and I know she and her sister mean well, but it’s so easy for them to say I need to just give him a chance, because their hearts aren’t on the line here. Mine is.
Seeing both Selma and Sejla waiting for my response, I mutter, “I’ll talk to him.”
“Good,” they say in unison, and I smile at the happy and relieved looks on their faces. Pulling my eyes from them, I look at Chris.
“Are you ready?”
“Yep.” He stands from the chair that he has been sitting in then goes about giving the girls air kisses and farewells. Saying goodbye to everyone, we leave the salon, and I head to my car while Chris goes to his, telling me he will meet me at the store.
“So how was work?” Chris asks as we grab a cart and walk into the grocery store fifteen minutes later.
“Good.”
“Anything happen?” he continues, and I look at him and narrow my eyes.
“Why?”
“Just wondering. Ellie said that Sage stopped by the salon today.”
“He did.”
“And?”
“And nothing. He came by the salon, asked if we could talk, my answer was no, and he left.”
“What?” His eyes grow with surprise. “He didn’t demand you change your mind or toss you over his shoulder and speed away with you in his truck to hide you in a secluded cabin, where he could convince you of the mistake you’re making by not taking a chance on him?” he asks, and I stare at him, blinking.
“I think you’ve been reading too many romance novels.”
“You can never read too many romance novels,” he scoffs, making me smile. Chris is the only guy I’ve ever met who is more obsessed with romance books than I am. “So what exactly happened? Tell me everything.”
“Nothing happened. Like I said, he came in, told me we needed to talk, I said no we didn’t, and he left.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
“You are. I’ve known you since we were five. I know your tell.”
“My tell?”
“Yeah, when you lie, your nose twitches.”
“My nose does not twitch,” I say, touching my fingers to my nose.
“It does.” He smiles, pulling my hand away from my face.
“Whatever,” I mutter, picking up a bag of oranges and dropping them in the cart.
“So when are you going to talk to him?”
“Never.”
“He apologized. Don’t you think you should do the polite thing and at least hear him out?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know, or you’re just too scared to find out what will happen if you do?”
“Do we have to do this right now?” I sigh, and he tosses his arm around my shoulders and pulls me into his side.
“We’ve been doing this for months now. I’ve seen the way you look at him when you think no one will notice, and I see the way he looks at you, not giving a fuck if everyone sees. Even when he thought you and I were a thing, he still made it perfectly clear to those who were watching that if by some chance he got a shot, you would be his.”
“I really think you are reading way too much into this.”
“Am I?”
I want to say yes, but that would be a lie. Every time I’ve seen Sage out, it’s taken everything in me to keep my feet from moving in his direction, and when I’m not carefully watching him, I can feel his eyes on me like a physical touch.
“We don’t have time to talk about this.” I decide to say. “We need to finish shopping, and I have to get to the house. Elizabeth is meeting Jelikai in Nashville for dinner, and you know she can’t leave the boys alone for more then ten minutes without someone ending up in the hospital, so I can’t be late.”
“Fine,” he grumbles, but I know Chris. He may have given up for now, but he has not given up forever, and he won’t until he gets his way, and I admit there is still something between Sage and me. “Just so you know, I’m reserving the right to tell you ‘I told you so’ when this is all said and done.”
“Fine.” I roll my eyes at him then grab the shopping cart from his grasp and finish up my grocery shopping.
“Elizabeth, I’m here!” I shout into the house as I toss my bag on the table near the front door. Hearing no reply over the boys yelling and the sounds of a video game being played, I head up the stairs. Stopping at the door of the theater room, I watch Jimmy, the oldest at fourteen, as he tosses Aiden, who is three, onto the couch, making him laugh, while the other two, Mickey who’s six and Hayden who’s nine, sit on the floor with headphones on and controllers in their hands.
“Hey, guys!” I shout over the sound of the TV, and all four heads swing toward me.
“Kim.” Aiden smiles, running toward me, while the other boys grin and wave before going back to what they were doing.
“Hey, dude.” I pick him up, and he wraps his tiny arms around my neck before dropping his head to my shoulder, making something deep inside me wish for a moment just like this with my own baby one day. “Did you eat dinner yet?”
“No.” He leans back to look at me. “Can we have pizza?”
“Sure,” I agree, and he looks to where Jimmy is now sitting with Mickey and Hayden, who are still playing a video game.
“We get to have pizza!” he shouts. At that announcement, the boys all smile at me. Elizabeth is a health freak, so the kids love when I come over, because they know they will get some form of junk food before the night is over.
“Where’s your mom?” I ask, carrying Aiden away from the fighting that has suddenly erupted over the controllers for the video game.
“In her room, getting ready,” he says, so I head down the hall toward the master bedroom. Knocking on the door that is open, I smile as Elizabeth pokes her head out of the bathroom and grins.
“Hey, I’m just about ready,” she says, putting a long, dangly earring in her ear. “Give me two then I need you to tell me how I look.”