Page 96 of Stuck with Me

My lips pout on their own, the sadness too much. “Today’s the day.”

“Are you trying to tell me, after almost a week, you two haven’t come to some kind of agreement that will benefit you both?”

“I mean, our agreementwasbenefiting both of us,” I say, teasing half-heartedly. “Since we weren’t really friends, I guess we were enemies with benefits.”

Cammie breathes out a laugh. “Ah, now there’s my best friend. I was beginning to think I’d lost you.”

“You kidding?” I shrug, picking up the syrup bottle and pouring it onto my French toast. “All this with Nico is a minor hiccup.”

“Well, I’d say he’s a bit more than a minor hiccup.”

I don’t look at her when I speak, too afraid she’ll see right through my bullshit. “C’mon, Cams, you know it will take a unicorn of a man for me to settle down.”

“And you don’t think Nico is a unicorn?”

“Ha,” I bark out, “he’s a cattle rancher from Texas whose whole life revolves around his family. Even if we didn’t have the weird history with our grandparents and the cabin to figure out, it would never work out between us. My home is in Maple Ridge, and I don’t even have a family.”

Cammie’s blue eyes go downcast and regret pinches in my gut.

“That’s a big fat lie and you know it, Rosalie Milano. You’ve got a family. And not just me and Jones. You’ve got Grandpa Pete and Grandma Nettie, and my dad, too. I think he worries about you more than me.”

“That’s because you are a sweet summer child who can do no wrong in his eyes.” I bat my lashes at her.

She mocks offense, narrowing her eyes at me playfully. “One would think after going on a secret road trip turned sexcation with her brother’s best friend, a girl would lose the goody-two-shoes reputation.”

I smile at her, still so proud of her for dumping her ex-fiancé at the alter and running away with Maverick last year. It took serious balls, and ones I didn’t even know she had. Being best friends for as long as we have, it’s not often we surprise each other anymore.

“As ecstatic as I still am, you’ll always be the sweet one. And there’s nothing wrong with that.” I cut my French toast with my fork. “But there’s only room in this friendship for one bad bitch, sorry, sweets.”

She huffs out a laugh and rolls her eyes. “First of all, you are not a bad bitch. And second, you have the biggest heart out of anyone I know. You’re protective of yourfamily,” she enunciates the word family before continuing, “you’d be the first person to throw a punch if I needed you to or bail me out of jail. You deserve everything good in this life. And if you think it will take a unicorn for you to settle down, then you deserve a fucking unicorn.” She points at me with the spatula.

Even though her words are playful, they’re heavy, too. They hit me in the center of my chest. Unwelcomed tears prick the corners of my eyes.

I swallow past the lump of emotion. “Thanks, Cams.”

The quiet shuffle of footsteps sound behind me and my shoulders tense. I swivel my head and find Nico standing there.Shit. How long has he been standing there?

He clears his throat. “Sorry, don’t mind me, just a minor hiccup…coming in for coffee.”

Fuuuuuuck.

CHAPTER27

Nico

Did I intend on eavesdropping and hearing Rosie and Cammie’s conversation? Hell no. But when I came to the end of the hall and heard Rosie say I was a minor hiccup, I froze. My feet halted and I couldn’t get them to move forward. It felt as if someone stabbed me in the heart and then twisted the knife just to be a fucker.

I’m not a complete idiot. I was ninety percent sure a relationship wasn’t in the cards for Rosie and me. But the other ten percent? — Man, the other ten percent had our entire life and future planned out. Down to how many kids we’d have and how we’d have to keep a spare room for Amelia because she’d want to visit Maple Ridge in every season.

As if the weight of our conversation about the fate of the cabin wasn’t already troubling me, now I feel rejected. And I didn’t even offer her anything.

I fix a cup of coffee and try to ignore the awkwardness consuming the kitchen.

“Please help yourself to some French toast, Nico. I made plenty,” Cammie offers to my back.

I carry my full coffee mug out of the kitchen and answer without looking at her, “Thanks, but I’m good with just coffee today.”

“Don’t be a dick, Moretti. It’s tradition,” Rosie says.

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