Page 51 of Words I Couldn't Say
IT WAS A STRUGGLE TOleave Tucker in the mornings, but I wasn’t ready for the barrage of questions from my family. At least, that’s what I told myself. I should’ve known better, especially when Mom insisted we spend a girls’ day out on the town, shopping and sipping on mimosas while my cousin Maya frantically tried to find a dress to wear to her senior homecoming. Though Aunt Lexi and Uncle Jace live in Tennessee, they often traveled to Cincinnati to spend time with the family. I loved Maya, as well as her brother, and wished I could see them more often. Once again, it was just another reminder of everything I’d been missing while I had been in California. The longer I stayed in Cincinnati, the harder it’d be to leave.
Dressed in distressed jeans and an oversized sweater, with my hair thrown up in a messy bun, I fit right in with all the other shoppers milling about downtown. It wasn’t often that I was recognized, but with the new movie, my face had been plastered more out there than usual, and the last thing I wanted was to ruin our girls’ outing with paparazzi. The truth was that I wasn’t all that interesting in the first place.
“Oh, Maya, you’re absolutely breathtaking,” Aunt Lexi gushed when her daughter emerged from the dressing room.
It was true. She was exquisite in a burnt-orange dress that flared out at her hips and settled just above her knee. The full skirt twirled beautifully when she shimmied her hips. The color was perfect for a fall dance, especially paired with her summer tan and sun-kissed hair. Aunt Lexi’s eyes were brimming with tears. She was no doubt in awe and probably somewhat sad at the idea that her daughter had grown into a beautiful woman and was no longer her little girl.
“Cade’s going to eat his heart out,” Chloe, Maya’s best friend—and Cade’s twin sister—commented.
Maya’s cheeks flushed as she ducked her head, but a small smile played on her lips. She knew that Chloe was right.
Chloe and her mom, Charlie, had joined Lexi and Maya for the trip, calling it a girls’ weekend. Even their friend Lucy had tagged along, though she was a mom to boys. Theirs was an interesting bunch. Lexi, Charlie, and Lucy were part of a tight-knit group of Army wives who’d all fallen in love and had children around the same time. Even after their husbands had retired, they’d all stayed in the same place so their kids could grow up together. As a kid, I’d spent countless weekends down at Uncle Jace’s and Aunt Lexi’s, and over the years, I had grown close not only with my cousins, but with their friends as well. Maya and Cade were much like Tucker and me, except they’d known early on in high school they were meant to be more than friends. Lexi and Charlie loved that their kids were in love and hoped they’d truly become family one day. Uncle Jace understandably wasn’t quite ready to marry his daughter off, but Maya was on the fast track to becoming a Wellington.
After Chloe and Maya had picked their dresses out, our group ended up having a late lunch in Fountain Square, enjoying the sunshine and each other’s company.
Lucy shifted her attention to me. “So, Ava, are you dating anyone back in Los Angeles?”
“No, not at the moment. I’m completely single,” I offered.
“Maybe you’ll fall in love on set,” Chloe remarked. “That would besoooromantic.”
Maya snorted. “Her costar is Leo Lockwood. His devotion to his wife is legendary, Chloe.”
Chloe’s shoulders fell before they perked right up again. “She could fall for a cameraman,” she suggested. “Then it wouldn’t be as cliché as costars.”
“I don’t want to fall in love on set!” I protested, knowing how on-set romances were often a ploy studios used to sell movies, which was one I never wanted to be part of.
Mom let out a loud laugh.
My head swung around in her direction. “What?” I asked, I should’ve just changed the subject though.
She raised an eyebrow. “Completely single, huh?”
Heat warmed my cheeks. “I’m currently unattached. My love life is boring. Why don’t we discuss something else?”
She gave me a pointed look. “So, you’re not sleeping with the boy next door?”
I nearly choked on my mimosa. “Mom!”
She pressed her hand to her chest in her best Scarlett O’Hara impression. “Oh, goodness. I’m sorry. Why else would my twenty-three-year-old daughter sneak out of the house late at night and then return the next morning before the sun comes up? If it’s not for a boy, I’d hate to think of what else you could be doing.”
“How the heck do you know that?”
“Your fatheralsoenjoys a little morning nookie before the boys wake up.”
I immediately covered my ears. “Mother! I do not need to know that information!”
She laughed then shrugged. “I’m just saying. If you and Tucker are an item now, I don’t understand why you’re hiding it. But to say you’re completely single is untrue. We both know it.”
Before I could respond, my phone buzzed. My cheeks flushed yet again when Tucker’s name lit the screen.
Mom glanced over and read it, smiling knowingly. “Speak of the devil.”
