Page 21 of The Kissing Part
“Because I always hoped when the timing was right, we’d get back together. He loved me once.” I swallow over the lump of emotion lodged in my throat. “He’s the only one I know for sure truly did. I suppose his love for me…died. I chose to take that movie gig, and now I have to live with the fact that I may have lost him forever.” My eyes get hot.
Harper and Mackenzie give me sympathetic looks.
I finish my champagne in one long drink. “I was still very much a work-in-progress back then. The pressures of the industry, recovering from Mom’s emotional abuse, just recently sober and drug-free, I’m not even sure I could’ve sustained a relationship. It was all I could do to stay strong and make a life for myself.” I take a deep breath. “I’m in a better place now. I would do things differently this time, if he’d give me a chance.”
“I’m sure it would be nice for you to be with someone familiar who’s not in the industry,” Mackenzie says.
I shake my head. “It’s not about him being familiar. He’s special.”
“He’s alright,” Harper says, pouring me more champagne. High praise from his sister.
I take them both in. “I see him all the time, and he’s more distant by the minute. I’m at a loss. I get it, he doesn’t want a relationship, but couldn’t we at least be friends?” My voice cracks.
Harper and Mackenzie exchange a look.
Harper shakes her head. “You can’t be friends once you’ve had sex. Everybody knows that. Oh, did you think I didn’t know about the late-night loft meetups?”
I wince. “Did your mom know?”
“Nah, the parents were sound asleep. I was the night owl hearing you sneak out. I followed you once and saw you meet up with him in front of the garage, and then up you go to the loft. My parents cluelessly made it a playroom slash gamer den for us kids. They really should’ve known we’d use it for all sorts of unsupervised fun.”
I look out to the view. “Part of me wishes I could go back in time and do things differently. Maybe if I’d stayed in touch, or I don’t know…something.”
After a moment, Mackenzie says, “You should come to the anniversary slash double college graduation party at Happy Endings tonight with us. It’ll give us a chance to watch you with Owen, and we could let you know if you have a chance in hell with him. You’re probably too close to the situation to see things clearly.”
“You should come just to have fun with us,” Harper says. “Frankie will be there with Mom, so Owen can have a break from all his vigilance.”
“He’ll definitely be more relaxed at a family event,” Mackenzie says.
Hope sneaks in and wraps around my heart once more. “That sounds like a plan. Rafael graduated, right? Who else?”
“Michael,” Harper says. “Do you remember my aunt Mad’s sons? The fourMs?”
I smile. “Oh, yeah, Michael, the identical twins, and there was another one. Remind me of their names.”
“Mason, Michael, Maddox, and Miles,” Mackenzie says. “Maddox and Miles are the twins. I’d like to point out I was the firstM.”
“Aunt Mad was the firstM,” Harper says. “And the first Mackenzie was actually born two days before you.”
“Damn, you’re right. I’m not even the first Mackenzie in the family. I blame a lack of communication between brothers.”
“Huh?” I ask.
“My uncle Ty’s baby was born two days before me,” Mackenzie says. “They had to go to Louisiana to adopt her from the birth mom, and named her there. No one here knew the name until they returned a few days later, and by that time I was born and named Mackenzie too. My cousin goes by Kenzie.”
“That’s cute,” I say.
Mackenzie dips a piece of celery. “We have way too manyMnames in our family.”
“It was Aunt Mad’s way of naming four sons after herself,” Harper says. “I guess if she had a daughter, she would’ve named her Madison. Then she’d probably have to give her a cutesy nickname like Maddie so it wouldn’t be confused with Mad, and then poor Maddie would be stuck with a kiddy name instead of a badass name like Mad.”
“It’s like a dad named Dick naming his son Dick,” Mackenzie says. “Then you forever have Big Dick and Little Dick.”
We crack up.
“Poor Little Dick,” Harper gasps out.
Mackenzie holds up a palm. “I swear, true story. Mom had a client’s dad named Big Dick just recently. And his son was Little Dick, who was trying to get everyone to call him Richard instead.”
