Page 74 of Lovestruck at Sundown
Zara:I’ll be there at 6.
Me:*smiley face* See you soon.
Bribing Zara with her favorite food to corner her into accepting my invitation wasn’t something I felt proud of, but it worked nonetheless, and that’s the only thing that mattered. She was evidently hesitating to come and trying to let me down easy with the excuse of having other plans. But I genuinely cared about improving our relationship, and I knew it was something that would make William very happy.
Setting my phone on the counter, I stood and braced my hands on the white marble and leaned in to say, “So … my boyfriend’s sister, who hates my guts but loves fish and chips, is coming over for dinner in the hopes of hashing out our differences.” I stopped to take a deep breath. “You better deliver and make her love me.”
“Ohhhhh.” She clapped once and rubbed her hands. “Darling, she is going toworshipyou. But wait … did you say,sister? I wasn’t aware that William had any sisters.”
“I … yeah.” Shit. I didn’t think twice before blurting that out. “This information is not available to the general public, but Zara is William’s half-sister and my ex’s half-sister as well. So you can imagine why she hates me since I broke up with her brother because I realized I loved her other brother when the other brother didn’t even know she had any half-siblings yet.”
Moira’s jaw dropped along with her knife, giving me her undivided attention. “Girl, I’m not sure I follow you, but this is intense.”
“Please don’t tell anyone because I know it will be announced someday, but I’m not sure when yet.” I joined my hands inprayer. “But I feel like William trusts you and won’t have any issues with you knowing. I’ll let him know I told you anyway.”
“Damn it.” Moira grabbed a bowl and began cracking eggs to make the batter while she waited for the broth to boil. “I was planning to call my Talk Magazine contact and give them the juicy details since I could use the extra cash for the move.” She laughed, and I did too. “I’m kidding. Secret’s safe with me.”
“So you’ll make her love me with your magic beer batter, right?” I stared at her with determination.
“Oh, pff, yeah.” She waved an unworried hand in front of her. “As easy a task as any. Today will be the happiest day of her life.”
Nina returned and deflated on one of the stools, looking worried and upset.
“What happened?” I was growing concerned when she didn’t reply right away. “Is CJ okay?”
“More than okay.” She rolled her eyes. “He wants me to move out so David can move in.”
“They’re moving in together?” I beamed and baby-clapped in front of my face. That was such exciting news, and I was elated for them. I knew things were going well between them from what CJ told me when I talked to him, which wasn’t as often as I liked, and from the three sentences I would pull out from Aaron whenever I asked him about them. I knew him and David were still in touch.
“Which makes me homeless.”
“Come live with me,” I said impulsively.
“What? No, Billie. I can’t come between you and William’s honeymoon phase dynamic here.” She pulled on the elastic hairband, letting her hair fall on her shoulders, and redid her messy bun. “What am I going to do?” She emitted a small, mock-sobbing sound, expressing her frustration about the situation.
“Stop!” I rubbed Nina’s back soothingly. “Look at me.” Shedid. “Seriously. I have a spare room. My apartment is huge, and William travels a lot. He’ll be happy to know one of my best friends will always be here to keep me company.”
“I’m one of your best friends?” Nina batted her long, dark lashes at me.
“Duh.”
She hugged me. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” She held me at arm’s length and stared into my eyes. “I promise this won’t be forever. But you know how hard it is to find a good place to live here, and everything’s crazy expensive, and wait … you need to talk to William first. It’s his apartment now, and you’re paying rent, so I want to pay rent, too.”
I parted my mouth to say she shouldn’t worry about it. I knew how hard it was to get William on board with me paying rent, so I assumed it would be an issue if Nina and I offered to pay more than we initially agreed upon.
“Promise me you’ll talk to him first.”
“I promise.” I’d ask him next time I talked to him. “But feel free to move in whenever you want. I swear it’s not going to be a problem.”
Oddly enough, as much as I valued my alone time, Nina and I had become closer since the summer, so I was excited about her moving in with me.
“I guess I should start packing then.” Nina hugged me again. “CJ said there was no rush, but I’m sure he’ll be secretly ecstatic to know I’ll be vacating his apartment soon.”
“Zara is coming over for dinner tonight.” I grimaced. “But I can stop by to help you pack tomorrow.”
“Wait, Zara?” Nina widened her gaze at me. “William’s sister Zara?”
“Do we know any other Zaras?” I smiled. “Besides, you know her waaaay better than I do,” I teased.
