Page 191 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
“A rebound?” Mandy asked. Now she was the one who was confused. “Why would he be a rebound? It’s been a year since Brad broke up with you. I think you’re past the rebound window.”
“I know,” I sighed. “I think I’m just mentally psyching myself out.”
“I think so, too,” Mandy said. “And you better stop it. Cayden seems like a great guy. You don’t need Brad ruining this for you. Brad isn’t even in Miami anymore. Stop letting him interfere with your life.”
I knew the words that were coming out of her mouth were the truth, but it still wasn’t easy to move on from Brad. Honestly, I wasn’t sure that I would ever be over Brad. First loves had a tendency of lingering longer than they should.
As our cookie making went on, I began to drink more and more wine. Eventually, my curiosity got the best of me and I began to type Brad’s name into my phone’s Facebook search. The last time I checked, his profile picture was a picture of him and Jessica at their gym. My mind just needed to see them together again to really drive home the fact that he had moved on.
To my surprise, his profile picture came up and it was only him. He looked great. Somehow, he had gotten even more attractive since we broke up. He was shirtless on the beach. His white teeth sparkled against his tan skin. My heart skipped a beat. If everything hadn’t gone south, he would have been my husband by now.
“What are you doing?” Mandy came up behind me. She wasn’t stupid. She knew what I was doing. I was caught red-handed. I turned off my phone and looked at her sheepishly.
“I just need to get over him, don’t I?” I asked, even though we both knew the answer. She nodded. I finished my glass of wine and began to help Mandy clean up. The last batch of cookies were in the oven. Our apartment smelled wonderful.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. I looked at Mandy and she looked at me. Neither of us were expecting anyone.
“I’ll get it,” I said, wiping my hands on a dish towel. I walked toward the door, wondering who was coming over this late in the evening. I opened it up and was shocked to see Cayden standing there.
“Hey, beautiful,” he said. He stepped forward and kissed me softly.
“What are you doing here?” I asked. We hadn’t made any plans to see each other tonight. To be honest, we were both so busy at work that we had barely talked after my promotion meeting.
“Austin is at my mom’s tonight and I thought I would stop by and surprise you. Is that okay?” he asked. I nodded, although I wasn’t sure if I was okay with it, especially after the Brad thoughts that had been dancing through my mind all night.
“Are you guys baking in there?” Cayden asked. I realized that I hadn’t invited him in yet.
“Yes,” I said, opening the door wider. “Come in.”
He walked in the door and smiled.
“It smells like Christmas cookies in here,” Cayden said. Mandy peeked her head out of the kitchen.
“Hi, Cayden,” she said. “I’m Mandy!”
“Hey, Mandy,” Cayden said, taking off his shoes. We walked further into the apartment.
“We were having a girls’ night,” I explained. “We were making cookies and drinking some wine.”
“I really didn’t mean to interrupt,” he said. “I can go. I just wanted to stop by and say hello.”
“It’s fine,” Mandy said. “I was actually on my way out.”
She walked past us and grabbed her keys from the key holder. I knew she was lying. She had nowhere to go. She just wanted to leave us alone. Before I could protest, she was on her way out the door.
“Well,” I said, “I guess girls’ night is over.”
Cayden and I walked toward the kitchen, where I picked up my wine glass. Since I was caught off guard, I was suddenly nervous. I hadn’t expected to see him tonight. I had planned on putting on my pajamas, drinking wine, and passing out in my bed alone.
“Those cookies smell delicious,” Cayden said. I took a sip of wine and set my glass down. I went over to the cooling rack and grabbed a cookie, then walked toward him.
“Open up,” I said. He did as he was told, and I put some of the cookie in his mouth. He chewed it and smiled, then leaned over and kissed me. I could taste the cookie crumbs on his lips.
“These cookies are fantastic,” he said. “Did you make those from scratch?”
“Mandy did,” I laughed. “She made them, and I drank wine.”
It was now Cayden’s turn to laugh.
