“Please tell us you have some embarrassing stories,” JP says as he takes a seat across from me on a lounger. Breaker joins him.
I glance over at the patio, where Huxley is in deep conversation with Jeff and my mom. Kelsey left a while ago because she claimed she had another engagement, but I saw right through her. She was avoiding JP and his flirtation. Frankly, I was enjoying the show, but Kelsey could only take so much.
Hunkering down with the boys, I say, “I’m not sure the man is capable of doing anything embarrassing.”
“Obviously he’s been able to hold it together so far in front of you. Trust me when I say, the man can embarrass himself.”
“Oh yeah? Why don’t you delight me with a story?”
Breaker and JP exchange glances. “Did he mention the time he did a presentation at NYU about entrepreneurship, and the entire time, his fly was undone?”
“What?” I laugh out loud. “No, he didn’t.”
Breaker nods. “He did. At the end of his presentation, one of the dickhead college kids asked him if he was hot.”
“Oh God.” I clamp my hand over my mouth, giggling.
“Of course, Huxley was confused and answered no and asked why. Then the kid said because he didn’t know why else his fly would be undone unless it was for a cross-breeze.”
I burst out in laughter and draw Huxley’s attention away from his conversation. He eyes his brothers suspiciously, and there’s no doubt he knows what his brothers are doing.
“What did he do?” I ask.
Breaker rubs his hand over his jaw, something I’ve noticed Huxley does as well. “He of course was humiliated. Zipped up his pants, cleared his throat, and then thanked everyone for their time before bolting. Bro was an epic dick for days after, blamed us for sending him out there unzipped.”
“What?” I ask.
JP presses his hand to his chest. “Exactly. Explain to us how that’s our fault. Are we supposed to hover over him like a helicopter mom?” JP shakes his head. “No, not our job. Be an adult man and zip up your pants.”
“Now, before we go into any meeting, we always whisper to Huxley to check his fly.”
“Stop. Do you really?” I chuckle.
Breaker nods. “Yeah, he hates us so much for it, but to hell if we’re going to be blamed again for his mistake.”
“You’re protecting yourself,” I say.
“Exactly,” Breaker says to JP. “She gets it.”
“She gets what?” Huxley asks, joining us, my mom and Jeff at his side.
“Nothing,” JP says. “This is between us. Nothing you need to concern yourself about.”
“If you’re talking to my girl, I’m concerned,” Huxley responds, which of course makes me all weak in the knees because of the possessive tone he uses.
“Ooo, I like this side of him,” JP says. He stands and slaps his brother on the shoulder. “As much as I love talking to your fiancée about your embarrassing moments, I need to head out.”
“Me too,” Breaker says.
“We’re headed out as well,” Jeff says. “We came over to say bye.”
I stand and give Jeff and my mom a hug, making sure to squeeze them extra tight. It was good seeing them again. I’ve been so wrapped up in my hectic life that I’ve missed spending time with them. Hopefully things are slowing down now, though, so we can plan more things like this.
Together, as a group, we head to the front door, where we all exchange hugs, thank-yous and goodbyes. Once the door is shut, Huxley turns toward me and asks, “What did they say to you?”
I chuckle and head into the kitchen to start cleaning up. “Afraid they said something that would deter me away from you?”
“Yes.”
“It’s going to take a lot more than a story about your fly being down to tear me away.”
He groans and leans against the counter. “They didn’t.”
I pin him with a look. “Was it for the cross-breeze?”
The look in his eyes is absolutely murderous, and it just makes me laugh even more.
“You’re no longer allowed to talk to them.”
“Such a shame,” I say. “We got along very well.” Since we already took care of the food earlier, I just stick the dishes in the dishwasher and then turn toward Huxley. “I’d love to talk to them more. They seem really grounded.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you would.” When I close the dishwasher, he comes up to me and tugs on my hand, pulling me in close. “Did you have fun today?”
“I did.” I smooth my hand up his chest. “But I do have to ask you something.”
“What’s that?”
“That phone call you made—”
“It’s not a big deal, Lottie.” He starts to move away, but I stop him.
“It’s a big deal to me. I’m not sure you realize this, but you made Jeff’s year. He works so hard on our front yard, and to be recognized like that, it means everything to him.” I force Huxley to look at me. “When did you make the phone call?”
“Why does it matter?”
“Because it does. When did you make it?”
He lets out a deep sigh. “I don’t know, like four weeks ago.”
“Four weeks ago?” I ask, astonished. “As in, right after we met?”
He pulls on his neck. “Yeah, probably around then. But like I said, it doesn’t matter.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” I say, reaching up to him and gripping his cheek. “Huxley, you did this out of the kindness of your heart, because you knew it meant a lot to someone else. Not many people would stop to do something like that.”
“We don’t have to make a big deal out of this.”
I pause and observe him. The fidgetiness of his body. The inability to look me in the eyes. “You don’t accept compliments very well, do you?”
“I don’t think it’s necessary to make a big deal out of something that, in the grand scheme of things, was small on my end.”
“But it wasn’t small,” I counter. “It wasn’t small at all. You made Jeff, a man so special to me, happy. You truly made his year, Huxley. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for that.”
He grips my hips and leans forward, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “If you’re happy, then I’m happy.”
He takes my hand and guides me up the stairs to his bedroom. The entire way, I keep thinking about how things have changed, and so quickly. We went from being at each other’s throats with insults to not wanting to let each other go. Kelsey was right—there really is a fine line between love and hate, and we crossed over it.
“I don’t feel comfortable with this,” I say as we wait for Dave and Ellie to show up. “We need to tell them.”
Huxley looks just as uncomfortable as I feel. “I know, but I don’t know how to fucking do it. I still haven’t secured the deal, because he keeps cancelling on me.”
We’re waiting outside a tall brick building for a newborn class. Dave asked if we wanted to join them, and of course, Huxley—still on his quest to secure Dave’s properties—said yes. But now that we’re here, it doesn’t feel right at all, especially since we’re actually together now.
“What do you think he’d do if he actually knew the pregnancy thing wasn’t true?”
“I don’t know,” Huxley says, looking out toward the street. “I’m pretty sure he’d never do business with me, because I lied. And my worst fear would be the news getting out to everyone around us, all the people I work with. It could be absolutely disastrous.”
“Yeah, I can’t imagine people wanting to do business with you after you’ve claimed a fake fiancée and child all in one day.”
“Doesn’t bode well for me.”
I nudge him with my shoulder. “I know I’ve said it before, but it was a pretty idiotic move.”
He chuckles, pulls me closer against his chest, and kisses me on the top of the head. “Yes, you’ve made that statement before.”
“Hey, you guys, over here,” we hear Dave say from behind us. Together, we turn around to find Dave and Ellie wearing jeans and matching white button-up tops, walking toward us with their arms wrapped around each other’s waists. They are something else.
Huxley lifts his hand in a wave and then quietly says to me, “I’ll figure out a way to make this better, I promise. Let’s just get through today.”