Maybe it’s been so long since I’ve been with a woman. Maybe I’m only reacting this way because we’re in such close proximity all the time.
That makes sense.
But then why does she make me feel like I’m the luckiest guy around when she smiles at me?
Twentyseven.
Evianna
The next couple weeks fly by. I’m busy with Bria because Nick is out of town, and we spend our time carving pumpkins and getting ready for Halloween, which seems to be a favorite holiday in the Wilder household. I volunteer to finish sewing Bria’s costume—Cecelia was working on it, but she sprained her wrist—and we get the house ready for the annual Wilder Halloween party.
I learn early on that this is the first year without Isabel, since Nick didn’t throw a party last year, for a good reason, so I feel obligated to make it the best one yet. I’m excited because we leave for Mexico in two weeks, and I spend a lot of my time trying not to think about being in paradise with Nick, especially after our game of Truth or Dare a couple weeks ago.
I still don’t know what to think about it all. I haven’t seen Nick very much since then. He’s been acting distant, and I’ve started to avoid him as a precaution. I mill his words around every single day, but it doesn’t seem to help. His answer—I have hope—was just cryptic enough for me to obsess over what it means. So I stop obsessing, and I focus on the exciting events ahead: the masquerade party and our trip to Mexico.
Two weeks after our game of Truth or Dare, Nick sends me an email saying he’ll be late to dinner at my parents’ house. We’d been trying to plan something with my family and Bria, and we’d been unsuccessful thus far, but tonight might actually work out.
Nick is returning home from a three-day business trip, and his flight is delayed. He insists that I take Bria to my parents’, and that he’ll meet us there shortly after. I pile Bria in my car (something I’ve gotten really good at, considering how small my car is) and we head over, talking about her Belle costume the whole way.
“You’re here!” my mom squeals as we walk in. Bria looks around. “Welcome, Bria!”
“Evi, thith ith where you grew up?”
“Yes, this is it!” I look around, and I realize it may seem somewhat unimpressive to a five-year-old like Bria, who lives in luxury. But she just smiles and walks around, taking everything in.
“Nice of you to bring her,” my mom whispers. “When will Nick be joining us?”
“Umm,” I answer, checking my phone. “He’s landing any minute. So it depends, but probably in an hour or so.”
I look around for Bria, and she’s talking to Elijah, who is seated on the couch, reading.
“What are you reading?” she asks shyly, and I notice that she blushes. Blushes! A five-year-old! I make a mental note to tell Nick.
“Lord of the Rings,” Elijah replies. “Ever read it?”
“Elijah, she’s five,” I say. He just shrugs his shoulders. “Bria, are you hungry?”
It’s weird having her here, in my territory. But at the same time, it’s kind of cool.
“No,” she replies, and she sits down next to Elijah. “Can you read it to me?”
Elijah shrugs again—his gesture of choice as an almost-thirteen-year-old—and begins to read out loud. I smile. Bria is such an open person, so accepting, and she genuinely likes people. I wish more adults were like her.
“Sweetie, do you want a drink?” my mother asks, and she ushers me into the dining room. “What does Nick like to drink?”
“Mom, he’ll have whatever I have. You don’t have to go all out.”
“Has anything… happened?”
I sigh. Because the truth is, nothing has ever really happened. I’m beginning to feel like it’s just some made-up, schoolgirl crush. I begin to question whether or not the game of Truth or Dare actually happened the way I remember it, or if I imagined it because I was feverish.