The Beauty of Us (Fusion #4)

“Well, I think you’ll figure it out together,” Nana says with a reassuring smile. “If it’s meant to be, it’ll be just fine.”

“Right.” I nod and change the subject. “Are you going down to play dominoes tonight?”

“Of course, darling, I’m the president,” she says with a toothy smile. When I was a kid, she’d take out her teeth and make me laugh. Thankfully, she keeps them in these days. “You should come with me.”

“Oh, I can’t stay all evening.”

“It starts at four o’clock,” she says.

“That’s in half an hour.”

“Yes, so you should just stay and go with me.”

“Okay.” I frown. “Why is it so early in the day? It says on your calendar that it’s ‘Domino Night.’”

“Riley, four o’clock is nighttime for many of the people here, the old geezers. If they’re not in bed by seven, they think the sky is going to fall.”

I stifle a laugh. “I’m sure it’s not that bad.”

“You’ll see for yourself.” She rolls her eyes, as if she just can’t believe that the others would want to go to bed so early. Nana has always been so young at heart. She never wants to stop learning and doing, and I love that about her.

We clean our tea mess, and gather our things to go down to the community room, where the tables and chairs are already set up. Each table has four chairs, and a box of dominoes sitting in the middle. In the rear of the room is a long table set up with some snacks and drinks.

“You go all out,” I comment, and follow her to the heart of the room, where she sets down her things and nods as she looks around.

“They did a good job of setting up,” Nana replies. “If you would like to play, I can kick someone out of our table.”

“No.” I shake my head. “I’ll grab a snack and a drink and pull up a chair and watch you and your friends.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course.”

People have started to filter in, claiming their seats and gathering refreshments, and before I know it, the room is full of laughter, chatter, and some pretty enthusiastic domino playing.

Of course, Nana has three men with her at her table.

“So, beauty runs in the family,” the man to my right says. I’ve already forgotten their names. All I see is one man with the bushiest eyebrows in the history of eyebrows, one with a handlebar mustache, and one with a ponytail. It’s Mr. Ponytail who’s commenting on our gene pool.

“Nana was always beautiful,” I reply with a smile just as my phone rings. “Hi, Trevor.”

Nana smiles, her eyes lighting up like it’s Christmas morning.

“Hello, beautiful. How did your visit with your nana go?”

“Great. In fact, it’s still going.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to interrupt,” he says, and before he can say good-bye, Nana taps me on the arm.

“Have him come join us,” she says with an encouraging nod.

“Was that her?” he asks.

“That’s her. Do you want to come play some dominoes?” I bite my lip, fully expecting him to say no thanks, but he shocks the hell out of me.

“Absolutely. Where am I going?”

I relay the address, name of the retirement community, and give him directions, then hang up.

“He’ll be here in about thirty minutes.”

“Well, I’ll miss him,” Mr. Handlebar Mustache says. “It’s getting pretty late for me.”

I glance down at my phone, see that it’s just shy of six o’clock, and share a smile with Nana.

“Me too,” Mr. Colossal Eyebrows says.

“Well, that means that you and your gentleman caller can play with Pete and me,” Nana says with a wink.

And I was mistaken. Trevor comes sauntering in just fifteen minutes later, looking sexier than fuck in a leather jacket, his jeans, and those hot glasses.

“Hello,” Nana whispers, then stands to shake Trevor’s hand. “I’m Riley’s nana, Dolores.”

“I don’t believe that,” Trevor replies with a charming smile. “You have to be her mother.”

“That charm will get you everywhere,” she replies, and motions for him to join us. Before he does, he leans in to kiss my cheek.

“Hi,” he whispers in my ear, sending the butterflies in my stomach into a tizzy.

“Welcome,” I reply. “This is Pete.”

The men shake hands and we begin to play. I haven’t played this game since I was a kid, so it takes me a little while to remember all of the rules.

By the end of the first game, Trevor has killed us all.

“He’s a domino shark,” Nana says with a wink. “If I was forty years younger, I’d give Riley a run for her money with you, Trevor.”

“Don’t tease me now, Miss Dolores,” Trevor replies with a grin. “I have a feeling I’d fall right in love with you.”

“Of course you would.” Her smile is smug and her blue eyes are shining in happiness. Watching the man I’m interested in flirt with my nana is just . . . funny.

Trevor’s phone is sitting between him and me, and it suddenly lights up with a notification of a Facebook message from someone named Angie.

He glances down at it, frowns, then flips the phone over, facedown, and continues playing dominoes.

“You’re not going to check that?” I ask him.

“No, she’s just a gamer friend. It’s nothing important.” He kisses my cheek and resumes talking with Pete, and my butterflies have all decided to sleep. I’m not typically a jealous woman. But I had no idea that he gamed with women. I just assumed they were all guys.

Sexist of me? Perhaps.

I don’t like it.

But rather than confront him and act like a crazy person, I set it aside for tonight and enjoy the banter between Nana and Trevor, and the way he rests his hand on my thigh under the table.



“I need your advice,” I say to Addie the next day. We’re in our office, and we’re the first to arrive today. Trevor stayed with me last night, but he had a phone conference this morning, so we took our own cars to work.

Which is fine with me because I need to pick Addie’s brain.

“Yes, you should have sex with Trevor,” she replies, and rolls her eyes. “I mean, get it on already.”

“We’re already doing that,” I reply. “But something weird happened last night.”

I tell her about Trevor receiving the message from Angie and his response to it.

“What would you do if it was Jake?”

“I’d demand to know who the fuck Angie is,” Addie says. “But we’re married, and I already know all of his friends.”

“I’m being serious.”

“So am I.” She sits back in her chair and taps her pen against her lips, her eyes narrowed in thought. “He’s never mentioned her before?”

“No, but he never said there weren’t women who he gamed with either.”

“Is it weird that I’m surprised that there are women who play video games as intently as men?”

“No, I thought it was unusual too, and then I felt like a sexist.”

“Me too,” she says with a laugh. “Okay. The important thing is, you don’t have any reason to not trust Trevor. Right?”