I’ve had enough.
“I’m only in this shell because you’re refusing to let me crack it open.” I toss my napkin on the table, hating that I’m getting angry and walking away, but I can’t stay any longer and listen to them talk like this about me.
They don’t seem to understand that they are the problem.
I feel stuck and I’m tired of it. I’m only having a breakthrough with my music because of Aiden.
Now I have to prove them wrong.
Now, I just have to tell my make-believe fiancé that he’s going to be my date to my sister’s wedding.Chapter EightI have been waiting to get off my fishing trip for the last ten days. All I want to do is get back home, get cell service, and talk to Alice.
Of course, I’m terrified she forgot about me.
But I’m not plagued with that doubt too often.
Truth is, I don’t think she could have forgotten about me. What we shared was too real. It was one perfect fucking day.
One perfect day fucking.
I know she’ll call.
And she does. I’m in my truck driving to my parents’ house for family dinner when she calls. I pull over on the side of the road to answer the call.
“Hello?”
“Hello,” she answers breathlessly. Her voice is so soft over the phone that I can barely hear it.
“You sound surprised to hear me.”
“Part of me wondered if that whole day was a dream.”
“More like a fucking fantasy,” I tell her, looking at Chum who’s suddenly jumped closer to me, and barking. I put the phone on speaker to appease him.
“That Chum?” she asks warmly.
The sound of her voice settles him, and he curls back in his seat.
Her voice doesn’t calm me though.
It gives me a shock.
My body is immediately electrified. Pulsing with energy.
“Yeah. It’s Chum and me. We’re going to my parents’ for dinner. But, Alice, are you doing okay?” I ask. “I’ve missed you so fucking much.”
She pauses. A pause so long that I get scared something’s changed.
But when she speaks, I know nothing has. “I’ve been counting down the days until you got back from your trip,” she tells me. “I’ve been so anxious to hear your voice. I miss you, Aiden.”
“I can’t go to sleep at night without thinking about our time together,” I tell her. “About how fucking sweet you are.”
“The same is true for me,” she says. “Honestly, I can’t go to bed without...”
“Touching yourself when you think about me?” I tease.
I swear to God I can see her blushing through the phone.
“You can’t talk like that when Chum is present,” she jokes. But I know she means it too. She’s the same girl I met a few weeks ago. Innocent.
“Okay, so a safer topic, is that what you’re asking for?”
She laughs. “Yes, exactly. Tell me about this family dinner. Do your parents still live in the house you grew up in?”
“Yeah, same place. It’s on the water, gorgeous property.”
“Wow, waterfront? Sounds fancy,” she says.
“Well, Alaska fancy isn’t the same as mainland fancy,” I say this, but it isn’t really true. My parents have a beautiful estate, and it’s the largest home for hundreds of miles. “But we make up for it with my mom’s cooking. She knows her way around a kitchen.”
“That’s awesome. I don’t think I can make a grilled cheese sandwich without burning it.”
I love this woman’s honesty. She isn’t trying to prove anything to me, she is herself, through and through. “That’ll work out fine, I’m a pretty good cook myself.”
“So, you’re planning on cooking for me?”
“Sounds nice, doesn’t it? The two of us out on my boat deck, watching the sunset, eating whatever I caught that day.”
I hear her sigh through the phone. “That sounds so relaxing. I would give my left eye to do that with you right now.”
“Don’t need to poke out your eye to see me, Alice. I want to make plans to see you again, properly.”
“Well,” she says, her voice catching. “I was hoping we could make plans too.”
Relief floods over me. Good. I wasn’t just imaging that our connection is real. Alice is confirming it.
“Great. I know you have your audition, and I have some fishing trips lined up, but I can rearrange them. Did you have a certain time in mind you could get away?”
“Actually, I need you to come here. I have a big favor to ask. You don’t have to feel pressure to say yes or anything, I swear. I just...”
“Just what, baby?”
“I was wondering if...you would be my date. To my sister’s wedding.”
A grin spreads across my face.
“Really? You want to show me off to your family? You’re not scared of what they’ll think of me? Remember, I’m a big ass Alaskan man. Can they handle that?”
Alice laughs. “Honestly, I don’t care what they can handle right now. I’m furious with them.”