“Did you know he was Hunter’s dad?”
“Yes,” Austin answered.
“No,” Dakota said.
“Well, he is. So, we went out last night—very briefly—because he got the call that Hunter was in surgery and left me before he’d barely picked me up. But I was already having second thoughts about the date, so I didn’t hear the reason and—”
“Whoa. Slow down.”
“Oh yeah, slow down. I need popcorn for this.”
I spun to face Austin and glared at him, although the effect was lost on my unflappable little cousin. He was almost as infuriating as Hunter. Had they taught each other this or banded together because of this commonality?Not the time.
Dakota frowned. “You still took Hunter’s dad out on a date? After you had that amazing, magical, special date with Hunter?”
“That was a date?”
“That you interrupted, yes.” I glanced at Austin again before turning back to Dakota. “Yes, but the date was already arranged before I agreed to Hunter’s. Then I got there, and yeah, it was magical and special and—”
“Alright, enough,” Austin said, making Dakota and I stop and turn to look at him. “Hunter made me swear to keep out of this, and up until now, I have, but you need to know something, Gia. Hunter has been in love with you for as long as I can remember. At first, I thought it was stupid and hilarious because he told me how he had this wet dream about you when he was fifteen after the first time you nursed him. But then, as we got older, he was always asking about you and tagging along to family events if I said you would be there. Always telling his parents his symptoms were worse than they were, so they brought him in to see you. He’s loved you for a long time.”
“Hunter used to come to family functions?” I asked incredulously, not even bothering to touch on that wet dream thing. I couldn’t.
“Sure, all the time. Not that you noticed him, but he noticed you. To an annoying degree. Sometimes I thought he was only my friend because he wanted to be close to you. Obviously, that’s not true, but at sixteen, I thought it was.”
“All this time?”
He nodded his head. “All this time.”
My eyes flicked to Dakota, who was far closer in age to Hunter and Austin.
She lifted her shoulders and dropped them, giving me a small smile. “So what if you’re older than him? If he loves you, makes you happy, takes care of you—does age matter?”
hunter
I hadn’t spokento Georgia since her awkward exit when my parents joined us. It didn’t take me long to figure out what was happening. At some point, she’d dated my dad—or was dating my dad. I didn’t know the specifics because, frankly, I didn’t want to, and what I did know was more than enough.
But she’d told me she loved me. And those words echoed in my mind despite everything else that happened. Except, I’d never gotten the chance to tell her I loved her back. And now I didn’t know if I ever would.
The door to the room opened, and sneakers squeaked on the linoleum floor, making me look over. There she was. Wasn’t she beautiful? “I thought you were avoiding me.”
“I took a few days off to process.”
“Cutting it close, they said they’re releasing me today.”
She nodded and stopped by my side, today’s scrub top clinging delightfully to her full breasts. But the most notable thing was its pattern—hearts. Was that purposeful?
My eyes flicked back to her face. “I’m glad you came by.”
“I knew I needed to.” She reached for the chair left behind by my mother and pulled it up, slipping into it. “I have some explaining to do.” She folded her hands in her lap, staring at them for a moment before finally looking up at me.
“You don’t. I’ve been thinking, and honestly, Gia, I don’t want to have to compete with my father.”
She exhaled, her entire body collapsing into itself like this was the last thing she wanted to hear.
The reaction surprised me, but it didn’t stall me, and I pushed through when she opened her mouth to speak. “But I will if I have to.”
“What?” Her head shot up as she stared at me in surprise.