The Bromance Book Club (Bromance Book Club, #1)(61)

Not if he could help it.

Last night had been a turning point for them. He could feel it. She’d revealed some things to him that she’d never told him before. She’d danced with him. Kissed him.

The guys were right. He needed to be patient. But Liv was right too. The calendar was not his friend, and her news about getting into Vanderbilt was a new plot twist he needed to figure out.

It was time to get serious.

Gavin hammered out a text message to the guys. Emergency meeting tonight. My house.



* * *



? ? ?

    After dropping the girls off at school, Thea ran home to quickly shower and dress. Gavin, thankfully, was gone for his morning training session. She couldn’t handle any private conversations with him. Not after the way he’d looked at her this morning. Not after that sweet little kiss and all it implied.

Liv was right. She was caving. From a couple of tender kisses and one thoughtful date and— Thea shook her head. The email from Vanderbilt had arrived at the perfect time. He’d been spinning cobwebs in her brain, but getting notice from Vandy was like a sweep of the clarity broom.

She had too much to do, like drop off the paperwork that had been requested in her acceptance email, register for classes, and stop at the bookstore. A lot of it could have waited until later, but she’d been waiting almost four years to go back to school. She was tired of waiting.

The Vanderbilt campus was a half-hour drive from Franklin. Thea found a metered spot across from the administration building, poured a handful of quarters into it, and went inside. The admissions office was on the third floor. A secretary with cat-eye glasses gave her a quizzical look when Thea handed her the paperwork.

“You know, you can do all this online,” the woman said.

Thea shrugged. “I know. But I wanted to come in.”

She’d missed this. Missed the vibe of a college campus. Missed the creative rebellion of the arts and theater majors, the bleary-eyed straggle of all-night studiers, the sardonic wit of cocky professors. Thea had never felt more like herself than she had when she was in school.

After visiting the administration building, Thea popped into the on-campus bookstore. On a whim, she bought a couple of Vanderbilt T-shirts for the girls.

Shit. The girls. Thea dug out her phone to check the time. She was going to be late picking them up. Unless Gavin did it.

Thea hesitated but sent him a text to see if he’d get the girls from school, because Thea was going to go straight to Alexis’s café. Gavin responded quickly that he would and then asked how things were going on campus. She ignored the question and simply replied that she’d be home by ten.

Thea grabbed a sandwich at an on-campus deli and then returned to her car. The drive to Alexis’s café took forty minutes in the afternoon traffic. She pulled into the row of parking spaces behind Alexis’s building, where a door had been propped open.

Thea poked her head in. “Hello?”

Hearing nothing, she slipped inside and tried again. Still nothing. The kitchen was full of boxes and piles of bubble wrap, with shiny pots and pans hanging from a row of hooks above a new range.

“Liv? You guys here?” Thea dodged boxes as she walked through the kitchen. A swinging door led to what Thea assumed was the café area beyond. She pushed open the door and . . .

“Surprise!”

Thea squeaked and slapped a hand over her heart. Liv and Alexis stood in the center of the café by the one and only table that wasn’t covered with boxes and stacks of dishes waiting to be put away. Instead, it bore a bottle of champagne, three flutes, and a massive card that read “Congratulations.”

“What is this?” Thea laughed.

“I told you we were going to celebrate!” Liv said. “Surprise!”

Alexis grinned. “Liv told me your good news. That’s so awesome. And it’s perfect timing, actually.”

She and Liv shared a glance.

Thea walked in farther. “Perfect timing for . . .”

“Well,” Alexis said, drawing out the word. “I have some super-plain walls that are in desperate need of artwork. I was just thinking that it would be awesome to be able to show some original pieces from a local artist.”

Thea stopped and stared. Liv rolled he eyes. “She means you, Thea.”

“You want me to hang some of my pieces here?”

“Are you willing? I want to regularly showcase local artists, give them a space where they can sell their work.”

Thea almost pinched herself. In the span of one day, she’d been accepted back into art school and been handed a chance to showcase her work. She didn’t believe much in signs, but this felt like one.

Thea surveyed the café. “So what do we do first?”

Liv walked closer and shoved a glass of champagne in her hand. “First, we toast.”

Thea accepted the champagne.

Liv raised her glass. “To new beginnings.”

Thea matched Liv’s pose. “New beginnings.”

But when the champagne touched her tongue, the bubbly and the sentiment left a sour aftertaste.





CHAPTER SEVENTEEN




“Can we get down to business, please?”

Gavin opened a beer and plopped onto the couch with as much dignity as any grown man could muster while wearing a red feather boa and reindeer antlers. Ava, Amelia, and Jo-Jo had demanded the men play dress-up with them before settling down in the girls’ bedroom with a movie while the men “worked on the wall.” But the choice of The Little Mermaid had sparked a debate back downstairs, and now things had gone off the rails.