Life's Too Short (The Friend Zone #3)(58)

I stared for only a second before looking anywhere but at her.

She had no idea the power she had over me—and I don’t think even I realized it until tonight. It was almost comical, Gerald declaring they had a lawyer in the family—because they did. I’d do anything she needed. She’d wrapped me around her little finger without even trying.

I’d had clients go to prison for doing something stupid at the behest of some woman and I always shook my head at their gullibility. But now I understood it. I had a feeling Vanessa could call me and ask me to help her move a body and I’d show up five minutes later with rubber gloves and bleach.

I cleared my throat. “I should go.”

I grabbed my jacket and let myself out before I said, or worse, did, something stupid.

At midnight I lay in my own bed, a foot away from where she was probably lying in hers. It was officially her birthday. I sent her a text I’d had ready all day. A picture of a salted caramel Nadia Cakes torte that I’d gotten her with a candle in it and a text that read “Hey girl, you up?”

I heard her laugh through the wall.

She texted me, “Fuck yeah, I’m up. Come over.”

I sat up and stared at the plaster and brick between us. I wanted to come over. I wanted her to really want me to. And not for a sleepover either.

I replied with a laughing emoji. Then I rolled over and spent the next hour tossing and turning, missing her, trying to fall asleep in the wrong bed.





CHAPTER 16





I SHOWED UP TO MY BIRTHDAY PARTY AND YOU’LL NEVER GUESS WHO WAS THERE!




VANESSA

I spent the morning of my birthday with Dad and Brent. Another Nar-Anon meeting and then out to eat. A meeting wasn’t really my idea of a good time, but I wasn’t above using my birthday as leverage to make them go. Adrian watched Grace.

He’d wanted to come out with us.

First he offered to make me breakfast. Then when I told him where I was going, he asked me if I wanted him to take me. I said no. There was only so much bullshit I could in good conscience allow him to endure. Dad twice in less than twelve hours, a Nar-Anon meeting, and Perkins would probably be the end of this friendship.

I’d gotten back around 11:00 a.m., but Adrian told me he’d keep Grace so I could have a few hours of alone time. He always watched Grace for me while I showered, but I never drew it out. I didn’t want to take advantage. A few hours of alone time was probably the best birthday gift I’d ever gotten. I was so freaking excited. I was going to take the world’s longest bubble bath.

On top of this, I’d come home to flowers in my apartment. He’d cleaned too. There were vacuum lines on the carpet. He’d made my bed and done all the dishes. He’d even cleaned the bathroom.

I can’t tell you the strength it took to keep me from running back to his apartment and tearing off his clothes.

Last night I’d asked him to stay over—I wasn’t planning anything scandalous, but if he’d initiated something scandalous, I wasn’t gonna say no. Instead he’d politely declined before fleeing back to his place as quickly as humanly possible. Then he’d texted me at midnight with a picture of a cake and I’d told him to come over. I wasn’t kidding.

He’d sent me a laughing emoji.

It was fucking depressing. I was falling in love with a man who was totally uninterested, because of course I was.

I took my bath and a long nap. Then I got ready and met Adrian at his apartment at 6:00. He’d enlisted Becky to watch Harry Puppins and Grace over at his place while he took me out for my birthday tonight. He assured me Becky was perfectly capable and had plenty of babysitting experience. I think she would have assured me too, but she still couldn’t speak around me.

Adrian drove us to Summit Avenue, an upscale neighborhood in St. Paul. The street was peppered with historic mansions, the residences of the railroad magnates and lumber barons of the 1800s. We pulled up to an enormous house, built in 1881 according to the historic landmark plaque on the front.

“Where are we?” I asked, peering up through the windshield as he pulled the car into the driveway.

He was grinning. “I’m not going to ruin it.”

The door was open, and Adrian let himself in. Unfamiliar voices drifted into the foyer from an adjoining room. The house smelled like something incredible was cooking.

Adrian set my birthday cake down on the credenza and helped me out of my jacket and hung it up. “Hello,” he called, shrugging out of his own coat. “We’re here.”

The first person to clear the corner was the last person I’d expected. It was Malcolm. And he was filming.

“Happy birthday, Vanessa!” he said from behind his lens.

I laughed. “Oh my God. What is going on?”

“I hope you don’t mind that I called him,” Adrian said. “I know you’re having trouble getting content for your channel, and I figured tonight might be video worthy. I got permission from everyone here. You don’t have to use the footage unless you want to. It’s up to you.”

A second later I understood why he thought I might want it.

A woman came around the corner to greet us.

It was Sloan Monroe.

I actually shrieked.

“Hi!” She gave me a warm hug. “Happy birthday! It’s so nice to meet you.”