A Guide to Being Just Friends(54)

“Do you know someone famous, Auntie Hailey?” Cassie, one of Piper’s eight-year-old twins, asked. She’d followed on her dad’s heels. Her bright-red hair was up in two ponytails and she wore an apron.

“Not anymore. I used to,” Hailey said, tapping Cassie on the nose, then sneaking another cookie to share with her.

“No more, or we won’t have any to decorate,” Piper said, her stern mama voice wavering.

“I don’t want to decorate cookies,” Alyssa, the other twin, said, coming in from the other side of the kitchen. She wore an outfit nearly identical to Nick’s. Her red hair had been cropped to her shoulders. It was equally adorable.

Jason, their six-year-old son, who actually had Nick’s dark brown hair, followed behind. “I do. I want to make mine look like Iron Man.”

Nick scooped him up. “You want to make gingerbread look like Iron Man?”

Jason squeezed his father’s cheeks together, nodding seriously.

Nick smiled at Piper in a way that made Hailey’s heart muscles stretch too tight. “We’ve done everything right.”

Piper laughed. “Alyssa, if you don’t want to decorate, you don’t have to.”

“I’ll decorate yours,” Cassie said.

Alyssa shrugged, happy to let her twin do the work. “Can I play Animal Crossing?”

“Nope,” both of her parents said in tandem.

Hailey hid her smile. She loved being around their family whether it was low-key and sweet like this or high-energy and chaotic like one of the kids’ school events.

“Who came into the store?” Nick asked again, setting Jason on his feet.

“No one. Just a woman who wanted to order some lunches for her company.” Hailey hoped that would be the end of it.

She’d mentioned Wes’s date tonight in passing, but of course Piper wanted to dig deeper, pull out her feelings on the issue. She didn’t have any. Lies. You have too many. It was fine. What did she care? It had felt weird at the time but everything was normal. As it had been before Ana showed up. Except that he was on a date with her tonight instead of reminding Hailey what she needed for groceries.

Nick looked back and forth between Hailey and his wife. “Guys, go wash up in the bathroom if you want to decorate. Alyssa, you too. Even if you aren’t doing cookies.”

The kids groaned but took off down the hall. Nick put an arm around Piper, kissing her neck. Hailey’s heart spasmed again. Sharply. Just because she missed that particular feeling didn’t mean she was upset about Wes being on a date.

“Did you ask her?”

Hailey groaned. “No. She did not. What?”

Piper frowned. “Hey. Why did you say it like that? It’s a good thing. There’s someone Nick wants you to meet.”

“Let me think about it,” Hailey said, tapping her index finger on her chin. “I think I’ll pass.”

Nick laughed. “That’s not how I would have phrased it but, told you.”

“You can’t just pass.” Piper put her hands on her hips.

“I think I just did.” Hailey grabbed some food coloring, mixed it into one of the little bowls Piper had set out for icing. “I don’t want a date.”

“No. But you do need to meet Nick’s friend because he asked us to come to Finnegan’s with him. He works with Nick and is friends with the head chef. He jokingly asked Nick if he knew any women as pretty as me. Nick immediately thought of you.” Piper leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his waist.

His came around her automatically. Like a needle into a groove, they fit. That’s all Hailey had wanted back in the days when she’d thought there was someone for her, out there in the universe. It wasn’t that she didn’t think that anymore. She just didn’t need it the way she was once so sure she did. The world didn’t stop spinning when she split with Dorian. She got up every day, survived until she could live. Before Dorian, she’d been equally sure every guy was the one. It took her time—and none of Piper’s analysis— to realize the loneliness of her childhood made her a needier adult than she wanted to be.

Now, she was happy. Really happy. Just because Wes switched plans on what she considered their night didn’t mean there was a scratch on her own record.

Finnegan’s was a new restaurant that had a waiting list as long as Hailey’s torso. It was supposed to be incredible, the new “it” place outside of L.A.

“Did you tell him it would be a date?” She grabbed the green food coloring.

“No. But I did tell him you were great and would love the restaurant. There’s no pressure. If you and Seth hit it off, great. If not, no big deal.” Nick’s version sounded better.

Hailey arched her brows. “I can get my own dates, you know.”

“I do. I also know you and your cousin, who I love dearly, are absolute sweethearts most of the time but have tempers I’d rather not toy with. I like my balls where they are.”

As Piper and Hailey laughed, Jason pulled on his dad’s wrist. “Where did you put your balls, dad?”

The adults laughed but Jason looked expectantly at his father. “Right where I left them, buddy.”

The girls joined them and they spread out around the island countertop, each of them sharing the colored icings, passing the sprinkles and other toppings. Alyssa seemed to have forgotten she didn’t want to participate.