Picking Up the Pieces (Pieces, #2)(110)

“Well, you’re welcome anytime,” my mom replied.

Joanne put her hand on Carly’s arm and gave her a loving squeeze. “It’s definitely nice to all get together like this. Ever since our youngest, Katie, has gone off to college, empty nest syndrome has set in. Since Carly’s the oldest, we keep telling her it’s time to settle down so we can get some little ones running around the house again.”

Carly shook her head, but I could tell she wasn’t as annoyed by her mother’s comment as she pretended to be.

I couldn’t help but laugh as I recalled the similar words my father had uttered not even an hour earlier. “They definitely grow up fast,” I said, feeling the need to add to the conversation. “I can’t believe Eva will be in high school next year.” I looked up at Carly, who was paying rapt attention to Eva’s reaction. “She’ll be the same age we were when we first met.”

“God, Dad, you’re so embarrassing.”

I shrugged as I lifted my drink to my lips. "What else is new?" I laughed before taking a sip.

Carly leaned closer to Eva. “That’s what dads do best.”

She glanced over at her own father, who simply shrugged. “Part of the job, I guess.”

“See,” Carly added. “They all do it.”

The rest of the dinner flowed easily with conversations about our jobs, Eva, and the random reality shows that Eva and Carly both watched. I was shocked to learn that Keeping Up with the Kardashians now apparently had two viewers.

When it was time for dessert, Carly offered to go inside and get the cake they’d brought with them from a local bakery. And I decided to be a helpful son and clear the table while the rest of them relaxed on the deck. Not surprisingly, it didn't take much convincing to keep Eva outside. She was content to catch up on her tweets while the adults talked.

“So,” I said when Carly and I were finally alone inside. “This was a . . . surprise.”

“Good surprise, or bad surprise?” she asked.

“Good,” I quickly assured her. “I just didn’t expect it. That’s all. When I first saw you, I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t sure what you had told them.”

She laughed, though I wasn’t sure why until she spoke. “Well, I almost told them what a good lay you were, but I didn’t want my mom to try to seduce you.” She shrugged. “It was a long walk up the street. It was hard to not fill the silence with such juicy details.”

A loud laugh escaped me and I nearly dropped the glass I was getting ready to put in the dishwasher. “Wait, your mom wouldn’t really try to seduce me, right?”

“Yes, Adam,” she laughed. “I’m kidding. You should’ve seen your face though. Priceless.”

I rubbed my face to hide the embarrassment I felt at my own credulity. “A good lay, huh?”

“Yup,” she answered, popping the P flirtatiously as she said it. “But I’m guessing you’re good at a lot of things.” She moved toward me, a seductive gleam in her eyes as she wrapped her arms around my neck, and I was momentarily stunned by how right they felt there. Then she planted a soft kiss on my lips that held just enough passion to make me want to throw her on the counter and take her right there in my parents’ kitchen.

Christ, Adam, get a grip.

“What are you thinking?” she asked when our kiss finally broke and she pulled back enough to look at me.

I gazed into her eyes and brushed her soft red hair away from her face. “I’m thinking this beats Brad Holbrook’s basement.”





Chapter 40: Lily


Losing Adam felt like just that: a loss. When he broke up with me, walked out my door, and effectively out of my life, I had been stunned. But once my senses had returned, I found that I wasn't angry. Because while there was the pain that comes with losing someone of importance to you, there was also a loss of the weight I had been shouldering for quite some time. We weren't right for each other. I knew that for sure now.

In reality, I was pretty sure I'd known that for a while. But it became clearest at Amanda's wedding. Adam and I just didn't have the spark they did. And even though Amanda told me not to compare the two relationships, it was impossible not to when one had things that were fundamentally necessary to lifelong happiness and the other didn't: unconditional love and acceptance. Everything between Adam and me was conditional. And I suddenly realized that we always had an expiration date. That we'd actually allowed things to go on long past when they should have.

And these were the thoughts that had plagued me for the three weeks following my breakup with Adam. During this time there'd been no contact between us. I had done a quick search of my apartment a few days after Adam left to see if I had any of his belongings that needed to be returned, but there was nothing. And I had nothing to collect at his house either. Other than a couple of pictures I had of the two of us, there was virtually no evidence that we'd ever even known each other, let alone dated. And as time passed, I became more and more sure that Adam had done the right thing by walking away. And I had done the right thing by not stopping him.

However, now I had nothing but time—time to think and obsess about what I wanted from life. I was driving myself crazy. When the soul-searching became too much, I often decided that CrossFit was the only way to escape from myself for a little while. That's what drew me to the gym on the Friday before school let out. I hadn't planned to go because I usually felt like a loser going to the gym on a Friday evening. But since that was what I felt like anyway, there was no real reason to keep up appearances of anything else.