When I'm with You (Hope Town #3)(12)

“Who else is coming? And what are we doing?” I ask, picking at some of the dog hair and lint on my leggings.

“Everyone,” she responds but doesn’t elaborate and doesn’t answer my other question. That could mean so many things, but since I sadly don’t have many friends outside of Nikki and the close-knit group of kids that make up our ‘family,’ I figure everyone isn’t that big of a bunch. I know it’s pointless to try to get my stubborn sister to spill the beans when she clearly doesn’t want me to know the plans, so I just let it go.

“Sounds like a blast.” I dryly sigh.

“Yup. I also heard from Dani that Nate’s new club is opening this weekend. I can’t wait to check it out! He hasn’t said much, but just by the hype he’s gaining on social media alone, it’s supposed to be a club like no other.”

At the mention of Nate, my throat closes and I forget about the lint picking.

Of course, she doesn’t understand that Nate is the main reason I’ve been skipping our monthly family dinners at the Reid house, a tradition started before I was even born. No one knows that he’s the reason I’ve backed away and now spend so much time focusing on my paintings that I eat, sleep, and breathe brushstrokes.

And humiliatingly enough, not even Nate seems to know what he did to cause me to pull back.

“We aren’t going there? Right?” I ask.

“I’m not telling you what we have planned. Plus, I heard it’s sold out, tickets only, for opening weekend. Oh! I already talked to Nikki, and she’s also in. I think that friend of yours is coming too since Seth is going.”

I don’t even waste my breath to respond. My sister had made no bones about letting me know she didn’t approve of the man I’ve been seeing for the last two months. She loves Nikki, even gets along with her boyfriend, Seth, but Levi … no, she hated him on the spot. It’s been a constant bone of contention between us. She does nothing to hide the fact that she doesn’t like him—even to his face—while I’m helplessly stuck trying to keep the both of them happy.

Of course, Levi only gets frustrated when Maddi starts her crap, so it’s made me pull back from her more to keep him happy; another thing that hasn’t escaped her notice.

Just another reason I’ve felt like breaking things off with Levi is the best move. I hate that I’ve even let him come between my sister and me.

“No worries about Levi; he’s working this weekend. Please drop it, Maddi. I don’t have the patience to deal with it right now. I’ll be there tonight, okay? We can talk more about this stupid birthday celebration then.”

We make small talk for a minute before I drop the phone on the couch next to me and look back over at the portrait I had been working on. One of the many I have of the very man who’s caused me more pain than I thought possible. No matter how many times it happens, I’m still shocked when I see a picture-perfect likeness of Nate Reid filling a once-blank canvas. What’s sad is I don’t even realize I’m doing it. I just zone out and hours later … there he is.

Leaving everything where it is and ignoring the huge canvas of Nate, I walk from the back room and through the house so I can start getting ready for tonight. Bam’s nails click on the hardwood behind me as he follows. It’s been childish for me to skip these monthly dinners, I know that, but that doesn’t matter. The hurt he caused me years ago holds nothing on the pain he inflicted more recently. He was right that night I professed my true feelings for him when he said he would ruin me, but stupidly, I was too na?ve to believe him then.

Pushing back the same hurt that ruin caused, I do what I have been doing for the last year and pretend it never happened.





When I pull up to the Reid’s house later that night, I curse myself for procrastinating leaving my house for so long. I spend so much time lost in my head that I’m almost always late, but since Maddi made such a big deal about me showing up tonight, I can only imagine that they’ve assumed I wasn’t coming again.

I park my car behind the many others that line their driveway and groan when I see my dad leaning against his truck. True to Maddi’s word, it looks like he was prepared to follow through with his threat.

Turning off the ignition, I fiddle with my phone and shoot Nikki a quick text to let her know I’m at a family dinner and I’ll call her later. We’ve made a habit recently by turning Wednesdays into our wine night, so if I don’t let her know I’m not home, she’s going to freak out. I’m always home, so it would be about as abnormal as it gets for me.

The second I reach the handle to open my door, it’s swung open and I let out a startled scream. My phone clatters to the driveway with a sickening sound that has me saying a prayer I didn’t just crack the screen.

“Cutting it close,” my dad says, bending over to pick up my phone and handing it over before stepping back so I can get out.

“Sorry,” I say with a shrug and lean up to give him a hug. He bends, meeting me halfway, and I instantly feel settled when he wraps his arms around me. Just like coming home. “I lost track of time. You know how it goes when I’m working.”

He leans back, giving me a kiss on my temple, and I get one of the rare smiles that he reserves just for ‘his girls.’ Eyes so like my own crinkle at the corners, and he just shakes his head.