“Mijo, go find your brother.” Nina appears and ushers the giggling child away. “Sorry. He loves answering doors. He’s been obsessed with it lately.” She steps back, sweeping her arm out. “Come in, come in.”
She’s wearing a casual green dress, her soft curls loose around her face. I’d never noticed Nina and Emmett taking much romantic interest in each other when we were younger, but I can see why they’ve hooked up now. They’re both just very pretty.
I can’t help but think that Nina is here to torture me. She’s the living embodiment of what I could have been, if I’d had an hourglass figure and a touch more common sense.
I walk into the house and through a surprisingly neat living room. All the toys are stacked nicely in bins in the corner.
From the back of the house, a child lets out a shriek. I jump, but Nina looks unfazed.
Emmett walks into the room, a child hanging off either arm. The blue-mouthed one who opened the door is upside down, giggling. Emmett smiles at me. His dark blond hair is mussed, like there was a playful struggle back there with the kids. The kind of hair that’s begging to be touched again. Maybe pulled a little.
Jesus Christ. I’m such an idiot.
“Is it just me, or did he get really hot?” Savvy’s voice is in my head suddenly. I let her back in and now she won’t leave.
A memory of a random day with her in the restaurant takes shape, almost against my will.
“I’ve always thought Emmett was cute,” I said, glancing over to where he was standing by the door to the restaurant.
“Yeah, but he’s like ‘shove you up against a wall and fuck you’ hot now,” she said, and then laughed at the expression on my face. “You’re ridiculous, you know that?”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You blush like a schoolgirl every time I bring up sex. I wish we’d hung out in high school. I would have had the most fun corrupting you.” She reached across the bar to pat my hand. “But I’m glad I have the opportunity now. Better late than never.”
“What’s better late than never?” Emmett asked as he slid onto the stool next to me.
“For me to corrupt this angel,” Savvy said sweetly.
Emmett barked out a laugh as Savvy walked to the other side of the bar to help a group of guys.
“You and Savvy Harper are friends now, huh?” Emmett gave me a deeply amused look.
“Yeah, I didn’t see that one coming either.”
“That’s what you get for moving back to your hometown. Eventually, you end up becoming friends with the former prom queen cheerleader.”
“I heard that!” Savvy called as she grabbed a glass. “And I was homecoming queen, not prom queen. We didn’t have a prom court.”
“The fact that you even know that,” Emmett said incredulously.
“Some of us didn’t pretend to be too cool for everything.” She gave us a meaningful look.
“Hey.” I swung an arm around Emmett’s shoulders. “We weren’t pretending. We actually were too cool.”
“No, we weren’t,” Emmett whispered.
I shot him a grin. “No, we weren’t.”
Savvy winked at me. “Good thing you’re hanging out with me now.”
Emmett is staring at me. I try to look like a sane person who isn’t being bombarded by past memories. I don’t think I succeed.
Nina grabs the upside-down child and sets him on the ground. Emmett puts down the other, taller one.
“This is John and Chris,” Nina says, pointing to the little one, and then the bigger one. I’ve met the older one before, but she correctly assumes that neither of us remembers it all that well. “This is Lucy.”
I wave awkwardly. I’m never around kids. I don’t know how to act with them.
“Lucy is an old friend,” Nina says to them. Neither of them look like they give a shit. The smaller one—already forgot his name—is staring at me again, though.
The doorbell rings again, and the older one shrieks. “Abuela!”
“Come on,” Emmett says, casting an amused glance at me. He ushers the boys out the door.
“I asked my mom to watch them tonight so we could actually have some adult conversations,” Nina says.
“They’re cute,” I lie （all kids look the same to me）。
“Oh, thanks.” She smiles.” They’re a handful.”
Emmett returns, minus the kids. He walks to Nina, slipping an arm around her waist. She leans into him with an easy familiarity. The sort of couple that’s been together for a while but still remembers casual affection.