Page 17 of Summer Sweethearts
“I know, and I’m going to tell you,” he says, rounding the counter again, setting our drinks on the nearest table, then grabbing my hand and pulling me to the table closest to us. I slide into the chair opposite him, cross my arms, and wait for him to tell me his part in this.
“Okay, Cain and Michael are cousins. You already know this, and they’re close. So Cain called Mikey to ask him to be a groomsman, which I swear I was going to talk to you about, but I didn’t want to even bring it up unless Mikey accepted. When they talked, Mikey told him he had lost his job and, therefore, his house. Cain has been batting around the idea of bringing in a partner since we’re getting married and starting a family. He thought, why not ask his bestie and cousin? Mikey took a week to decide, then he told Cain he was in and moved here. I wanted to tell you, but Mikey said he would, that he had a plan, and I went along with it. I shouldn’t have, and I’m sorry. There wasn’t any meddling. I swear I know you’re happy with Jessica, and that’s all I care about,” he rambles, a sure sign that he’s nervous.
“His plan was to wait two weeks and surprise me at Ted’s?” I snark, picking up my cup, and taking a drink.
“I don’t honestly know what his plan was. We never asked and he didn’t share. When he asked us questions about you, we didn’t give him answers because we didn’t want to get between you two. The only time I did answer was when he asked if you were seeing another man, and I said no.” He looks down and to the side while one side of his mouth quirks up.
“Aiden, I’m seeing Jessica.”
“We know. And I personally love the two of you together. But he didn’t ask if you were seeing a woman, he said a man, so I said no. I didn’t know what he knew of your sexuality, so it wasn’t my place to out you.” He shrugs at the last part. I get what he’s saying; when Michael and I got together fresh out of high school, we were exclusive, but he had known I had fooled around with girls before.
I sit, sipping my coffee, taking in what Aiden has said, and come to the conclusion that he is sincere in his apology. Aiden wouldn’t intentionally hurt me. I knew that deep down, but I needed to hear it from his mouth. I deserve an apology so I can move forward with him from here. This conversation needed to happen to strengthen our friendship and to help me heal. Yesterday was a lot, but the hard part is over, and I’m ready to move on.
“I’m sorry, Loretta. I feel fucking awful. Please, don’t bail out of the wedding or quit your job. I love you too much.”
“I already forgave you, but I needed to hear your apology. I’m not mad that you helped Michael move here. He’s your family, and I know that’s important. Not telling me when I knew you were hiding something is what upset me,” I explain, and he looks at me with sorrow filling his eyes.
He stands, grabs my hand, pulls me up to his height, and wraps his arms around me in a tight embrace. “I love you, Loretta. I’m sorry I hid it from you,” he murmurs into my hair.
“All’s forgiven. And how dare you think I’d bail on your wedding. No way in hell am I missing out on supporting you on your big day.” I smile and hug him back. “Now let’s get to work because there’s a line outside the door, and I bet they’re gonna be pissed we kept them waiting.”
Aiden throws his head back, laughing, and releases me before he heads to the door and unlocks it. “Sorry, everyone! Had a staff meeting, and it ran late,” he tells the crowd, then looks at me, throwing a wink in my direction.
We tag team the customers, Aiden making drinks while I ring everyone out and take the food orders. The line moves quickly and once the store is empty, I take the opportunity to ask Aiden about all the things he hauled in with him this morning. “So, what’s with the armload of treasures you brought with you today?”
“Oh! I almost forgot that is the seating chart for the wedding. I want to get started on it, so I thought you could help me today when we’re slow. I’m going to start writing everyone’s name down that has RSVP’d so far, and I was hoping you would glue these little clothespins to the board. When everyone gets to the wedding, they’ll find their name on the card, and that will tell them their table number.”
“Perfect. How many tables are you having?” I ask as I pull out the bag of the cutest mini clothespins.
“Ten, and each one seats six people, so we will need thirty clothes pins on the board,” he responds, uncapping a black pen and writing the first name.
We work side by side for an hour or so, creating the seating chart board, and when we’re finished, it looks so simple, but elegant. Finished with my fun task for the day, I move to a box of horror books that we got yesterday and start entering them into the computer system before moving on to tagging them.
“Loretta, if you’re good out here, I’m gonna go talk to Dwight about a wedding cake,” Aiden says as he packs up the supplies from the board.
“I’ll pray for you,” I joke as I continue my task, not even making eye contact with him.
“Actually, I think I’ll be alright minus color and the topper. I’m just going to give him a vision and let him have free reign. Dwight is good at what he does, so besides white and silver and this topper, he can do his own thing,” he tells me, holding up a topper of a man dragging another man down the aisle, both wearing tuxes.
I giggle, shooing him to go meet with the kitchen grump and finish my stack of books before moving to put them away. I do three boxes of horror books before grabbing another box. After opening it, I see this one is full of Manga. I’m starting to enter them and planning the display since Manga is a new genre we are carrying, but I’m so lost in my thoughts I don’t hear the door open. I’m only made aware that someone came in when I hear the knocks on the counter, which startles me.
“Hey, baby, you look super focused right now. Did everything go alright with Aiden?” Jessica asks as I grin at her.
“Yeah, it went well. We’re all good. We just got our first Mangas in, and I was thinking of how to display them to draw people to them. Did you get lunch?” I ask, but I spot the bag from Which Witch and feel silly.
She holds the bag up and wags her brows at me as I come out from behind the counter. I take a seat at a nearby table, putting my back to the door. I want to see Aiden’s face when he comes out of the kitchen to know if he really did survive a wedding cake meeting with Dwight. Jessica takes the seat opposite me, handing me a sandwich. I open the wrapper and smile at the Cuban in front of me. “Their Cubans are the best. Thanks for getting my favorite, Jess,” I thank her as I take a bite, moaning at the taste of mustard, pickle, and sourdough exploding on my tongue.
“Lor, don’t make me take you into that bathroom and force those sounds from you myself,” she growls as she stares at me, but her pupils are blown with lust. I rub my thighs together at the thoughts of her sinful tongue and fingers working me over in the bathroom.Fuck, this woman drives me wild.
“Tonight, babe. You can make me scream those noises tonight,” I tease. I can see her throat bob, and her chest start to rise faster. I love that she wants me this bad at all times. That I have this effect on her.
“Lor, I am going to tear that pu—What the fuck?” Her eyes widen, looking behind me like she’s seen a ghost. “What the fuck is he doing here?” she asks, but I don’t have time to turn to see who she’s talking about before she’s out of her chair and moving toward whoever it is.
“Why are you here?” she asks, surprise in her tone, and when I turn to see who it is, I choke on the bite I just took. It’s Michael. And Jessica looks pissed, which I mean, rightfully so, but how did she know who he was? Standing quickly, I take a sip of the water Jess brought and head toward them. Michael is staring at Jessica with a mix of confusion and shock written all over his face.What the fuck is going on?
“Jess, it’s fine. I’ll handle this,” I say as I step between them.
“No, I got it,” she responds and steps closer.
