Mom and Dad laugh. “Oh, really? And who is this guy? Is he worthy of my little girl?” Dad asks, amused.
“He’s not my boyfriend.”
“He wants to be.” Dawn laughs.
“What do you want?” Mom asks.
Have I mentioned that my parents’ are amazing? Not one day growing up did I not ever feel loved and wanted. I owe them everything.
“I-I don’t know.”
“Liar,” Dawn taunts.
I seriously need to look for a new best friend.
“Fine, I . . . like him. Okay, there, I like him.”
“And . . . ?” Dad urges with a smile.
“And, he says he likes me. He’s a single father.”
“What’s wrong with that?” Mom asks.
I sigh. “Nothing. His baby is adorable, but his mother, she didn’t make it. He’s only a month old and I just . . . I don’t think he’s ready, and I don’t want to be the rebound girl.”
“How do you know you will be?” Dad asks.
I just stare at him, waiting for him to say more.
“How do you know what the relationship was? I can tell you that if he loved her, he wouldn’t be ready to move on, telling you that he likes you,” he says.
“Thank you!” Dawn exclaims. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell her for days now. She needs to get his story.”
“We’ve talked about it, but he said he wants it to be face to face. We just haven’t had the time. We both work, and he has his baby to take care of.”
“Bring the baby to us, and you two can have a night out,” Mom suggests. “It’s been years since I’ve had a little one to cuddle.”
“Speak of the devil, that’s his sister calling now,” Dawn says, holding up her phone.
“Do we know them?” Dad asks.
“Do you remember Reagan Beckett? I graduated with her?”
“Yeah. Nice girl, that one,” he says.
“It’s her older brother, Ridge.”
“Beckett Construction?” Dad laughs. “I take it having you check in on him worked out for both of you?”
“It didn’t hurt.” I cross my arms over my chest. I really want to laugh too, but I’m biting my tongue.
“Sure, thanks for the invite. I’ll talk to Kendall and one of us will get back with you,” Dawn says, ending the call. “Reagan invited us over to Ridge’s house tomorrow night.”
“Yeah, they’re all watching the fight.”
“Did he invite you?” she asks.
I nod. “He invited both of us, but I told him I wanted to catch up with Mom and Dad.”
“Nope, not happening, sweetheart. Do not hide behind your mother and me,” Dad mock-scolds me.
“I already turned him down,” I whine.
“Yeah, but you didn’t turn Reagan down.” Dawn smirks.
“That will make me look desperate.”
“No, it will make you look interested, which you are,” my mother corrects me.
“What is this, ‘gang up on Kendall day?”
“No, it’s helping Kendall see what’s right under her nose. Help her see that risking getting her heart broken is worth it. It’s trying to get you to see that there is that one person out there who will love you like your father loves me,” Mom says defiantly.
“Hey, Reagan, it’s Dawn. Hey, listen. I talked to Kendall, and we’re in. We’re with her parents now, so we are suddenly free tomorrow night.” I hold my breath, waiting for what she’ll say next. “Okay, great, see you then.” She ends the call. “We’re supposed to meet Reagan at her place at seven. I guess the preliminary fights start at eight.”
Taking a deep breath, I slowly release it. “What do we need to bring?”
The three of them cheer at my acceptance of the situation.
I love my crazy family.
The next day, Dawn and I tag-team cleaning the house then just kick back and relax in the afternoon. She keeps grinning at me, more excited about this than I am. That’s when it hits me—there must be more.
“What are you so happy about?”
“I want you happy,” she says.
I watch her as she bites her bottom lip before quickly releasing it. If I didn’t know her so well, I wouldn’t know it’s a tell.
“Which one?” I ask her.
“What do you mean?”
“Which one of the guys do you have your eye on?”
She blushes, which is not something that I see my best friend do often. Hell, ever.
“Mark.”
“Nice.” I grin at her. “You didn’t have to drag me along just to hang out with them. You and Reagan have hung out a few times.”
“Yeah, I know, but it’ll be easier if you’re there. Besides, you need to stop hiding and jump in the deep end. Let life take you on the journey, Kendall.”
I think about what she’s saying and realize I kind of have, in a way. At least I thought I had. I haven’t heard from Ridge since early yesterday. I started to text him goodnight last night, but I don’t want to be that girl, the clingy ‘have to see you and talk to you all the time’ kind. Not to mention that we aren’t in a relationship. He told me he wants me, but that doesn’t mean that whatever this is will be going anywhere.
“Yeah,” I finally answer her. “We’ll see how tonight goes.”
A few hours later, we’re pulling into Reagan’s driveway. For some reason, I’m nervous knowing she and Dawn talked about me and Ridge.
“Hey hey,” she says, greeting us on the front porch. “I’m all set.” She’s carrying a huge Crock-Pot.
“What you got there?” Dawn asks.
“Meatballs. Tyler loves them and begged me to make them for tonight.”
“Tyler, huh?” Dawn grins.
“Wait a minute. What did I miss?” I question.
“I kind of sort of have a thing for one of my brother’s best friends.”
“Nice.”
“Oh, hush, you. You want my brother.”
Dawn laughs, and we both turn to face her.
“And you, you have your eyes on Mark,” Reagan points out.
Complete silence, until the three of us break out in laughter at the same time. After we compose ourselves and keep the meatballs from eminent disaster, we load up and head to Ridge’s place.
“So, I have a confession,” Reagan starts. “I didn’t tell him you were coming.” She looks at me briefly in the rearview mirror.
“Is that going to be an issue? I don’t have to go.”
“No, he wants you there. He said he was going to invite you, but you already had plans. I decided to intervene.”
“Great,” I mumble.
“Trust me on this, Kendall. He’s not going to be anything but thrilled to see you walk through his front door.”
“So, Tyler?” I ask, changing the subject, and we spend the rest of the drive listening to Reagan tell us how she’s crushed on him for years. We both encourage her to tell him how she feels, but she’s still resistant.
Maybe I need to intervene as well.