“There’re no rumors.”
“I think the friend issue takes precedence over the workplace.” I love Val for speaking up. She’s exactly right.
“And why is that?” Dom asks.
“Because it’s where she lives for one. Plus friendships are more important than guys. Imagine if Lulu would’ve slept with you while we were broken up?”
Dom stares blankly at her for a moment. “I would never sleep with her.”
“She’s very persuasive,” Val says.
“Babe, I can’t stand the woman for more than five-minute increments. Why on Earth would you think I’d actually sleep with her? Plus, she’s your friend.” Dom leans forward in my direction. “So I never would have done it.”
“I didn’t know. Okay?” I throw my hands up in the air. “They dated when I wasn’t in her life.” I stick my tongue out at his judgmental self.
“Then what’s the problem? Call it off. She can’t be upset.” Dom sits back down. “You’d think with the journalism thing and everything, you’d know which information to start with. This isn’t the end of the world. End the relationship and Sierra never even has to know.” Val and I both stare at my brother long and hard until he finally says, “What?”
“God help us if we have a daughter,” Val murmurs and I laugh.
“That’s rude.” Dom’s obviously offended, his jaw is hanging open.
“She’s here crying because she more than likes him. He’s obviously someone important to her, so it’s not as easy as her calling it quits.” Val points at me like Dom doesn’t realize I’m even here.
“So stop yourself from caring.” He shrugs.
I groan and Val’s arms tighten on my shoulders. “Jesus, Dom. Get out of your head for a moment. Your sister is hurting here. She loves the boy.”
“Love? You’re too young.” He grabs the remote and changes the channel.
Val stands up, it takes her a minute with her belly, and grabs the remote from his hand, turning off the television. “She’s twenty-eight.”
“She can wait until she’s in her thirties.”
Val grabs my arm and yanks me up to my feet then puts her hands on my shoulders and turns me toward my brother. “Dominic Mancini, meet your younger sister, Blanca Mancini. She’s not nine anymore. She’s twenty-eight. A grown woman. Treat her as such.”
Dom huffs, but he blows out a breath. I swear only Val has the power to get through to him. “You really like him?”
I nod.
Val sits down on the couch.
“You want to date him in a serious way? Don’t go through all this bullshit just for a fuck.”
I bite my lip to stop myself from telling Dom that I already had sex with Ethan, and it was fantastic, more than I could’ve imagined.
“You go to your friend and ask permission.”
My eyes widen and I look over at Val. She smiles at her husband and turns to me, nodding in agreement. “You need to tell your friend what’s going on and how you feel.”
“And if she doesn’t want me to date him?”
They look at one another and then back at me. Val allows my brother to be the bearer of bad news. “Then the ball is in your court. Which is more important, friendship or the douche?”
“He’s not a douche.”
Dom leans forward and his hand falls on my knee. “Blanc, I’m your big brother, they’re all douches to me. It’s just the way it is.”
Val laughs but smiles proudly at my brother. If she could tolerate the heat of body contact, I think they’d sneak off to the bedroom to have sex.
I sit back down on the couch and pull a pillow to my chest. When we were kids, Sierra couldn’t share her popcorn at the movie theater. We always had to have our own. I’m not sure much has changed on that front. But my brother and Val are right, I have to tell her how I feel.
Just then my phone dings.
Ethan: We need to talk.
Yeah, we do.
Me: I’m in the city. Be back this afternoon. Your place?
Ethan: I’ll be here.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ethan
I pocket my cell phone and prop my feet back up on the coffee table.
“She just got off the train,” I tell Dylan, who’s been here all day.
Lucky me, he brought Rian’s blueberry muffins. One thing I missed about being with Sierra was Rian’s baking.
“What’s the plan?” Dylan asks for the millionth time.
“I told you. I’m leaving it up to Blanca. I have no ties to Sierra anymore.”
Dylan stares at me with a bored expression like he knows me better than that.
Sierra’s gonna have a conniption, think I planned this from the get-go and possibly come after me with a machete to the balls.
“It’s true. It affects Blanca more than me.” I pick up a pillow and throw it at him. “I’m still pissed you had the thought that it sounded like Blanca, and you didn’t say anything.”
“Man, I told you, I didn’t know. Besides, I don’t know if I would’ve told you. You’d just throw something away that seems pretty great for you.”
“How do you know?”
He puts down the controller to my Xbox. “Your face gave it away. When you talked about kissing her in the elevator, I knew you were done. Off the market. Something was different. Plus, the minute I met Blanca I thought about fixing her up with you. You two just kind of fit.”
“Really?”
He raises his eyebrows at me. “You having doubts?”
I shake my head. “If we didn’t work together, I’d be fine. But you know I like to keep that shit separate.”
“But you still nailed her.”
I shrug, picking up the remote to play a game to try and push this shit situation out of my mind. “How could I not?”
“Because she’s different, so stop being a pussy and just lay your heart down on the table for Blanca to claim.”
“Who knew Romeo had so many tattoos?”
He laughs and grabs another blueberry muffin, chomping the top of it off. “I’m not Romeo, that’d be Seth. The Andrews versus the Ericksons. Which bagel place will stand after the bloodbath of bagels across Cliffton Heights?”
“Are you suggesting Seth has a thing for The Bagel Place girl?”
He looks at me like I’m an idiot for not figuring it out myself. “No one hates someone that much without their being real feelings under all that hate.”
I nod because Dylan’s always been good at seeing things like that. Except with it comes to him and Rian. Every one of us knows how she feels except him. One day I’ll have to pull him out of the darkness but right now I have my own problems to deal with.
“What if it ends badly?” I ask Dylan.
“Then it ends badly. But you obviously like her. You’ve crossed the line a lot farther than you ever have before.” He picks up the other remote, presses restart, and the game starts over with two players.
“I do.”
“Then stop dissecting everything that could go wrong and enjoy the ride. Maybe nothing bad will happen and in twenty years, the two of you will be writing opposing articles in Mars And Venus.”