Colton walks out to his truck that’s parked along the side of the road. I look at the picture of Aunt Etta and debate if this whole matchmaker thing is even worth fighting for. Maybe my mom had it wrong and I can’t predict who belongs together. The fact that my business is failing is a bigger sign than my red hair. The color means exactly what it did when I was eleven—that I’m different.
Twenty-Five
Colton
As usual, Juno organizes the blind speed dating thing perfectly and her customers—who are most of Kingston’s buddies—are happy. Thankfully, whether Stella got Juno’s message or not, she didn’t show up. Although I view the situation differently than Juno. Kingston deserves to know that Stella’s back so he can clear things up with her. Figure out where they stand going forward, even if it’s as acquaintances or nothing at all.
After everyone blindly talks through the partitions, a few of Kingston’s buddies head into the bar area to mingle with girls, but Kingston heads my way, a beer in hand.
“What’s up?” he says, sliding into the stool across from me.
“Nothing. No matches?” I ask.
He smirks and shakes his head. “I just can’t. You know? I’ve tried. You ever feel like you’re filling a need and not the hole?”
I raise my eyebrows and he laughs.
“Yeah, I phrased that wrong. I guess I mean, I sleep with girls, but nothing really fills the void.”
I tip my water bottle toward him. “There’s a better word.”
He chuckles.
Sadly, I do understand, and my gaze lingers on Juno talking to some of the ladies who didn’t match with anyone. She hands them business cards and they continue talking, one of them pointing toward our table. I catch her eyes for a moment, and she smiles and turns back to the group, telling them something.
“I’d only tell you this, but I’m sick of wasting my time with the entire dating thing,” Kingston says. “For a while I was cool with it, but now all my siblings are getting hitched and having babies.”
“You’re only twenty-five,” I say, and he nods.
“I guess so.” He glances over his shoulder. “I looked Stella up the other day. Being back at Cozy Cottage with Selene last week made the urge too strong to ignore.”
My throat tightens. “And?”
“From what I can tell, she’s still in New York. I’m thinking about going out to Sedona’s, maybe pop in on Stella.”
“Don’t track her down,” I say, mostly because he’s wrong. Stella’s literally minutes away from us right now and I hate that I’m keeping this secret.
“It’s been a while. We were cordial at Austin and Holly’s wedding. We friended each other on social media. That means something, right?”
Something I’ve noticed about Kingston is that he’s almost always willing to tell others his feelings. Where Rome and Denver always hid them, and I think Austin, being the oldest, felt like he had to keep it all in, Kingston wears his heart on his sleeve, so to speak. It’s admirable.
“You’re talking to a guy who waited for more than a decade for your sister to come to her senses.”
He chuckles and sips his beer. “She’s a slow learner.”
“Excuse me.” Juno slaps him on the back of the head. “You better not have been talking about me.”
“It took you forever to admit your feelings for Colton.”
Juno sticks out her tongue, weaving her way between my legs and wrapping her arms around my neck.
“Did you have to tell those girls I’m taken?” I ask.
She draws back and narrows her eyes. I nod toward the girls with the business card, and she laughs. “Sorry, Don Juan, they were interested in Kingston.”
Kingston laughs.
“Ouch,” I say.
“Ouch? You have the best girl in this place.”
I tighten my arms around her and kiss her neck. “That’s right. You are a brilliant matchmaker.”
She giggles.
“Excuse me?” A woman approaches and I straighten, removing my lips from Juno’s neck. “I had a few questions.”
“Sure.” Juno takes her to the side and pulls a business card from her back pocket.
Kingston and I strip our eyes off them and get back to our conversation.
“I have a question,” I ask.
“What’s up?”
“It’s personal, and if you don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to, but can you afford the apartment by yourself?”
This isn’t something I had intended to ask Kingston before I asked Juno, but I saw the bills in her mail that Earl dropped off. Juno’s too proud to admit that she might be struggling financially. My mom’s right—why now, after all these years, is Juno running these blind speed dating nights?
Kingston’s eyebrows rise. “You guys are rushing things.”
“Don’t tell your sister—you know how slow she prefers things to go—but I don’t really see the sense of paying for two places when I intend for us to speed this up faster than a relationship that doesn’t include over a decade of friendship.”
He puts his hands in the air. “I’m not bringing it up to her, but yeah, I can afford it. Truth is though, I may just move out and get a place closer to Anchorage if she moves in with you.”
“You’d leave Lake Starlight?”
He shrugs. That’s where Kingston isn’t like his siblings. Most have stayed in Lake Starlight. I think everyone views Sedona as just not coming home after college, but someday she’ll return. And Phoenix goes back and forth between Los Angeles and Lake Starlight, but her home is here. Kingston is the one who never seems to be in Lake Starlight except to sleep.
“Well, don’t say anything. I haven’t asked her, and I’m prepared to get the brush-off at first.”
Kingston sips his beer. “You don’t get sick of her acting like that?”
I shrug. “I love her. To love someone, you love all the parts of them—their faults as well as their attributes. One day I hope I love her enough that she doesn’t feel like she can’t be all in. If I ever get her to marry me, then you’ll know I broke her down.”
He laughs and tips his bottle toward my water bottle. “You’re the only man who can do it.” He sips his beer. “Oh, I was thinking, let’s get everyone together for Jamison’s game. They’re playing the Seattle Sounders this weekend. I’m off unless I get called in.”
“Yeah definitely, we can do it at my house.”
“Perfect.”
“Bailey!” one of his buddies calls.
Kingston holds up his hand. “I better go. They can get kind of rowdy and I don’t want it to ruin Juno’s chances of having these events here. Text me details.” He stands and heads into the other room.
“Kingston,” I call, and he turns around. “As much as it sucks, sometimes you have to move on with your life until that person is ready to face whatever it is between you.”
“Is that how you got my sister? Pretended to get married to push her to make a move?” He laughs as if that’s absurd, and although I smile, guilt pierces my gut.