Every now and then, I'd get a nice view of him and did my best not to stare, but damn it was hard. He had chocolate brown hair and hazel eyes that I caught myself getting lost in all too often. He was the type of man I'd happily give my virginity to, if it wasn't for the fact that he was so much older than I was.
Well, that, and the fact that he'd never shown any interest in me. Even when I'd tanned by the pool in my itty-bitty bikinis back in the day – partly, hoping to catch his eye – I'd never caught him staring. He'd always been incredibly well-behaved, which I took to mean, he had no interest in me.
“Well, tell the kids I said hello,” I said. “And I hope to see them soon.”
“Will do,” he said.
He smiled, but it was a friendly, almost perfunctory smile. It didn't quite reach his eyes and didn't strike me as a genuine smile. Though, I couldn't recall ever seeing Marcus actually smile; not in a really long time. It had been several years since his wife had died, and I knew he missed her terribly, but was doing his best to carry on. He was a good father, devoted to his children and his career, but he was always so very serious.
What I wouldn't give to see a smile on that man's face – one that lit his eyes up from the inside out. I couldn't recall ever seeing it anymore, not even when he was with his kids. He always seemed so distracted or stressed out about something.
All I knew is it was no way to live your life and my heart went out to him.
CHAPTER TWO
“Riley went out with Seth,” my mom said, coming down a few of the stairs into the basement a while later and looked at me. “I'm inviting some of the neighbors over for a barbeque. Figured it would sort of be a ‘Welcome Back’ part
y for you.”
“Mom, you didn't have to do that,” I said.
“It's just a few people,” she said. “Nothing big. I promise. If you have any friends you'd like to invite, go right ahead.”
Yeah, right. All my friends were still away at college. Of my two best friends, Rachel, was at UC-Berkeley, and Hannah was somewhere on the East coast because she was a rebel and wanted to get as far away as possible. And as I scrolled down the list of friends in my head, all of them were away at college. I was the only failure in my group of friends who'd given up and gone home.
It didn't matter though. It was a backyard barbecue, not some big party. I started to get myself ready, using some makeup tricks my former roommate taught me when she wasn't having sex or getting wasted. She was a pretty girl, so I'd picked up a few pointers from her on how to make my blue eyes pop even more.
She was also the one who'd talked me into dying the underside of my hair pink and getting my nose pierced. And I hadn't even been flat out drunk either time. Though, in all honestly, I'd allowed myself to get just a little tipsy as I tried to fit in with the other girls.
Even though it was warm out at the moment, I knew it would be cool later. I put on some black leggings with a pink t-shirt dress over top . I cinched it with a black belt and was good to go.
I went out back and found my dad already at the grill, enjoying a beer with Marcus. Zoey and Zack were running around the backyard with some of the other kids who lived on our street. It was slightly chaotic, and laughter filled the air. I had to admit, it felt good to be home.
I looked over at Marcus, but tried not to stare. He was wearing tight, dark jeans and a t-shirt that hugged his thick, sun-darkened arms. I could see his biceps bulging beneath the thin fabric and tried to imagine what it would be like to feel them wrapped around me, pulling me close, and holding me tight.
Of course, as always, he picked that moment to look over and catch me staring.
“There she is!” my dad said, motioning for me to come over to where they were standing.
Feeling all kinds of awkward for getting caught leering at Marcus – again – I walked over and hugged my dad, doing my very best to avoid looking at Marcus. My dad had some pork steaks on the grill along with some chicken. He was an avid griller and was always looking for an excuse to cook for people. My mom brought out some bags of chips and some dips, setting them on the table not far from us.
The O'Briens from down the street walked in, their two young kids rushing toward Zoey and Zack.
I had really missed this. I'd always been more of a homebody anyway, not one big into the party scene, and never one to stray too far from Huntington Beach . My sister seemed to take it all for granted, but I knew I had it good there. I had a dad that made a nice living, which allowed us to live in a beautiful home and able to afford a lot of luxuries in life. I also had a mom who was able to spend time raising us as well as volunteer in the community instead of working full-time. And of course, I had a sister that was, well, a pain in the rear to be honest, but I also loved her dearly. Before I left, we'd been very close. But me being away had put a distance between us, and that was something I was eager to work on fixing.
“Emma, it's great to see you,” Natalie O'Brien said, hugging me close. “We're glad to have you back home.”
Natalie and her husband, Liam, were also parents I'd babysat for at times over the years. Everyone knew me on the block because I'd watched everyone's kids. Heck, maybe that was something I could use that to my advantage somehow. Maybe, I could become a nanny.
“Great to see you too,” I said. “How are the kids?”
“Stubborn and loud, as always,” she laughed. “But no, really, they're great.”
“Glad to hear it,” I said.
More people filtered into the backyard, but I found myself repeatedly glancing over at Marcus. I so badly wanted to speak to him, to start a conversation that wasn't about me watching his kids, but I didn't know what to say, adult-to-adult. To him, I was always just the girl next door, the child of his friend. And I wasn't sure anything would change that.
CHAPTER THREE