Wild Tendy (IceCats 2)

“You’ve been saying that for years,” she scolds me, and I nod.

“I promise I will,” I say. I wait for her to mention that I’ve said that a time or two, but thankfully, she doesn’t. Instead, we both take sips of our wine. When she looks over at me, I smile. “Anyone new?”

She shrugs. “You know how it is. Guys suck. Or at least the dudes I’ve been meeting.”

“Get off Tinder,” I say dryly.

She laughs. “I don’t have time to go looking for a guy—”

“Then get a dating profile. Stop with the hookups.”

She shoots me a look. “You need a hookup for sure.”

“Please,” I say, waving her off. “Why don’t you have your mom set you up?”

She snorts. “’Cause I am in no way, shape, or form ready for a Christian man. I need a bad boy. Someone who will make my mom pray for me more than she already does.”

That sends us both into a fit of laughter. “I don’t know why you drive her crazy.”

“Because it’s fun. She wants to put me in this perfect little box. Successful lawyer, seven kids, good, godly man, and a huge house. Instead, I’m sleeping around, and I skip church more than I should.” Her face is bright with happiness as she laughs from the soul. While I wish she’d calm down, I get it. She could have died from the cancer, and because of it, she’s living life to the fullest.

It makes me envy her more.

She’s living, and I’m hiding. It’s pathetic and the real reason why I wiggle out of seeing her. She makes me feel a certain kind of way. Like I’m missing out on life, when all I’m trying to do is make sure Callie is taken care of. She’s my main priority; I’ll get to me later. Unless I die a horrid death, and then it will be for nothing. That’s a truly depressing thought.

“You’re a mess,” I tease, and she flashes me a grin. “I envy you, though,” I admit, and soon, her smile falls.

“Callie is doing great, Veev. You don’t have to—”

“I know,” I say simply, stopping her. “You’ve said this a few times.”

“She’s almost seventeen. She’s not a baby. She doesn’t need you up her ass.”

I laugh ruefully. “Did she ever?”

We share a small smile. Callie has always been self-sufficient. She hardly ever cried when she was a baby, and she was always just larger-than-life. I don’t know if it’s because there is such a huge age gap between us or what, but like Jaylin said, Callie isn’t a baby. She’s almost an adult. “I just want to keep my promise.”

Jaylin smiles before covering my hand with hers. “Aviva, you’ve kept that promise tenfold. Your mom is looking down on us, and she is beaming from ear to ear. You are the reason Callie is so perfect. You’re the reason the sub shop is thriving. You’ve done it all. Now take some time for yourself.”

I lace our fingers together and cover our hands with my other. Jaylin is my best friend, the one person who knows me inside out. The one who has seen me break down and has helped me back up. I can tell her anything. And I don’t know why, but I want to tell her about Nico.

“There is this guy.”

Her eyes light up as she scoots to the edge of the barstool.

I hold up my hand to keep her from squealing. “Relax. I doubt anything will happen!”

“No, something will. You have never spoken about a guy!”

I shrug, looking away as my face fills with a grin.

“And I’ve never seen you smile like that. Tell me everything!”

It must be the alcohol, because I feel goofy. “It’s the guy I hit with my car.”

Her lashes almost pop off from how wide her eyes go. “No way. The hot red-sports-car guy?”

I laugh, nodding before taking a swig. “At first, he tripped me out by asking me out. I thought he was just being nice—”

“No. He thinks you’re hot!”

I roll my eyes. “I guess, because he’s been coming around the shop. He’s been helping Callie with her homework, and he got me a job with the IceCats, making subs for game days.”

She blinks twice, and I’m pretty certain her lashes will come off this time. “Wait.”

“What?”

“The guy you hit was Nico Merryweather.”

“Yeah.”

“Nico Merryweather, as in the star goalie of the IceCats?”

I bite into my lip. “Yes?”

She blinks once. Then twice. And finally, she starts laughing hysterically. I’m beyond confused as I watch her laugh. “Want to let me in on what is so funny?”

She looks up at me from where she is bent over laughing and shakes her head. “You’ve gone from not even being interested in anyone but Mike, who was never good enough for you, to now getting the attention from Carolina’s most eligible bachelor? Girl, when you do things, you do them big.”