Accidental Love (Accidental Hook-Up 1)

He moved past being the new hot guy and one of the best workers there within a few weeks. He let it be known that he had a girlfriend and allowed it to get passed around. Eventually, the women gave up, and the men took notice of his hard work.

He told me about the mess in Seattle after he’d been at the job for about a month. Remy confessed that he thought it would prevent him from working for a firm ever again. The one in Seattle was big and his former friend had a lot of contacts. He could bury Remy, but we assumed that he felt bad about what happened and dropped it. We never heard anything detailed about that once he started working and making a name for himself.

I spent my days looking for work, both online and at local papers. I didn’t have much experience but my degree and recommendation letters from the people that I worked with seemed to help me. I ended up with a gig writing for a small local paper as well as several online publications.

I was at the table with my laptop, a plate beside me that was once my dinner. I let some deadlines pile up and sipped my coffee and I cursed myself. We were still at the house with his family because we liked it. We loved them, and I was a bit possessive with them since I lost my own. I typed fast, listening to music in my earbuds as I read my notes. I promised myself I’d never do this again. Brinley wanted to do a weekend away on the first long one and we agreed, setting me back. It was fun visiting an old friend in Carlsbad, but I hated myself now.

I felt someone kiss my head and glanced up to see Remy smiling softly at me. I tugged out one of the buds and smiled wearily at him. “Hi. How are you?” He’d worked late with his boss tonight and looked tired, but happy.

“I’m good. I see you’re buried here.” He noted as he looked at my mess of papers.

“Yeah. I need to plan my time a lot better.” I pouted, and he sat down beside me as his mom walked in behind him.

“Want some pasta?” She asked Remy as he glanced at my plate.

“Sure. I need to catch up with Celia.” He agreed, and she heated him up a plate. We talked about his day and he was happy with one of his new assignments, telling me that he might get promoted. I was excited and hugged him as he finished his dinner.

The garage door opened, and Brinley walked in, running a hand through her hair. She was an assistant to a big boss in the costume industry, for both videos and shows. She was hoping to score a movie soon, but we were waiting for news on that.

“How are you?” Melinda asked her as Brin glanced up.

“I’m so tired.” She was staying with friends when they were working long hours in LA but lived here for the rest of the time. “I have the next two days off.” She slipped off her heels and picked them up before walking up to her room. I chuckled, knowing that we both missed parts of school right about now.

I got back to my article as Remy worked on something on his laptop. He was finished with dinner, but Melinda got Brin a plate when she came back in leggings and a t-shirt.

I looked around as the house fell quiet. The parents were watching a movie in the living room while we did our own thing at the table. It was so peaceful here and I smiled as I thought about my parents. This is what they would want for me. I saw Brin look at me, scrunching her nose. “What do you look so happy about?”

Remy looked up from his computer and I caught his blue eyes and smiled. “I just like this. It’s where I was meant to be apart from living with my own family.” The siblings looked at each other, sharing a sad smile. None of them would have wished this on me but they were there when I needed them.

“I kind of miss the dorm when all we had to worry about was school,” Brin whined as I laughed at her. “I mean, we bitched back then, but it’s so much crazier now.”

Remy smiled at her and she rolled her eyes. “Let me guess, old wise one. You’ve been doing this for a while and I should just shut up. Right?”

He sipped his water and looked thoughtfully at me for a moment. “I think that you need to appreciate what you have in life. It’s hard sometimes but we have this place to live and a great family. We have each other and stable work to keep us moving forward. Celia and I know what it’s like to lose someone and feel like we have none of that.” He wasn’t trying to sound condescending at all, but I winced. Tired Brin was tough.