Love Story (Love Unexpectedly 3)

“She’s driving me nuts,” I say, before I can think better of it.

He gives a startled laugh. “Yeah, Spock does that sometimes.”

“No, I don’t mean in the annoying-little-sister way,” I say, pacing in short, agitated movements.

Craig’s laugh breaks off. “Then how do you mean it?”

I stop pacing, tilt my head back, and stare up at the plaster ceiling, debating the wisdom of what I’m about to say.

He may be my best friend, but we’re not really the chat-on-the-phone types. We’ve never had to be. Apart from during the four years Craig was in college, we’ve always been a twenty-minute drive away from each other, more inclined to catch up over a beer and a game than have a long, girly chat on the phone.

And yet everything that’s happening with Lucy, I’ve been feeling so overwhelmed with…something. I just need to talk it out, and it says a hell of a lot about my life that I only have one option.

“Craig, I’ve gotta tell you something,” I say, closing my eyes and praying for mercy.

“You slept with my sister.”

Damn. He’s not my best friend for nothing. The guy knows me.

I clench my teeth as I shove my hand in my back pocket, forcing myself to be straight with my friend. “Yeah.”

I hear a sigh, followed by something that sounds like a gum wrapper. The slight chomping noise that follows confirms that he’s chomping on the wintergreen gum he’s loved since the sixth grade. “Thought that fizzled out a long time ago.”

I close my eyes. “You knew about that too?”

“Unfortunately,” he mutters. “Nobody knows the intentions of a nineteen-year-old boy like another nineteen-year-old boy.”

“You never said anything.”

“Because it grossed me out.”

“But you didn’t stop it,” I say, a little incredulous.

Craig’s silent for a minute, probably uncomfortable. “I dunno. I guess I thought…thought you two were good for each other. Always figured it would happen eventually. None of us were surprised.”

Another surprise. “?‘Us’? Your family knows.”

“Yup.”

I run my hand over my hair. “Good Christ. And they let me take this road trip with her, knowing I was the one—”

“Nope,” Craig interrupts. “Don’t say it. I prefer to never ever know a

single detail. But yeah, the road trip was parental interference at its finest.”

I wait for my brain to catch up. “Does Lucy know they know?”

“Nope. Well, she talked to Brandi about it. But, like you, Spock overestimated you guys’ teenage stealth. Mom and Dad have known from the very beginning.”

“Jesus,” I mutter, suddenly replaying the past few years. Realizing that every time I sat in their kitchen, let them feed me beer and chili, they knew I’d hooked up with their daughter.

Still, around the shock and dismay, there’s also a little bit of relief. It’s never felt right, having them trust me so implicitly while I thought I was keeping a crucial secret.

“So if you knew we were together back then, you have to know that we’ve been very much not together for the past few years.”

“Sure. And I accepted it. The parents, not so much.”

Everything clicks into place. “This road trip was a matchmaking attempt.”