“It’s a Denali.” Nellie smiled.
“Her divorce-is-final gift to herself,” Roni added with a big smile and a wink at Nellie.
Now they had Abel’s attention.
“That took a while didn’t it?” Gio said as he took a swig of his beer.
“Yeah, it got a little messy. Court days kept getting rescheduled and what not.” Nellie shook her head. “But finally it’s over and I couldn’t be happier.”
“Time to move on.” Roni smiled. “And girl, as good as you look, you’re gonna enjoy your freedom. You better.”
“Oh, I plan to. I’m already going on that weekend party cruise with the girls from work.”
“I know,” Roni pouted. “If I wasn’t pregnant I would’ve gone with you.”
Noah’s expression immediately soured. “No, you wouldn’t have.”
Roni laughed and leaned into him. “I meant with you, silly. I’ve never been on one. It could’ve been sort of a honeymoon.”
“This was so last minute. Someone canceled and I took their place. But,” Nellie smiled lifting her eyebrow, “we can plan another time. You can still go if you’re pregnant. There’d still be lots to do or we could wait until after the baby is here.”
“You know in all my years,” Jack spoke up, “I’ve never been on one of them damn cruises either.”
Nellie turned to Jack her eyes even brighter. “We should plan a group thing.” She turned back to Roni. “If we all go after the baby is born, you can take the baby and we can all take turns watching the baby so you two can have fun, too.”
Roni sat up with a very excited smile. “Oh my God, yes! That would be so fun!”
“I’ll coordinate it.” Nellie shrugged. “It’s what I do for a living after all. Getting this together should be a breeze.” She turned back to the table at no one in particular. “When the time gets closer I’ll get with everyone to find out who’s in and we can decide what week is good for everyone.”
Gio had glanced at Abel and was already smirking at his way too disinterested expression when he caught the exchanged smiles between Felix and Bianca. It wiped the smirk clean off. Someone would have to stay home and run 5th Street while everyone was on vacation. Gio suddenly got a good notion of who it would be—him and Abel.
They finished dinner and said their goodbyes to everyone, congratulating Noah and Roni once again before they left. They dropped by Gio’s house so he could pick up a few things and say hello to his mom and sisters before heading back up to Big Bear. Felix didn’t want to waste even a day of training, since this week he had a couple of gigs in Hollywood that would cut into his training time.
Gio picked up a couple of jeans and a few more changes of underwear then grabbed what he really wanted—his iPod and earbuds. He told Felix he wanted it for his runs but really he was counting on it to keep his mind and eyes off Bianca on their drive back. The drive down had been fairly painless for the most part. But he’d had to endure watching Felix run his hands up and down her thighs and even witness a few kisses. Not to mention hear Felix whisper things to her that made her giggle softy. He’d listen to his iPod all the way back and pretend to sleep if he had to but he wasn’t going through two more hours of that crap.
Almost as soon as they were back in the car, the whispering and giggling started. Gio put his earbuds in, blasted it, and sat back in his seat with his eyes closed. The whole way he must’ve opened his eyes no more than three times. The last time he opened them was at the very moment Bianca kissed Felix and it had him slamming his fist into his seat. He squeezed his eyes shut immediately not caring what they thought of his slamming fist. Maybe he was jamming to his music, maybe he was having a bad dream, but he wasn’t explaining shit.
Gio’s phone buzzed in his pocket a couple of times on the way up but he dare not risk opening his eyes to check it. It hadn’t seemed like a big deal to him before but he wondered now how he’d make it through the next few weeks. What he felt for Bianca was beyond a doubt the most confusing thing he’d ever had to deal with.
They were finally at the cabin.
“Bed time,” Felix said, pointing at his watch. “We’re up bright and early tomorrow.”
Gio agreed saying goodnight and headed to his room. Once there he checked his phone. He had a missed call from Noah but no voicemail and he had a text. The text was from Noah as well.
I didn’t notice shit but please tell me what Roni and Nellie thought they picked up on tonight is not true. There’s nothing going on between you and… you know who. Right?
Gio sat onto his bed lying down and texted him back. He should’ve known girls were more apt to pick up on shit like this and he didn’t even know what this was. So he responded the way he knew he should. If anything ever did happen, Noah would be the only one he’d consider telling but there was nothing to tell yet and he could only hope he’d have the willpower to keep it that way.
You’re right, they’re wrong. Nothing’s going on.
Because he knew his best friend wouldn’t leave it at that Gio lay there thinking about the whole damn situation as he waited for Noah’s response. Was there even a situation? And did he want there to be one?
Just thinking about Bianca made Gio smile. His first impression of her, and he still thought so, was that she was sweet and innocent just like he always had even back in high school. There was something so intoxicating about the way those big innocent eyes of hers hung on his every word. She was like a sponge. You could almost see her brain working through her eyes, soaking it all in but what was even more fascinating was watching her react to the things he knew he had no business saying to her. Things Felix would just as soon drop Gio on his ass for if he knew he’d said them to her and rightfully so.