Page 58 of The Curveball
She grins, and my heart twists. I like her smile. Too much.
“Anyway, think of how my brothers would see this whole thing. A rich, influential man taking advantage of their injured sister?” Wren tilts her head and clicks her tongue. “I absolutely saved your life today.”
My gut is telling me there is a lot more to her funny excuses. But it’s also telling me Wren has some aversions to putting her heart out there, and if I push too much, too soon, she’ll close up on me.
The problem is this is getting real. We’re involving the most important people in our lives, and I’m having a hard time keeping the line between fact and fiction straight.
“Griff?” Wren drums the table to get my attention. “You good?”
No. I’m not good. I liked her brothers. They want to get drinks with me. I always wanted brothers as a kid. I’m going to do what I do and get attached to people, then I’ll need to say goodbye when it all ends.
Instead of having the guts to say it, I smile and nod. “I’m good, Birdie. But I’m going to need to know your family dynamics since two families are now under the impression we have a blossoming romance here.”
“Right.” She rubs the bridge of her nose.
“Your family seems awesome, but complicated. It might be me, but usually families are some of the first questions asked when people start to date.”
“You didn’t ask me last night.”
“We had other questions to get to, but I’d hate to look like I’m a boyfriend who doesn’t ask his girl basic questions.”
She smirks. “Way to dig, Griffin. You can be honest. You want to know why we look like we should be triplets.”
True. “I was more curious about the aunt situation. You guys sound like you have several.”
“Not really.” She lets out a shaky breath. “A woman can have one full pregnancy a year, right?”
“Last I checked.”
“A man, though, now he can cause hundreds of pregnancies a year.”
“Please tell me you have hundreds of siblings.”
I can’t stop the rush of satisfaction when she laughs.
“No, only the two that I know about, not counting Ruby. The birthday girl.”
“Speaking of, how old is your stepsister?” I ask. “What does she like?”
Wren smiles. “She’s eight and the only sweet thing in that house. She’s obsessed with stuffed animals.”
I’m already planning what to get as Wren starts fiddling with the ends of her hair, and I’ve observed enough of her over the last year and a half to know she does it when she wants to crawl into her introvert combat suit.
“Birdie, what is it? Remember, I don’t judge, and I don’t share secrets if you don’t want me to.”
“It’s embarrassing.”
“I’m good with embarrassing.”
She studies me for a few moments, then says softly, “My father had two women pregnant at the same time. He wasn’t exactly conscientious in his younger years, as I’m told. Anyway, my mom is Lucy. Cleo is the boys’ mom. They didn’t know about each other until my dad left them both because he was leaving the country for business. When my mom went to get some of her things, she saw Cleo there arguing with him on the doorstep.”
“Geez,” I say, trying to imagine that showdown.
“Yeah.” Wren shakes her head. “Cleo was about six months along by then, my mom only about four. But they both were clearly having babies. It’s funny, such a bad situation for them ended in one of the best friendships I’ve ever seen.”
She’s almost blissful when she speaks about these two women, I can’t help but scoot closer. “So, they stayed in touch obviously.”
Wren laughs. “They moved in together. After the first confrontation, they said they went to a café to bash their baby daddy, but ended up laughing more than crying. They decided right then they wanted their kids to know each other. So, it’s always been us. We lived together until we flew the nest.”