The next two hours flew by. Nate stayed in the back working on the list Octavia left for him. I finished organizing like she had instructed when Octavia called this morning. More things would be arriving this afternoon. I needed to be ready to receive them.

While I looked for something else to do the door opened which spun me around. I began to say “we’re not open yet,” but I stopped when I saw it was Eli. He had two brown bags and a smile.

“I brought food,” he said. “Lots of it.” I knew without asking that he had my favorite burger from The Pickle Shack in the bag.

“You’re my hero, Eli. I’m starving.” I wouldn’t stop working as long as Nate was here. Not to leave and go get food. I wasn’t sure if he’d be reporting to Octavia. If he was, good things needed to be said, because this job was important to me.

“I took a wild guess and didn’t think you’d leave work to get food on your official first day.”

“That’s why you’re my favorite person on earth.” I loved The Pickle Shack.

Eli walked over to the empty counter and put the bags down gently. “This whole place looks breakable.”

“Eli, paper bags won’t hurt it.”

“Good because it’s time to celebrate with some greasy ass burgers. You have a job and you are officially independent as of tonight.”

He wasn’t a big fan of the greasy burger. I knew Eli wouldn’t eat one. He’d have their grilled chicken sandwich. Eli was a fanatical health nut. He ran six to ten miles a day and ate “clean” as he called it, which did amazing things for his body. There was always some beautiful woman on his arm or attempting to lock onto his arm. I tended to get in the way sometimes and I hated that for Eli. We’d fought about this more than anything else because he enjoyed using me as an excuse. A means to free himself from women. Or I suppose I saw it that way. I didn’t want to be a crutch that prevented my friend from falling in love in the future. For some reason, he was scared of that. The idea terrified him.

He had parents like mine, happily married, and he’d grown up in a stable environment. There wasn’t any reason for him to be damaged or be fearful of a real commitment. But he was. To an extreme.

“I know you aren’t eating a burger.”

He’d placed mine directly in front of me.

He raised his eyebrows. “Hell yeah I am! We’re celebrating.”

“You hate greasy food.”

“You love it, so we,” he then motioned with his hand, sweeping it back and forth, “are eating to quicken our deaths, by clogging and sealing our arteries.”

I loved Eli. I wasn’t in love with Eli. I loved him the way I loved my brothers. Once I thought I could love him another way, but we were young. Nate Finlay had walked into my life. After that my sickness and fighting to live, changed everything for me. During that time Eli had cemented himself under the title of “world’s best friend.” He’d seen me at death’s door. Been there when I fought back. Eli was with me through it all.

Nate Finlay

SHE WAS IN there with a guy. I stood outside the storage door listening to them laughing and talking. I should have figured she’d be in a relationship. A girl like that doesn’t stay single. The fact it annoyed me was stupid. But damn, it bothered me. She had remained in my memory as mine. Even though time had passed and we had grown up. She didn’t seem to have changed much either. Other than the fact the girl I thought to be beautiful was now undeniably breathtaking.

We’d spent a fucking summer together seven long years ago. Bliss was no longer that innocent girl I’d given her first kiss to. Not anymore. She was a grown ass woman. Preserved in my memory was a girl. Though that was definitely a woman in there.

Maybe that was what was so aggravating. I liked having her in my memory as that perfect girl to unveil and remember as unblemished. I wouldn’t have that to cherish anymore. She’d be in my world from day to day and I would see her imperfections. The young girl was gone and so was her sweet innocence. Life did that to everyone.

I’d kept myself from walking in there to remind her that her lunch was only an hour. That would make me look like a bastard. I had no reason to be. She had worked nonstop since I had arrived and she was due a fucking break.

“Did you get the rest of your things packed up? Are they ready to move this evening?” The guy asked with a casual familiarity that bothered the hell out of me. What the fuck was wrong with me?

“Yep. Momma cried while I was doing it. Just about killed me to hear it. I’ve heard her cry too much. It was the hardest part. She wasn’t sobbing, just tearing up. I let her hug me and tell me she loved me. That she wanted this for me. She was working through her emotions. She trusts you to take care of me. As if I needed any protection.”

Bliss sounded somewhere between annoyed and amused.

“She’s going to worry, B. You know that. Can’t expect her not to.”

Bliss sighed. “Yeah. I get it. I just wish we could move on from it. You know? Forget it. Try being normal.”

They were quiet for a moment while I tried to figure out what the hell that meant, trying “normal?” Why couldn’t Bliss try normal? From what I remembered she was very normal.

“It’s only been four years,” the guy responded. “She’s gonna need more time than that. That’s like a day to a mother, B. To her you’re still an infant. In many ways you’ve just been born.”

Again, Bliss sighed. “I know.”

Four years since what? What happened? I felt guilty for eavesdropping, but now I was curious. I wondered if Octavia knew what they were talking about. Not that I would ask her. It wasn’t my business. I shouldn’t have listened in.

I bumped into a broom backing away from the door. It hit a dustpan and both went to the floor with a crash. I winced and froze.

“What was that?” Eli asked.

“Octavia’s fiancé,” she replied. “Guess he must’ve dropped something.”

She didn’t call me by name or tell him anymore. Instead she started in on painting. The color her new bedroom would be in the apartment the two were sharing. She had a different bedroom than his? It made me question who he was. Were they intimate? Why the hell was I fixated on this?

I started to walk away and stop being nosey when she said his name out loud. Bliss said “Eli” and I knew who he was. She’d told me about “Eli” seven years ago. He wasn’t her boyfriend. He was her closest friend. I had been jealous until she explained it. They were much closer than any relationship I’d ever had with a girl in my life. Even Lila Kate. I soon learned that they were exactly what she said and Bliss York hadn’t been lying.

Just friends.

And they still were.

I left them to their conversation and went out the back door to my truck. I needed something to eat. An escape. To get the hell away from Bliss. I’d think it through then put it behind me.

I pressed Octavia’s number on my phone. Talking to her would remind me of the life I now lived. And why it fit me. Why Octavia fit me perfectly. And why Bliss York never would. That’s what I was telling myself. I didn’t know the woman Bliss York had become. I didn’t know anything about her at all.

“Hey, make it fast,” she said. “I’m getting off the plane in Milan. The buyer that took me to Rome convinced me I had to come here. Don’t have much time to talk.”