Matt & Brooklyn: A Standalone in the "Again for the First Time" Family Saga (AFTFT Book 2) (18 page)

“Does that bother you?” I asked, referring to Chris being in the house.

“I hate that she’s letting him come around. And then, on top of everything else, he thinks he’s gonna regulate who I can and can’t be friends with.”

Now we were getting somewhere. I was pretty sure I knew where this was headed, but I let her tell me herself.

“While we were eating breakfast, Mom mentioned that Julian had been over for dinner the night before, just making conversation I guess, but… my dad,” she said with an attitude, almost as if she didn’t want to call him that. “He started asking all these questions about who Julian was, why he was coming over to the house like that, and talking about me being too young to be that close to a boy… I mean… who does he think he is? He’s been gone for four years, Aunt Brook.”

She didn’t need to remind me how much time had passed since Chris had been any kind of father to her and CJ. On many occasions I wanted to hunt him down myself.

“I’m not letting him tell me who I can and can’t be friends with,” she added defiantly. “Julian’s been there when he wasn’t and I’m not about to make him go away because my dad doesn’t want me being friends with a boy.”

I was quiet, because I, too, had my concerns about that particular relationship between Lia and Julian, but I also understood where Lia was coming from.

I proceeded with caution. “Do you think the problem is that Julian’s a little older than you? Could that be why your dad’s concerned?”

“But he’s
not
that much older. I’m gonna be sixteen soon and he
just
turned seventeen last month!” She got worked up, but I knew it was only because of the part her dad played in all this.

My own experience with teenage boys was slightly skewed, so I had to put my prejudices aside for now. Besides, she was really defensive when it came to this boy. “So what did your mom say when your dad started questioning you about him?”

“Absolutely nothing! She just sat there and let him yell at me.”

I could see how that could sting a bit.

“I swear he can do no wrong, but she treats me like I’m the one who slept with all those other women. She’s so weak,” Lia ranted.

“Hold up,” I cut in. “First of all: watch your mouth. Second of all: your mom is
anything
but weak and don’t ever let me hear you say anything like that again.”

She went back to fidgeting with her nails and looking everywhere but at me.

“Now, I can’t speak for you mom, but she’s grown, Lia. That means you and I have no say so in what she does, especially when it comes to who she decides to let into her life. Whether it’s your dad or someone else.”

Oh, how I wished it was someone else…

“I know you’re only upset because you love her,” I added.

My words made water pool in the corners of Lia’s eyes. I took both her hands into mine and she looked up.

“I don’t want him to come back, Aunt Brook. He’s gonna hurt her again, then we’re gonna be right back where we started,” she explained as tears moved down her cheeks. I took one hand from hers to wipe them away.

“Lia… as much as you want to protect your mom, you can’t make decisions for her. Not even this one. And as much as you love her, she loves you and your brother one hundred times more than that. So you’re just gonna have to trust her.”

Lia gave a nod and brushed her shoulder against her chin to catch more tears. “Okay,” she replied.

We hugged and I felt like we were making progress, but there would most likely be many more of these talks in the coming days.

“Wanna help me make dinner?” I asked her.

She nodded and then smiled big despite the emotion still very present in her eyes. “Can I invite Julian over to eat with us?”

The smile I gave was tight and forced. “Uh… sure! Why not!”

I needed to meet this kid anyway. This
‘friend’…

Listen to me, I sounded like my sisters; skeptical when I tried to tell them Matt was just a friend. The next thought that came was that… they were right. Now, more than before, I was suspicious of this Julian’s intentions with my niece. It wasn’t her dad he needed to worry about.

*****

More than once I caught these two making eyes at one another from across the table. Clearly, I was the expert on what deep feelings wrapped in a friendship looked like, so they weren’t fooling me. There was definitely something brewing between Lia and Julian… whether they’d acknowledged it or not. I could see why she would be crushing on him, though; he’s a cute kid—tall, tanned skin that hinted at his Hispanic heritage, nice smile. Mmm hmm…
trouble
.

“So… Julian you’re seventeen, right?” I asked, already knowing the answer to this question. Like I said, he’s tall so he could’ve passed for older, but TaLia had filled me in on a few details about him, even that he had a bit of a troubled home life. She didn’t go into detail about that part, though.

He nodded and gave a polite smile. “Yes, ma’am.”

At least he had good manners.

“Do you and Lia go to the same high school?” was my next question.

“Yes, ma’am.”

I eyed him by mistake, wondering if this
nice-guy
routine was sincere, but then I caught myself and turned away. “You’re going into what, tenth grade?”

“No, eleventh,” he answered once he swallowed the food in his mouth.

Lia cleared her throat beside me and I knew that was her way of asking me to give him a break. I did. I backed off and sipped from my glass.

“Aunt Brook, did you meet any celebrities while you were in L.A.?” Lia asked, probably just to get the heat off her friend.

“I met Mara,” I replied. “You know, the lady who—”

“Are you kidding me? I watch her show all the time! Did you get to talk to her and stuff?” she went on.

I smiled a bit. “Actually, I went to her wedding. She’s one of Matt’s close friends out there.”

Lia’s mouth was wide open. “You have to take me with you one day.
Have
to,” she reiterated.

I laughed at how excited she became. “I’m sure Matt wouldn’t mind that.”

She turned to Julian, gushing about all the shopping she’d do out in California and he listened. Then their conversation switched to music, technical terms that I didn’t understand, as they discussed this new arrangement Lia was working on for her recital in October—something else I’d miss.

A text came through and I set my fork down to grab my phone off the counter behind me. It was Matt… and I smiled pretty hard seeing his name.

I opened the message and stared at the picture he sent—
a car.
A second later another came through of the same vehicle in a different color and then a question:
“Which one?”

I laughed.
‘Um… you’re car shopping in Albuquerque?’

I ate a little more and then he responded.
‘Not quite. I had to miss my appointment with the dealer because I’m out of town, but he offered to still help me pick out what I want. The paperwork can wait until I get back.’

That’s right; he
did
say he was taking the plunge and buying something new this week. I looked at the pics again, although the choice wasn’t really mine to make.
“I like the one on the right. The silver one.”

‘Cool. I’ll let him know.’

Why did my heart flutter over such a trivial conversation?

One thing was for sure, he was right about things seeming the same for the most part. There was no weirdness, no uncertainty about what to say when we were on the phone. He made it easy to keep being who we were before the other night happened. Things were just like he said they would be. Would that be the case when we were face to face again, though? That part still had me a little nervous.

Lia and her friend subtly flirted their way through the rest of dinner, maybe not even realizing what they were doing, and then went out to the backyard to hang out after they helped me clean the kitchen. I took note of how Julian reminded her to grab her inhaler first. He cared about her; I could see it. And no matter how much I didn’t want to, I was already softening up to the kid. He reminded me a lot of Matt, so I could see how he grew on Lia.

Sitting on the couch in the sunroom, I kept an eye on them, finally satisfied that their relationship was innocent. There was definitely something budding between them, but they were nothing but friends.

For now anyway…

Watching them made me think of Matt and I didn’t hesitate to call him. There was a chance he was still busy, but he answered on the first ring and proved that theory wrong.

“What were you doing? Sitting by the phone waiting for me to call?” I teased.

He chuckled and I wished I was there to see and hear it in person. “Basically,” he admitted, and I smiled. “I just got back to the hotel.”

Hearing his voice made me aware of the loneliness again. I tucked my feet up on the couch just as TaLia burst out laughing at something Julian said. She was so loud I heard her through the closed window. She seemed happy—with Julian around, anyway.

“How’s it going out there? Pete keeping you busy?”

Matt sighed into the phone and I laughed. Apparently that was a
‘yes’.
“Hella busy,” he answered. “And now he wants me to come back in a few weeks, too.”

My eyes widened, impressed that he was making such a good impression on even the veterans. “Wow… that’s
awesome!
You’re gonna be running around like crazy, trying to keep up.”

“Tell me about it,” he said, sounding extremely tired. “I have another premier in a couple weeks that Cliff’s hounding me to attend, so I have to make sure the two don’t clash.”

Yeah… he was definitely on his way to becoming a bigtime director.

“So, did you seal the deal with the car?” I asked when the thought popped into my head.

“Yep, and I’m in love even though I haven’t met her in person yet,” he replied, bringing a laugh out of me. “Gonna miss my truck, though,” he added.

I tried to picture him behind the wheel of something new. “You’re getting it fixed when you have time, right?”

“Yeah, but who knows when that’ll be. With everything going on, I haven’t felt like spending my downtime waiting at a shop all day, you know?”

That made sense. “Well, you’ll get to it when you get to it.”

He agreed and I zoned out watching the teens out back again. Now they were horsing around with a soccer ball Julian brought over with him. Lia was clinging to his back while her legs kicked wildly at the ball between his feet.

“You seem distracted,” Matt piped, cutting into my thoughts.

I sighed. “Maybe a little. I believe I’m watching the makings of young love.”

I could hear him smiling when he asked what I was talking about.

“Lia’s hanging here this week, remember?”

Matt’s television turned on in the background. “Oh yeah, that’s right.”

“Well, apparently there’s a boy in her life,” I explained.

“Your sister’s letting her date already? How old is she?”

I sighed. “She’s almost sixteen, but no, she’s not allowed to date yet; however, there’s always a loophole.”

“I don’t get it.”

The irony of what I was about to say had me smiling. “She has a best friend—who also happens to be a guy.”

“Ah, I see.” I could hear amusement in his voice. “Well, make sure you tell her to give this dude a chance. He’ll probably be the best thing that ever happened to her one day.”

I burst out laughing at his subtle nod to himself. “Is
that
right?”

“It absolutely is,” he replied.

In that moment, a lifetime of possibilities flashed through my mind—a future I hadn’t yet welcomed in just yet, but the fact that I could now picture it was a start.

“I’ll make sure to pass the message along… well, maybe when she’s done with college.”

He laughed again. “Good enough.”

“She was so stoked today when I told her I got to meet Mara. Now she’s all starry-eyed and wanting to come out there.”

“You should bring her one day. There’s plenty of stuff we could take her to do,” he offered.

I loved that our lives, our families, seemed to piece together so effortlessly. My family was already his family, his was already mine.

“I’ll do that,” I replied once I finally came out of my own thoughts.

“Did you unpack already, by any chance?” The question seemed loaded, but I hadn’t yet figured out what he was up to.

“This morning; why?” I narrowed my eyes suspiciously.

He chuckled on the other end. “Clearly, you missed something; otherwise you wouldn’t sound so clueless right now.”

Frowning, I asked what he meant.

“I snuck something into the front pocket of your suitcase,” he clarified.

Dallas hopped down off the couch when I got up, headed for the stairs to see what he was hinting at. He must’ve known what I was doing, because he hadn’t asked why I was so quiet. Pulling my suitcase from the closet in the guestroom Lia wasn’t occupying, I sat on the floor in front of it.