Stitches and Scars (22 page)

Lisa’s eyes were wide as she studied his face, surprised by his attitude. “Okay, sure,” she said warily.

Ethan quickly turned on his heel and walked away. His mind couldn’t even wrap around the idea of Cindy calling his mother right now. But he wasn’t about to put it past her.

Unfortunately, Cindy had met his parents on one of their visits, and his mother seemed to take a liking to her. Whether it was just because she wanted him to finally settle down, he wasn’t sure. But whatever the reason, she got it in her head that the two were going to get married. ‘A perfect match’ she’d called them. Cindy’s parents were well-known in the community and very well off.
As if that’s a perfect reason to stay together
, he scoffed to himself. How she couldn’t see through Cindy’s act was still a mystery to him.

The pressure to call his parents and inform them of his break-up was building. He knew it had to be done—especially since he wanted them to know about Kate. He wanted them to see how happy she made him and how perfect they were for each other.

With a smile on his face, Ethan walked down the hallway and allowed himself to imagine his life in twenty years with Kate by his side.

Chapter 18

Revelations

T
wo weeks. I can’t believe it’s been two weeks. Two of the most amazing weeks of my life,
Kate thought as she stared blankly at the computer screen in front of her. For the past fourteen days, she and Ethan had seen each other almost every day. They would sit and talk for hours either on the phone or cuddled up on her couch. His voice had become the first thing she heard in the morning and the last voice she heard at night. Their relationship was growing into something that she knew was special, and she was certain he felt the same way.

Everything in her life was just as it should be, and surprisingly, her relationship with Scott was included in that. Taking some time to settle down after the last run in she’d had with him, Kate thought about what he’d said. He wanted to be friends again. At the time, she wasn’t sure it was possible, but her opinion soon changed. It started with a few friendly emails where he’d tell her the random happenings of his day. At first she didn’t respond to them, but the more he wrote, the more comfortable she felt. After all, they had been friends first before anything had happened between them. It was easy to have a casual friendship.

He’d even mention his girlfriend, Samantha, and Kate would, in turn, tell him about what she and Ethan had planned for the evening. His mentioning his girlfriend didn’t bother her like she thought it might. In fact, it only proved that they could indeed be friends and nothing more.

The only time her heart ached was when he’d mention their old friends. Cutting off contact with Scott had its price, and it came in the form of his friends—the same friends she’d grown to love over the years. But now things were different. If she and Scott were finally able to be friends—just friends—then that meant she’d have that connection again.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the banging of kitchen cabinets. She knew that only meant one thing: Elle was awake and she was trying to cook. Kate quickly closed her email, not wanting to risk Elle walking in and seeing it. She felt bad about hiding her friendship with Scott from her roommate and Sophie, but knew that it would only make things complicated.

“Where in the hell is the coffee?” Elle yelled out as Kate walked into the kitchen.

Elle continued to ramble to herself as she slammed cabinet after cabinet shut. Lately her nerves had been running thin, which was surprising considering the turn her life had taken in the past two weeks. Ever since finding out she was a top choice for the cover of
Sports Illustrated
, she’d been waiting with bated breath to find out if she’d gotten it. And just over a week ago, while she was in New York for business, they told her that she was this year’s choice. Along with the cover came a lot of promotional work that would keep her schedule busy for the next month. The most important, and for
her
the
most exciting, was taking place the same day the magazine was released. As the year’s cover model, it was arranged that she flip a coin at the start of the Eagles game. For Elle, the news was almost as exciting as landing the cover. She’d been on cloud nine ever since. But now that the day was actually here, she was a ball of nerves.

“Do you need help?” Kate asked quietly in an attempt to not anger the beast.

“Yes. And why the hell can’t I find anything in this stupid kitchen?” she spat back. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she spun around and met her friend’s eyes with a repentant face. “I’m sorry,” she sighed. “I’m just so nervous about this whole reveal that they have set up. I mean, why couldn’t they just release the information like they normally do? I can’t seem to function.”

“Elle, you’re never nervous,” Kate reminded her. “You’re going to be great. Plus, we’ll all be there.”

“Speaking of that, when are you going to tell me more about this guy you’re setting me up with?”

“There’s really nothing to tell.” She shrugged. “His name is Trent, and he’s Ethan’s best friend.”

Elle knew her friend was hiding something; she could feel it. “Yeah, you keep acting secretive.” She pointed her finger at Kate. “But I’m warning you, if this guy ends up being some crazy psycho, I will get revenge on your sweet ass.”

“Who has a sweet ass?” Sophie chirped as she poked her head into the kitchen, causing both Elle and Kate to jump.

“Hey! What are you doing here?”

“I just stopped by to see how you were doing. I figured we could hang out for a bit before the game.” Sophie smiled.

Elle swept her hair up into a clip. “I’m a little nervous, slightly more so now that you mentioned the game.” She eyed Sophie. “But it’s nothing that can’t be flushed out with a little kickboxing.”

“Ah, nothing like taking out all the built up tension on a punching bag,” the blond friend agreed.

“Or a horny gym rat,” Kate added.

“I couldn’t agree more.” That being said, Elle grabbed her keys and a newly poured cup of coffee, then headed to the door. “I’ll catch you guys later.”

Both friends yelled their goodbyes, and once alone, looked at each other with mischievous grins.

“Do you think she has any clue who Trent is?” Sophie asked.

“Are you kidding? She’s so nervous about flipping the coin, she can’t focus on anything else.”

“Perfect.” Sophie smiled. “Now it’s all up to Ethan. Let’s hope he can keep his friend distracted.”

“Have some faith, Soph. Ethan can do anything.” Kate laughed. “This is going to be good.”

“No,” Sophie corrected. “This is going to be
great
.”

***

“Trent. Hey, Trent! Get up.” Ethan tossed a pillow at his friend’s head and hoped that did the trick.

“Ethan,” he warned. “You better not be waking me up unless you have a big cup of coffee and the
Sports Illustrated
.”

“Uh, no. Sorry, I don’t. But I can go make us some coffee, if that will help.”

Trent lifted his head and saw his friend dressed in his hiking gear. “Why are you dressed like you’re going for a hike?” he asked him.

“I’m dressed like this because
we
are going hiking.”

“No, I’m not going,” Trent moaned.

“Come on, it’ll be fun.”

“No, no, no.” He shook his head. “Today is ‘SISSI’ day. I’m not going anywhere.”

“SISSI day?” Ethan asked curiously.

His friend rolled his eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. “
Sports Illustrated
swimsuit issue.”

“Oh, come on, Trent. You’ll have plenty of time to pick up a magazine. We’ll just go for a little while.”

A staring contest was begun between the two friends, and when Ethan didn’t let up, Trent groaned. “Fine, let me just grab my stuff.”

With a satisfied smile, Ethan left his friend to get ready and prepared himself for the apologizing that he’d be doing in the not too distant future.

***

“For the last time, Trent, I’m sorry that we got lost.”

“There is no
we
;
you
got us lost.” Trent rolled his eyes. His normally carefree attitude had drastically changed after the fifth hour of walking. Their short little hike ended up taking all day because Ethan apparently ‘forgot’ how to get back to the car. Now they were pressed for time.

“We could always call the girls and tell them that we’ll meet them later,” Ethan suggested. Trent didn’t respond. Ethan knew better than anyone that his friend never missed kickoff. He even recalled a time when Trent compared it to skipping the stockings at Christmas and going straight to the tree. To him, everything had a specific order to be followed, and it didn’t work any other way. He was always there, on the sidelines, when the game started, whether he was suited up to play or not.

“Just pull over at the 7-Eleven so I can get the magazine.”

At Trent’s words, Ethan stiffened. “How about we go home first, and then we can—”

“No.” His friend cut him off.

With a defeated sigh, Ethan pulled over at the closest 7-Eleven and wondered how bad it would be when Sophie found out he didn’t hold up his side of the plan.

Trent walked into the convenience store and made his way over to the magazine rack. Skimming the covers, he saw every magazine except the one he was looking for.

“Can I help you find something?” the store clerk asked with a knowing smile.

“Ah, I’m just looking for—”

“The
Sports Illustrated
?” the man finished.

“Yeah, how’d you guess?”

“Every guy that’s come in this morning has purchased one. I sold the last one an hour ago. I’ve never seen them go so fast. It is quite a cover.”

He raised his eyebrows. Silently cursing Ethan for making him late, Trent spun on his heel and was just about to walk out when the man spoke up again. “You’re not an Eagles fan, are you?”

With a chuckle, Trent looked back at him. “You could say I’m one of their
biggest
fans. Why?”

“Apparently she’s going to be there tonight, at the game.”

“What? Who?” he asked in confusion.

“The girl from the cover. Didn’t you see the paper this morning?” the clerk picked up a paper and tossed it to Trent.

Flipping open to the sports page, he noticed the article on the bottom right corner. “
Sports Illustrated model expected to flip.”
His eyes quickly scanned over the article. It explained that the model who had graced the cover of this month’s issue was flipping the coin at the start of the game.

Trent’s once gloomy mood changed instantly. He tossed some money on the counter and walked outside with the newspaper in hand and a smile on his face.

Ethan noticed his friend’s expression. “That great of a cover, huh?”

“Don’t know. They were out.”

“And you’re okay with this?”

“I am now.” He reached over and punched Ethan’s shoulder before tossing the article on his lap.

Ethan’s eyes narrowed as he skimmed over the paper and read the information he already knew. He was just thankful that there wasn’t a picture. The last thing he wanted was to be the reason Sophie’s plan didn’t work. “Well, let’s go.”

With an excited nod, Trent turned up the volume on the radio and sat back. His plans for the evening were quickly looking up.

***

“They said they’d let us know where to meet them,” Ethan said for the second time. He watched as his friend shifted from one foot to the other.

Ever since they’d arrived at the stadium, Trent had a one-track mind. All he cared about was getting on the field so he could get a closer look at the model everyone was talking about. Since they’d arrived, Ethan had almost corrected his friend twice that ‘the model’ he continued to refer to had a name. He was surprised at how hard keeping a simple detail from his friend actually was. Thankfully, his cell phone rang and he didn’t have to think about it much longer.

After a short conversation with Kate, he snapped his phone shut and looked to his eager friend. “They want us to meet them in the hallway out in front of the tunnel.”

“Sounds good to me.” Trent quickly took off without a second thought, and Ethan followed close behind him.

They made their way through the stadium, and once closer to the tunnel, Trent finally slowed down. There were more people standing around than usual, and he hoped it had something to do with the mystery model. But before he could get a good look, Ethan led them over to a small group that stood off to the side and began making introductions.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Trent said after meeting Kate. “This guy won’t shut up about you. You know, I’ve wanted to thank you. Ever since he’s met you, we’ve had a serious influx of produce in the house. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so healthy.”

Kate burst into laughter. “What can I say? I’m good with produce.” She shrugged.

Trent laughed with her, then turned his attention to the group of people standing close by. “Wonder if they’re all here because of the swimsuit chick. I hear she’s hot.” He shook his head. “They’ve been keeping her identity under wraps. Usually they aren’t so secretive.”

Logan listened closely and was just about to comment when his phone rang. Turning away for a moment, he only spoke a few words before ending his call. “That was my sister,” he said to Trent. “She’s just a little nervous.”

Trent furrowed his brow, and then it hit him. “That’s right—Squish,” he said aloud. “She’s your sister.”

“Yep,” Logan confirmed.

Nodding his head, Trent looked a little closer at the guy standing in front of him. He wasn’t bad looking for a dude, and he hoped that maybe Logan and his sister had that in common. Just thinking about suffering through a blind date made his head hurt. His only solace was the fact that he’d be watching a game from the sidelines. After a good game, he could endure anything. Even a date that he didn’t want to be on.