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Chapter Four

Lainey

My jaw hits the floor when I see an enormous pink pig waddling over to us, his curly tail...wagging?

“Darling!” Bash bends to pet the pig, who, to be fair, he warned me about.

But I had no idea his teammate’s pet would be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. The logo on the back of the Cleveland Crush T-shirt he’s wearing is stretched from him filling every free inch of the shirt. He’s snuffling at Bash, blissed out with his head in the air as Bash rubs his back thoroughly.

“Is he smiling?” I murmur.

Darling turns his snuffling my way, the little snorting noises melting me. I lean down and let him snuffle at my face.

“Don’t worry, he’s not the ugliest dude she’s kissed recently,” Bash says to someone.

I stand and flick a glare at him.

A tall man with brown hair and a handsome face ignores Bash’s jab, putting a hand on my shoulder. “Lainey, I’m Carter. It’s great to finally meet you. Sorry about our pushy swine.”

“Are you kidding? I love him.”

A beautiful woman with her light-brown hair in a messy bun approaches us, her smile radiant.

“Lainey, at last we meet.” She hugs me and I catch a hint of her light floral perfume. “I’m Suki Stanton, Carter’s wife.”

“It’s so nice to meet you.”

I feel at ease already. After hugging me, Suki puts an arm around my shoulder and leads me into the main living area of their home.

It’s beautiful. The gray and navy leather furniture is modern but still looks comfortable.

Framed artwork that looks like it was made by children decorates the walls, one of the pictures of Darling, the pig.

There are a few big tropical plants in corners and a shelf with pothos trailing down both sides, the potted plants on the shelf in colorful pots.

Laughter sounds from another room.

“Don’t doubt me, foolish mortal!”

The playful comment—made by a man—makes me smile. Suki rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling, too.

“My friends are kind of a lot.”

My smile widens. “Perfect. I’m kind of a lot, too.”

She turns to Bash. “I like her.”

“What’s not to like?”

Suki folds her hands and puts them beneath her chin, giving me a hopeful look. “Do you, by any chance, like trivia?”

“Are you kidding? I was on the scholastic bowl team for six years and I’m a total science nerd. I love trivia.”

She hops up and down in a little dance. “I knew it as soon as I saw you! Come meet the other Smartinis.”

Bash lowers his brows, confused. “The who?”

“You already know all of them; it’s my trivia team.”

“Ah.”

Suki leads me into their home’s formal dining room, which has modern navy and white decor, the rectangular farmhouse-style table seating twelve. Two men, a woman and two girls are sitting at the table, and they all look over as we walk into the room.

“Guys, this is Lainey. Lainey, this is Harry, Mara, Dex, Charlotte and Hallie.”

Harry, Mara and Dex all get up to hug me and greet me warmly. Then, the younger girl pushes a curl out of her face and comes over to hug me, too.

“I just love Darling,” I say.

“Me too. He’s my best friend.”

I melt. “And you’re...Charlotte or Hallie?”

“Hallie. You can be on my team if you want.”

“I’d love to.”

I lock eyes with Bash, who’s standing on the other side of the table, and he winks at me. The butterflies flutter in response, but I tamp them down.

It’s just a habit for me to swoon over his very existence. He was my crush for years. I have an entire notebook I was using as a diary as a teenager that’s filled with dreamy Sebastian Stone musings.

I wrote Mrs. Sebastian Stone in that notebook hundreds of times, and I wrote out fantasy dates for us.

He was drafted into pro hockey right out of high school, so from the time I was fourteen, I imagined him calling me onto center ice in front of a crowded arena of screaming fans and announcing to the world that he loved me.

Then he’d get down on one knee and propose.

After The Incident, though, I wised up. I started dreaming of becoming an independent, accomplished scientist who signed her name, Dr. Delaney Morris, instead of Mrs. Sebastian Stone .

“How many hearts does an octopus have?” Dex asks the girls.

“We’re doing practice trivia,” Mara explains to me.

Suki takes Bash’s shoulders and guides him over to the side of the table I’m on.

“Harry and I need to finish up dinner. You take over for me, Bash, and Carter can take over for Harry.”

“Do you want help?” I offer.

She waves a hand. “Nah, there’s not much left to do.”

“What do you think, girls?” Bash asks Hallie and Charlotte. “How many hearts in an octopus?”

“One?” Charlotte guesses with a shrug.

“I think eight,” Hallie says. “One in each leg.”

“We’ve got a real scientist on our team. See what she thinks.”

Charlotte’s eyes widen with admiration. “You’re a scientist?”

“I’m a microbiologist.”

“Whoa.”

“I love that,” Dex says. “Tell us about your work.”

He’s very good-looking, fit and clean-shaven, wearing a T-shirt that says, “I’m not gay, but my boyfriend is.” I like him immediately.

“Well, today, I started working on a project with a professor at Cleveland State. We’re studying the microbiome.

” I break it down further so the girls will understand.

“The food we eat travels through the digestive system, and one of the places it goes is our large intestines. There are trillions of microorganisms there—fungi, bacteria and viruses—and they make up our microbiome. Ninety percent of the serotonin in our bodies, which is the feel-good chemical that makes us all happy, is made in that microbiome. I’m isolating and studying a strain of bacteria that may help treat anxiety. ”

“Seriously?” Dex puts his elbow on the table and rests his chin on his fist. “That sounds fascinating.”

“I think it is.”

“Will you be a Smartini?” Mara asks me. “Please?”

Suki answers from the kitchen. “I already asked her; she’s in! I’ll get you a T-shirt, Lainey.”

I can’t believe how quickly they welcomed me into their group. Though I’m not sure what it means just yet.

“What do I need to do to be a Smartini?”

Mara grins at me. “You have to be fucking fabulous and smart—which, done. And you have to come to trivia with us on Tuesday nights at the Tap House.”

Dex looks at Mara, his brows pushed together with concern. “She also has to be ruthless. We show no mercy to other teams.”

“Right.” Mara turns to me. “You can be ruthless, right?”

“Ruthless is my middle name.”

Hallie laughs. “That’s a weird middle name.”

I feel Bash’s gaze on me, and I glance at him. Warmth and pride swim in his eyes. The flutter in my stomach returns because I’m not used to Bash looking at me this way.

“Lainey, do you know how many hearts an octopus has?” Charlotte asks me.

Grateful for the distraction, I say, “Three.”

“Is the plural of octopus octopi?” Carter asks me.

“It’s octopuses.”

“Lainey, geez.” Bash puts his hands over Hallie’s ears. “There are children present.”

Carter laughs. “They hear a lot worse than octopuses from me. And Aunt Mara.”

Mara nods. “Aunt Mara needs her mouth washed out with soap. Preferably by Jason Momoa.”

“Okay, people!” Suki calls from the kitchen. “Dinner’s ready!”

Everyone makes their way into the kitchen, where Harry and Suki have prepared an elaborate taco bar on the island. There are hard shells, soft shells, tortilla chips, grilled steak, chicken and shrimp, lettuce, tomatoes, onions and several kinds of cheese and sauce.

And best of all, a heaping bowl of fresh guacamole. There are also bowls of rice and beans for the side and a big glass pitcher of margaritas.

“Lainey?” Suki offers as she pours a margarita. “Can I get you one?”

“Not tonight, but thanks. I have an early morning.”

“I want to hear more about your work sometime. I had no idea the bacteria in our intestines could have anything to do with mental health.”

This is my catnip—people who like hearing about what I do. I’m passionate about it.

“Anytime.”

A teenage girl comes into the room, AirPods in her ears. She silently makes herself a plate.

“That’s our oldest, Olivia,” Suki says. “I’d introduce you, but she’s a teenager, so she can’t even.”

I laugh. “I get it. I’ll meet her another time.”

Carter walks over to Suki and puts a palm on her lower back, his other hand on her hip as he pulls her closer and kisses her. “This looks amazing, babe.”

She smiles up at him, radiating happiness. “I didn’t try to cook the steak. I left that to Harry.”

“You ruined it one time ,” Harry says. “You need to get back on that horse.”

“She has something better than a horse to ride now,” Mara quips.

“What?” Hallie gives Suki a questioning look. “What do you have that’s better than a horse?”

“Aunt Mara can explain,” Suki says breezily.

Hallie turns to Mara, who smiles brightly. “I meant the wave of life, honey. She’s riding the wave of life. It’s metaphorical.”

I make myself two tacos with grilled chicken and veggies, avoiding the cheese and steak because I don’t think they’ll agree with my stomach.

When I’m back in the dining room, Bash comes in carrying a plate loaded up with steak, chicken and veggies.

“This is okay for you, right?” he murmurs.

“Yeah, it’s fine.” My cheeks warm. “It looks like you’re eating for three.”

He grins. “I’m a growing boy.”

I appreciate his concern about my health, but at the same time, it’s humiliating. I’ve had irritable bowel syndrome since I was fourteen. I have to be careful about what I eat and always know where the nearest bathroom is.

Who could blame Bash for not being interested in me? No man’s checklist for his dream woman includes prone to sudden diarrhea . It’s why Shane and I have never spent a night together. I have my place and he has his, and I’m nervous about us living together once we’re married.

Carter sits down across from us at the dining table, his plate as loaded up as Bash’s.

“So Lainey, anytime you’re ready to share embarrassing childhood stories about Bash, I’m all ears.”

I glance at Bash and laugh. “I always thought Bash and Eric were the coolest. I don’t really know anything embarrassing about him.”

He knows lots of embarrassing things about me, but I know I can trust him not to blab. They’re ancient history now.

“Oh, but there was the mustache.” I glance at Bash, who rolls his eyes. “That was pretty hilarious.”

Carter’s face lights with amusement. “Tell me more about this mustache.”

“What year was that?” I ask Bash? “Were you a sophomore?”

He nods. “It was for my team’s no-shave November. But since I have more male hormones flowing through this honed body of mine, my stache was more impressive than anyone else’s.”

I wrinkle my nose. “Was it, though?”

“It got me a date with a college girl. She thought I was twenty.”

My eleven-year-old self would have been crushed to know he went out with a college girl. Or any girl, honestly. I cried over the homecoming and prom photos my mom took of Eric and Bash with their dates because I wanted to be the one next to Bash more than anything.

“Then she saw that you looked like one of those hairless cats between your legs?” Mara quips.

“Nah, I didn’t make it past the first date without a driver’s license.”

After dinner and dessert, which is a decadent flourless cake I don’t dare risk eating, we return to trivia.

Carter and Bash go into Carter’s study for a while, but I still feel very comfortable with Suki and her friends.

By the time I leave, I have all their numbers in my phone, and they have mine, too.

“Did you have fun?” Bash asks on the drive home.

“I had an amazing time. Thanks for bringing me.”

“You’ll be seeing a lot of them while you’re here. That’s pretty much my Cleveland family if you add in a few more of my teammates.”

I remember a text from Shane earlier. “Hey, Shane wants to come visit this weekend. Is it okay if he stays at your place?”

He presses his lips together, his jaw tensing. After a few seconds, he says, “Yeah.”

I knew he didn’t like Shane, but I wasn’t expecting this. “We can get a hotel room.”

“No, it’s fine.”

“Are you ever going to give him a chance?”

He shrugs. “He’s not good enough for you, Lane. That’s never going to change.”

I exhale heavily and turn to look out the window because there’s no point in continuing this conversation. It ends the same way every time.

My own brother is okay with me marrying Shane. I can’t for the life of me figure out why his best friend has a problem with it.