Beyond Reason (7 page)

“You guys made the trip,” I squealed, as I opened my door to see Brandy and Gabby standing in front of me. They were both holding an assortment of shopping bags, and I knew what they’d been up to while I was at the office.

I think they were feeling guilty about what they had up their sleeves but not guilty enough to confess or call it off. I got out of the way as they piled into the entry.

“Who’s running the bakery, if you’re down here tearing up the stores?” I teased.

It was almost impossible to convince Gabby to take a day off. In fact, I wasn’t sure how Brandy had convinced her to take an entire week off for our Utah trip. They must have thought I was in a dating crisis.

“Girls’ weekend,” they both sang together.

“When it comes to my Lily, I’d close up shop if I had to,” Gabby laughed.

I raised a brow and watched as they made their way into the family room. I had a few candles lit on the coffee table, and the flokati rug I’d ordered had finally arrived and was placed in the center of the room, complimenting the linen color of the couches nicely. The built-in shelves on each side of the fireplace overflowed with books. Even though I had copies of most on my e-reader now, I couldn’t bear to part with the paperbacks.

Gabby fell into a chair and Brandy sat on a couch, flipping the television on.

“I love the new chair,” Gabby said, crossing her legs and pulling a blanket onto her lap. “It feels like home.”

“Okay, what are you two up to?” I sat on the couch next to Brandy and grabbed one of the cream pillows to hold. “You’re
never
this nice.”

“I’m offended,” Brandy said, snatching the pillow from my lap. “This rug is so soft. I love it.” She had flung off her shoes, and her feet were buried deep in the shag.

“Can you believe how good she looks?” Gabby asked Brandy. “It’s like she’s glowing. This new guy must be good for her, whoever he is.”

“You went over the top with that one. You’re never this nice,” I laughed. “Plus, it’s Friday night and the fact that you two want to stay in makes me suspicious. And nervous.”

“We’re all attached so why would we go out and try to meet guys,” Gabby said.

“On that note, tell us all about your new guy.” Brandy switched the topic.

I had somewhat planned for this so I had my list at the ready.

“He’s absolutely amazing. Tall, tan, muscular, loyal, completely hot but adorable…is employed full-time.”

As I listed Ayden’s qualities, I almost started laughing.

“Sounds like a winner already,” Brandy teased. “Employed full-time, huh?”

“You’d be surprised. Around here that is a
big
deal,” I laughed. “He’s absolutely gorgeous, and he snowboards so that should be perfect for our little getaway.”

Brandy and Gabby traded nervous glances and Brandy let out a sigh.

Were they cracking already?

“First, we aren’t kidding about how good you look. There’s something about you that’s really refreshing to see,” Gabby said.

“But we do have something to confess,” Brandy continued.

“You didn’t really come down to visit me?” My brow arched. “You only wanted to come to my town for no sales tax?”

“No, we did come to see you. But you may not want us to stick around after we tell you what we did,” Brandy said.

They were cracking!

“Let’s order pizza first,” I said, reaching for my phone. I knew once they’d made up their mind to tell me about their Austin plan, it had to have been driving them nuts. Once they could get everything off their chests, they’d start to feel better. But I wasn’t ready for them to feel better yet. Nope! I wasn’t that nice. “You want chicken and spinach pizza, Thai pizza, pepperoni? And we have to have a salad. Maybe a Greek salad or we could do the chop-chop. Their chocolate brownies are to die for.”

“You know…” Brandy narrowed her eyes at me.

“Know what?” I feigned innocence.

“She
does
know.” Gabby nodded her head. “The little snot. Who told you?”

“Told me what?”

“You know what,” Gabby said.

“What kind of pizza do you want?” I tried again.

“Was it Mason? He can never keep his mouth shut,” Brandy huffed.

“I bet it was Aaron. He didn’t seem too pleased,” Gabby mused.

“What on earth are you guys talking about?” I glanced at my phone, wondering if I should text Ayden that his sister was about to give in and tell me everything. I hadn’t actually heard from him since Wednesday, and with this, I’d at least have an excuse to reach out.

“We tracked down your high school boyfriend,” Brandy said, at last.

Even though I knew it was coming, my heart still did the stop and ‘oh my gosh’ routine, which was annoying. I didn’t want to give away that Ayden had come clean so I just stared at them, waiting for either one of them to continue.

“That was why we planned a trip to Utah,” she continued.

“You didn’t have his name.”

“Do you think I’d let a little thing like that stop me from possibly finding my best friend’s true love?” Brandy asked, completely deadpan.

“Listen, what you guys have done is sweet but very misguided. There was more to the story than I told you. And I recognize that’s my fault, not yours. But I actually have tried to reach out over the years and he’s never responded. So you better get ready to just enjoy a lovely ski trip and nothing more.”

Brandy and Gabby looked at each other and then turned their attention to me.

“He responded to us,” Gabby said.

“What do you mean
responded
to you?” I asked. My pulse began racing as I thought about what just rolled off her tongue. It was one thing to track him down but quite another to contact him.

“Aaron and Jason have been against this idea from the beginning—”

“For good reason,” I interrupted Brandy.

“They knew they couldn’t convince us to give up our idea, but they thought the least we could do was make sure Austin wasn’t married with five kids.” Gabby had pressed herself into the chair as far as she could go.

“And?” I asked.

“He’s not married, not by a long shot,” Brandy answered. “He responded to our email and said he’d love to see you.”

“Well, that’s not exactly how he said it.” Gabby’s brow raised at Brandy, but Brandy didn’t continue so Gabby took over. “He kind of implied he was looking forward to meeting
all
of us.”

“Okaaay?” I prompted. “That seems normal enough.”

“It was kind of in a flirty way,” Brandy finished for Gabby.

I noticed just how close Brandy and Gabby had become recently. Living in Portland away from them definitely put a bit of wedge between me and them. Maybe I should look for work in Seattle once I gave my notice. They were like my family, far more so than my blood relatives.

“He’s single. It’s not illegal to flirt.” I found myself already making excuses for him, and it wasn’t like I even knew who he was any longer. We’d both gone our separate directions.

“He thinks you’re single because we thought you were when we emailed him,” Brandy replied. “And I think I’d like pepperoni.”

“Me too,” Gabby agreed.

“The pizza can wait,” I muttered. “I want to hear what you guys thought could come of this. I want your idea of what a happily-ever-after would be in this case.”

“Our hope was that you wouldn’t know any of this was happening. That you were going to arrive in Utah. We’d all have a wonderful group dinner and when we went to leave for the evening, he’d be standing across the room and you’d see him. And he’d see you,” Brandy’s voice trailed off.

“And then both of your eyes would lock on each others, knowing it was meant to be,” Gabby sighed. “Ridiculous. I know.”

“I’ve known about your plan for an entire week,” I confessed.

My cheeks began to get warm, and I felt overly anxious for some reason.

“I’m gonna grab some water. Do you guys want anything to drink?” I asked. I needed to regroup, and I didn’t want to admit that their foolish ideas of how love worked, also matched mine for the last week.

“I’m fine,” Brandy responded.

“Me too,” Gabby agreed.

I went to the kitchen and filled my water glass and took huge gulps as I fought with myself over make-believe scenarios. This type of reminiscing was detrimental. It was one thing to wonder where people landed in life, but this took it to an entirely different place, a place that wasn’t even grounded in this world, let alone this universe. But I had to love them for trying.

Feeling hydrated and a little more centered, I walked back into the family room. Neither of them had spoken a word since they’d unveiled their vision for me and my happily-ever-after. There was just an awkward silence.

“The truth of it is,” I paused, “I’ve dreamed that would be my fairytale ending too,” I replied.

Gabby’s mouth fell open.

“Since I found out about what you two were up to, I’ve Googled him countless times and spent my nights imagining that we’d reconnect, and all would be forgiven, and he’d fall madly in love with me all over again. And I feel absolutely insane for having those thoughts cross my mind. I blame you both completely. It’s entirely unlike me and even my own bullshit detector’s going off,” I said. “But then I think back to the connection we shared in high school. It was so intense, and I’ve spent the short amount of time that I’ve been an adult hoping to find that again.”

“Well, maybe you can’t find it with anyone else because Austin’s the one,” Brandy offered.

“Do you really believe in just one?” I asked.

“I do.” Brandy nodded.

“You?” I asked Gabby.

“Yup. Now that I have Jason.”

“So I have two hopeless romantics trying to plan my future. This is so not going to work out well,” I sighed.

“Especially since you’re going down to Utah already attached,” Brandy said, nodding in agreement.

“About that.” I picked up the phone and dialed the pizza place. “I’m not seeing anyone. I just wanted to drive you two mad. And it looks like it worked.”

As I was ordering the pizza, Gabby and Brandy were whispering nonstop about who could have told me about their master plan and how dirty I played it. I couldn’t help but love these girls. We didn’t talk behind one another’s back. Nope. We just did it right in front of each other. I hung up the phone and curled my legs underneath me on the couch.

“Pizza’ll be here in fifteen minutes,” I said.

“Why won’t you tell us who ratted us out?” Brandy scowled.

“I always protect my sources.”

My mind drifted to Ayden, and I wondered what he was up to tonight. And then the trip flashed into my mind with a jolt. The jig was up. I needed to text him. I got up from the couch and walked to my bedroom, leaving Brandy and Gabby to their guessing game.

My comforter was pushed down to the foot of the bed, and the sheets had been stripped off my bed and were in the washer, but I crawled on top anyway. The mattress fabric was kind of scratchy so I propped my elbows on my pillows as I typed my text out to Ayden.

They let the cat out of the bag. Fully admitted everything about the trip. Just wanted to let you know so you still had time to find someone to take with you, third wheel and all. Also, all is on schedule for your campaign. Thanks again for everything. You’re the best. xx

I hit the send button and decided to wait a few minutes before leaving my room. I didn’t want to get out there and have a text from Ayden flash on my screen. That would be a dead giveaway.

I thought I’d already mentioned that I wasn’t bringing anyone. Glad you got them to confess. I have full confidence in the campaign. No need for updates.

Huh…

Was he like cutting off communication or just trying to make me feel like he trusted me with his account? But I already knew he did. He had for the last couple of years. I stretched out on my mattress completely perplexed. Maybe he was with someone. After all, it was a Friday night. Did it matter? Why was I worried about his text?

Okay. Well, I don’t want you to be upset if everyone’s paired up and you’re not. You were very clear that you didn’t want to feel like a third wheel. I just don’t want to be to blame. That’s all.

I let out a sigh after I sent the text and began to crawl off the bed. Surprisingly my phone buzzed.

Curious?? Sudden interest in my dating life.

Well, now he was just twisting my words and my intention.

Not curious at all. Just wanted to make sure you had the opp to bring someone if you so choose. I have hung around your sister enough tonight to believe in happily ever afters and I wanted everyone to have one.