Finding Eva (Highland Creek Series) (27 page)

“I eat.” Gwen tried to defend herself. Eva just pointed at the half-eaten slice of pizza.

“Really? Because two months ago you would be on your second piece, and that doesn’t include the breadsticks. You were healthy before, now you just look like a stick.”

Gwen picked it up, taking a dramatic bite before she threw it back down on the plate. “I’m trying, ok? I am just really stressed, and I have been so worried about all this stuff with Nick that I’ve had too much on my mind to eat. It has been really hard with you here; all I have done is sit in the house and think about Nick and his cheating and what I can do to make him stay faithful.”

“Gwen.”

“What?” Gwen picked at her pizza, not looking at Eva. Eva put her finger under Gwen’s chin, lifting her head so she was facing Eva.

“Nick is not your father.” Eva stared into her eyes, willing Gwen to believe her.

“I know,” she whispered, turning away with tears in her eyes.

Eva touched her arm, making Gwen turn back to her. “Do you? Because you are starting to sound like your mother.”

Gwen nodded her head, wiping away the tears that fell. “I know he is not my dad. He wants to try to work it out. I guess I am just too much of my mother’s daughter to not worry.”

“It will be ok.” Eva handed Gwen a paper towel, which she used to dab her eyes.

“Yeah, I know.” Gwen breathed in raggedly, exhaling loudly.

Eva pressed on, wanting to make sure Gwen understood what she was trying to say. “But I am just going to say this … if you want your marriage to work, you have to be you all the time. Nick needs to rediscover Gwen, not some creepy Stepford wife.”

She exhaled again, no longer crying. “Got it, boss. Now what about you?”

Eva pursed her lips, confused by the subject change. “What about me?”

“What’s going on with your boyfriend?” She smirked, signs of the old Gwen coming out.

Eva blushed, embarrassed to be in the hot seat. “Nothing. I am still leaving in two weeks, and I don’t know how I am going to be able to do it. The company is great, the sex is amazing, and we have been spending most of our free time together.”

Gwen’s eyes widened. “That’s going to be hard when you go back.”

“Tell me about it. And to top it off, we finally said that we love each other a couple days ago.”

Gwen clapped excitedly. “That’s great! Why am I just now finding this out?”

“It was still so new; I didn’t want to spoil it. We still don’t have any long-term plans and I am a little nervous because I’m leaving in a couple of weeks to go home.”

Gwen leaned over, propping her arm against the table and playing with her hair. “He hasn’t said anything about one of you guys relocating?”

“No, he still talks about having a long-distance relationship. I have been trying to drop hints, but I don’t think he is getting the message.”

“Have you told him that you would probably be willing to move here?”

Eva shook her head. “Not really. I know he loves me, and I know that he wants to make it work but until I know for sure that he wants a long-term future, I don’t want to put myself out there and get rejected.”

Gwen laughed at her, wondering where her apprehension was coming from. “You’re crazy if you think he doesn’t want you. That guy is crazy about you; he talks about you all the time. And Conner was telling me that he has never seen him this hung up on a girl before.”

Eva perked up, smiling broadly. “That just made my day. I have been really nervous about everything, and debating about whether or not I should just blurt it out, even though I am terrified.”

“You will never know unless you tell him. Think about it like this, there are only two ways this could go: either he is thrilled and you guys make plans for you to move down here sometime soon, or he rejects the idea. If he rejects you, although it will hurt, you will only be down here for another week or so before you are leaving. You could definitely just sell the house, no harm no foul.”

Except my broken heart
, Eva thought silently before she told Gwen, “You’re right. I have nothing to lose by telling him.”

T
hirty years old. Eva didn’t feel much different than twenty-nine, but she had a renewed sense of optimism since she had come to Highland Creek. She had a great guy, she had closure with her mother, and she was looking forward to what the next year held. Waking up in Aaron’s arms had been amazing; they had crazy monkey sex before he went to work with promises of more that night. She had spoken with her parents and her siblings, who all wished her a happy birthday, and the barrage of texts from friends left her feeling loved and appreciated.

She was spending the evening with Aaron, who had promised her a surprise, and she couldn’t wait. The only thing not going great was Gwen; although Eva had decided over the last day Gwen stayed with her that she was an adult who had to decide how she wanted to be treated. If she wasn’t willing to demand respect from her husband, Eva was not going to put herself in a position to argue with her best friend. Her phone pinged and she glanced to see the text from Aaron.

Aaron: You on your way?

Eva: In a minute. Have to look great for you ;)

Aaron: You always look great for me. Hurry up

Eva: lol … Hold your horses … Leaving in five.

Eva had decided earlier that since it was her birthday she should be able to get whatever she wanted. This was why she was going to tell him tonight that she wanted to move here within the next year, because she figured he would have to agree.
Better wait ’til the end of the night
, she thought warily,
in case he rejects you
. She wasn’t normally so unsure of herself; the only thing she could figure was because Aaron really mattered. She didn’t think he would tell her no; they had a pretty solid foundation and he seemed to be committed to making a relationship work. This was not like her at all. They hadn’t known each other every long, but she had a feeling they would last.

Although Eva thought it was odd he wanted her to come to his house because he normally picked her up, she was just excited for her surprise. He came to the door, leaning in to kiss her hello.

“Hey, babe. Happy birthday!” He rubbed his hands through her hair, kissing her again, pulling back before they got to the good stuff.

“Let’s go back here.” He pulled her toward the back where she saw lights twinkling on the back deck. He obviously put some thought into this, and she couldn’t help thinking how lucky she was to have met this amazing man regardless of the circumstances.

“Surprise!”

She screamed, shocked to see all of her family as well as his on the back deck. Eva rushed forward to give her parents a hug, happy to see them. This was better than anything she could have wished, having all the people that loved her there to celebrate her birthday. After she hugged her parents, as well as his, she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Gwen.

“I thought you went home this morning! You lied!”

Gwen laughed. “Guilty! I was dying not telling you, but I wanted it to be a surprise. Plus, Aaron threatened to kill me. I’ve just been hanging out at Aaron’s house, lying low and helping with the party.”

Eva turned to the guy in question and gave him a loud smacking kiss on the cheek. “Thank you for this.”

He grinned down at her. “Always, babe.”

Eva rubbed her hand down his chest. “I was just thinking about how I am really lucky to be where I am right now, and a large part of that is because of you.” She could see her speech got to him the way his jaw worked to keep his emotions in check.

“The same can be said for you. I didn’t realize what I was missing until you came into my life.” He kissed her with all the emotion he didn’t want to show before whispering in her ear, “I hope that I am in your life for a long time to come.” He had no idea how much his words made her heart soar and smoothed over her nerves about what she would be telling him tonight. She knew that he would want her here, and she couldn’t wait to see his reaction.

“Alright, guys, if everyone has said hello, foods up!” Aaron’s dad seemed to be the guy that kept everyone on track with regard to the food. Eva thought back to the cookout with Aaron’s family, but with seven people they needed someone to keep them in line. She noticed that Gwen sat next to Conner, but she didn’t say anything because she was trying to mind her own business about all of drama surrounding Gwen.

“Have you had a good birthday?” Aaron’s mother asked from across the table where she sat with Eva’s mother and father.

She smiled at them, thinking about the assistance Susan gave her in the beginning. “It’s been great. I always wondered what I would feel like turning thirty, but I couldn’t be happier with the way things are going, everything considered.”

Susan looked up between bites. “That’s great. How much longer are you in town?”

Eva cut into her meat, waiting before she answered. “School starts in about three weeks, so I have to be back within the next week or so.”

Susan glanced around, looking at her family, before she focused back on Eva. “Are you going to miss us?”

Eva sighed, sliding her fork back and forth on her plate, giddy as she thought about what she wanted to talk to Aaron about later on that evening. She didn’t want to give herself away, so she waited until she composed herself and looked up with a neutral expression on her face. “You have no idea. I never thought that I would fall in love with this place like I did. Now I don’t know what to do, but I have to go back for the new school year.”

Susan smiled sympathetically, glancing at Aaron. “It’s going to be hard for you. I couldn’t imagine being in your position. Are you still planning to sell the house?” Eva’s eyes widened at Susan’s latest question, not knowing what to say. It really wasn’t any of her business, but Eva noticed that no one else was talking as they waited to see what Eva would say.

Eva loved Aaron’s mom, and she knew that she was genuinely interested in what was going on with her, but she really wished she would stop talking about it. With every statement that mentioned going back, she could feel Aaron getting tenser and tenser, and she didn’t want to put him in a bad mood by talking about leaving. On the other hand, if he was clearly this upset about her leaving, then telling him about staying may be easier than she thought.

She shook her head slowly. “I don’t think so. I thought I was going to, but I’m just going to leave it for right now and see how things work out later on.”

Susan looked relieved. “Great. Elizabeth really wanted you to have it.”

“We wanted to see the house tonight since you will be coming home soon, and we may not get a chance to later on,” her stepmother interjected, and Eva inwardly groaned because she knew this conversation wasn’t changing any time soon. She wanted to enjoy the night, not talk about leaving, but their mothers clearly had other plans.

She glanced at her mother, realizing what she just said. “Sure. Are you guys not staying with me?”

Her stepmother cleared her throat before glancing at her father. “We didn’t want to make assumptions.”

“Seriously, Mom? Of course you are welcome to stay at the house; I wouldn’t want you guys to stay anywhere else.” Her stepmother looked at her father and seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. She didn’t know what that was about, other than the thought that her stepmother may still be wary of her. Eva knew that it had been a rocky road lately, but it was getting back to the way it used to be and there was no reason for her mother to think that things had gotten that bad.

“I got a job,” Katie said out of the blue, something she was prone to do all the time. Eva had often been annoyed by her way of changing the subject, but today she was very grateful.

“Did you?” her mother asked, making Eva wonder why she had kept it a secret.

“Yeah, I will be a reporter and weekend anchor for the station in Bluefield.”

“Are you serious?” Eva asked, surprised. Bluefield was only twenty minutes from Highland Creek, and the last time Eva checked she was looking closer to home.

“I looked all over, and they were the only station that took a chance on me. I was looking for somewhere closer to home, but it didn’t work out. As of now, I will only be about an hour and a half from you guys.” She looked at her mother, clearly seeking her approval.

“Well, we’re proud of you. I like the fact that you are going to be semi-close to us,” her mother said enthusiastically, always ready and willing to be encouraging to her children, something that Eva was much more thankful for after everything that happened. Dinner continued on that strand, thankful for Katie’s new job and just celebrating Eva’s birthday.

The biggest surprise was the cake which they brought out after dinner. It was made in all black with an Oreo dirt pile that said “Over the Hill.” She laughed, although she knew that thirty today was not the same as it once was. She took the good-natured ribbing about not setting off the smoke detector and getting old and knew how lucky she was to have such amazing people in her life. They stayed chatting, everyone just enjoying each other as she caught up with Reagan and Katie; Addie gave Katie pointers on succeeding in a mostly male field. She liked that her father and brother hit it off with Aaron and his brothers and father and could see this happening for years. Call her crazy, but she really wanted this relationship to work despite being so far away.