Pretty Sweet - Christina Lee Page 0,24

family, and that was something to aspire to.

Not that I’d know, because I’d never had a real relationship, only a couple of regular hookups with women who’d tried the dating thing with me, but it had gone nowhere for both of us. No strings attached worked well for now.

Mark lifted his hand in a wave as a car pulled in the driveway and Bree’s brother, Dane, stepped out. He’d just walked up the stairs to greet us when Mark’s daughter, Hailey, came barreling out the door. “Unca Dame!”

I cracked a smile because Hailey was a sweet little girl. When she flew into Dane’s arms as if it had been years since she’d last seen him, he laughed and twirled her around. Dane had lived in their basement for a couple of years while he went through a tough period of his own with an ex-boyfriend, and though I didn’t exactly know all the details, it was nice to see him bounce back.

Hailey climbed onto his lap with a Barbie doll she seemed to favor as Dane took a seat on the porch swing.

“Where’s Desse?” she asked as she patted his cheek.

“He’s visiting a friend,” he replied with a peck to her nose.

“His friend Seff?”

He grinned. “Yep, Seth.”

Just hearing his name made me grin right along with Dane, though his smile was more likely related to her mixing up syllables. It might’ve frustrated her parents, but I figured they needed to hang on to those memories for as long as possible. Mom had said as much to me once, about the toddler years flying by and sometimes missing those days.

Mark laughed. “She’ll get there. She’s doing better with her Rs, if you haven’t noticed.”

“I noticed,” Dane said as he swung them with more gusto, and she clapped in approval.

My thoughts drifted back to Seth and our shopping trip the other day. Christ, how many times had I called him adorable? Except he was, and I couldn’t seem to help myself. Especially with how taken aback he seemed when referred to as anything remotely cute or attractive. Fuck, he needed someone in his life who called him all sort of terms of endearment.

Shaking that confusing thought from my head, I tuned back in to Mark’s conversation with Dane about the new apartment he shared with his boyfriend, Jesse.

“Everything good with Jesse?” Mark asked.

“Yep!” The grin on Dane’s face said it all. The dude was in love. “He can definitely be messy, but we’re good. He still visits his old apartment to see Seth because you know those two are tied at the hip.”

Mark raised an eyebrow. “Do I detect a bit of jealousy?”

“Nah, maybe at the beginning when I didn’t understand their relationship,” he admitted. “But they are absolutely just friends. Cuddly friends.”

“Cuddly?” I asked, without forethought. I couldn’t help myself when it came to finding out more about Seth.

“Yeah, they…well, Seth is a huge cuddler, not that Jesse isn’t,” he replied with a smirk, and I could imagine Jesse being insistent that grouchy Dane snuggle with him, whereas Seth would probably be way too shy to even ask. Why the hell did that make me feel a bit melancholy? “But Seth, he’s…a good guy.”

Okay, now all my curiosity buttons were pushed—what was Dane not saying? None of my business. Except, even the little Seth had shared in the parking lot at Rose City about his relationship with his mom, and then at the furniture store about not really having anything of his own, was pretty telling. He was sweet and sensitive and had so much to offer someone. And seeing that smile on his face when he got in line to purchase the cabinet, which seemed a huge decision for him, made my stomach feel all strange. I couldn’t readily explain why I was having all these intense thoughts about a guy I’d only met a handful of times.

“So…funny story,” I said suddenly. “Seth and my mom have become friends.”

“What?” Dane looked gobsmacked. “How?”

It did sound unbelievable, but all you needed was to see them together to understand how they’d gravitated toward each other. Two kindhearted, wounded souls. I wasn’t even sure if that was a fair assessment of Seth, but somehow I had a feeling I’d gotten it right.

“He plays the piano at the assisted living center where Mom works.”

“Huh, I didn’t realize,” Dane replied, placing a squirming Hailey on the ground so she could run inside the house with her doll in tow in search of who knew what.