Mr. Nice Guy by Belinda Williams

Chapter Twenty-Three

‘Hey, Ben, how’s things?’

Tom had debated taking Chelsea’s brother’s call, but then told himself not to be stupid. They’d been friends for decades, and Tom didn’t need to mention anything about his involvement with Chelsea at this stage.

‘Not bad, not bad. It’s been a while, so I thought I’d give you a call. You coming back to Sydney anytime soon?’

‘To visit or to live?’ Tom asked. He tossed his bag into the passenger side of his car and collapsed into the driver’s seat. It had been another long but rewarding shift at work today.

Ben sounded as though he was driving. Chelsea’s brother was a successful sales rep for a big engineering company and spent a lot of time on the road. ‘Both would be good,’ Ben told him.

Tom smiled. ‘You know, I’m pretty settled up here now. It’s a good place to live. Big enough but not too small, and still within easy distance of Sydney.’

‘You’ve been up there a few years now. It’s gone quick.’

Tom wasn’t sure how to reply to that, so he chose not to as it hadn’t been a question. When he’d first moved to Newcastle, the days, weeks and months hadn’t gone quickly for him at all. Eventually, after about six months, things had become easier.

‘You could come up for a visit sometime,’ Tom suggested.

He heard Ben sigh. ‘I’d love to. But you know how it is. Work is relentless, and now with a one-year-old at home . . .’

‘I get it. It’s not easy. I’m sure I’ll be in Sydney again soon visiting my family and I can drop you a line.’

‘Chelsea said you were in Sydney last weekend and you had tickets to that band she loves. She was raving about it.’

Tom cleared his throat awkwardly, glad that Ben couldn’t see his face. He was pretty sure Chelsea would have left out the part about the night in the hotel.

‘Yeah, it was nothing,’ Tom replied casually. ‘A guy at work couldn’t make it at the last minute, and I know how much she loves them.’

‘Thanks for looking after her, man. It makes my parents happy that she has someone up there to look out for her.’

Tom swallowed at the mention of Chelsea and Ben’s parents. They considered Tom a part of the family, and he wondered what they’d think if they knew Chelsea was involved with him. Would they be angry? Upset? Happy? At any rate, it wasn’t a conversation he was ready to have right now on account of the “we’ll just see how things go” approach he and Chelsea were taking.

‘Hey, it’s no problem,’ Tom said. ‘She’s easy to live with, and she doesn’t really need me to look out for her. She’s a capable woman.’

Ben chuckled. ‘I’m not sure which sister of mine you’re living with, but that doesn’t sound like Chelsea.’

Tom frowned. ‘She’s not a kid anymore. She seems to be doing fine, from what I can see.’

‘Is she still dating an endless stream of guys?’

‘She’s dating,’ Tom replied vaguely. ‘I don’t keep track.’

Liar.

‘Yeah, well, I doubt she’ll be settling down anytime soon. It’s a shame, because she’s so great with kids. Lia adores her.’

Lia was Ben’s daughter, and Tom wasn’t surprised that Lia loved Chelsea.

‘Just because Chelsea works in childcare doesn’t mean she has to have kids of her own,’ Tom pointed out.

‘I guess not. I just figured that’s what would happen. It’s that sort of job. But I didn’t factor in her poor taste in men.’

Tom frowned a second time. ‘What do you mean by that sort of job?’ He couldn’t exactly argue about Chelsea’s poor taste in men.

‘Well, it’s not exactly a career, is it?’

‘Why not?’ Tom shot back.

Maybe Tom was tired. Or maybe he was still wound up from the other night when Chelsea had literally blown his fucking mind with what she could do with her tongue. It had left him feeling more desperate than ever to sleep with her, but still reluctant to at the same time. It was like that old No Doubt song where Gwen Stefani sings about always knowing she’d end up as the guy’s ex-girlfriend. Tom didn’t want to become another in the long line of guys Chelsea had been involved with and then moved on from—admittedly for good reasons, in most cases.

‘Hey, mate, I’m not trying to be an arsehole,’ Ben said, cutting through Tom’s thoughts. ‘She just sort of fell into childcare out of school and has done it ever since. It’s not like she’s ever had career aspirations for anything.’

‘She’s thinking of going to uni,’ Tom said and snapped his mouth shut. Shit. He pushed a frustrated hand through his hair. ‘But you’re not supposed to know that, OK? So I didn’t tell you.’

‘She is?’ Ben sounded surprise. ‘Can you at least tell me what course she’s looking at? That’s great.’

‘Early Childhood Education.’

‘Oh, right.’ His tone was disappointed.

‘It makes sense for her,’ Tom said, ignoring his previous intention not to say any more about it. ‘She’s got years of experience in the industry, and it will allow her to take higher paying jobs and possibly run her own centre down the track. She could even teach kindergarten at school if she wanted.’

‘Yeah, I guess it does, when you put it like that. Would she go to Newcastle University?’

‘That’s the place she’s considering right now, but like I said, you don’t know anything about it, alright? She’ll be pissed I told you.’

‘Why the big secret?’

‘Well, she hasn’t decided yet,’ Tom replied, then added, possibly against his better judgement, ‘so the last thing she needs is your family putting pressure on her.’

‘Pressure? When have we ever put pressure on Chelsea?’

Tom actually rolled his eyes. Ben was a good mate, but rather clueless when it came to reading women. Surprising, given he had three sisters, but he’d always been like that.

‘You’ve got to admit your parents like to compare the sisters to one another,’ Tom said.

‘Oh, that. Yeah, I guess you’re right. I never thought it bothered Chelsea. She’s always done her own thing.’

Yep, clueless. ‘Anyway, I’m sure she’ll tell you when there’s something to tell.’ He decided to move the conversation on. ‘Are you planning on getting tickets to the Boxing Day match this year? I can definitely make it down to Sydney for that.’

‘You bet.’

Watching the annual Boxing Day cricket match at the Sydney Cricket Ground was a tradition of theirs. The discussion moved on to sport and a few other things for the next few minutes.

‘Anyway, I better get moving. I’ve just pulled up at home,’ Ben said. ‘Before I go, have you, ah, heard about Gemma?’

Tom gripped the phone tighter. So that’s what this call had been about, among other things. He wasn’t angry with Ben. His mate was just looking out for him, and probably making sure he heard it before the news got back to Tom’s parents and they made a big deal about it. Which they most definitely would. That still didn’t mean he wanted to talk about it.

‘Yeah, I heard,’ Tom replied flatly.

‘Oh. Right. Sorry, I didn’t know.’ Ben sounded almost awkward, which was unusual for Chelsea’s big, burly brother. ‘Sorry to bring it up.’

Tom didn’t hide his sigh. ‘No, it’s fine. I appreciate why you did.’

There was a beat of silence on the other end of the phone. ‘It kind of bites though, doesn’t it? After everything you went through.’

Yeah. It bit. Like a rabid dog out for blood, but Tom didn’t say that. ‘It wasn’t meant to be.’

‘No, I guess not. Anyway, I’m sorry, man. Hey, maybe you should take a leaf out of Chelsea’s book and date more? Nothing serious. It might actually be fun.’

Tom grimaced. ‘You haven’t been on Tinder lately, have you? I’ll take it under advisement though.’

Ben let out a bark of laughter. ‘On second thought, I’ve been out of the game too long to give you advice on the subject. I’m too much of a family man now. Anyway, good to chat.’

Tom returned Ben’s goodbye and finished the call. He tossed the phone on the passenger seat and stared out the window.

A family man.

He could have had that once, in a different life. A lot had changed since then. Except for one thing. He still didn’t know what he wanted.

You want Chelsea.

Tom scoffed at himself. So what was holding him back?

Ben’s words from their phone conversation returned to him.

I doubt she’ll be settling down anytime soon.

Is that what he wanted? To settle down? He wasn’t ready to be a family man like Ben yet, but he certainly didn’t want to become a casual fling of Chelsea’s, either. Except Ben had made it blatantly clear that Chelsea didn’t do serious relationships. Yet, Chelsea was the only girl on Tom’s mind. Hell, she was the only girl who had been on his mind in that way since Gemma.

But was Chelsea the right or wrong girl?

Tom wished he knew.