All the Wrong Choices by C.A. Harms

Chapter Twenty-Five

Jonah

“This is Heather,”Tucker points toward the brunette who sits opposite me at the tall table. She offers me a shy smile.

“Hey,” I didn’t agree to a blind date. I showed up thinking I was meeting two friends for a few drinks and conversation. This week has been shit, and the weekend has started out even shittier. I found one of Dani’s earrings buried in between the cushions of my couch and hit a low point.

The earring did not survive.

That’s what led me to Flannigan’s. It’s always been a place me and my friends hung out in often. Before Addison, Tony would have been by my side. It’s hard being around him right now because seeing Addi reminds me of Dani, and right now, I need to clear my head of her.

Jerking to the side, when I feel someone poke my hip, I spin around just in time for Avery to slip by. Moving in quick to Tucker’s side, he shields her from my retaliation, and I narrow my eyes at her, only to get a childish sneer as she wrinkles her nose and sticks out her tongue.

Seeing one of my closest friends with my little sister was hard at first, but Tucker is good to her. He’s protective, and I know she is safe with him, so after hassling him for months, I stood back and let it happen. That was four years ago, and now she constantly has a smile on her face.

“Hey Heather,” Avery moves in and offers the girl a hug, and I observe them. My sister is in on this as she looks over at me and wags her eyebrows. Sneaky assholes thought they were brilliant.

“I need a drink,” She hooks her arm through Tucker’s and tugs him toward the bar. “Come on, you’re my wallet.”

He laughs but doesn’t hesitate to leave me alone with Heather. I notice how she is watching me, and no, I may not have been feeling the conversation thing, but I can’t just ignore her. So I move around, sitting on the barstool next to her. “How do you know Tucker?”

“Our moms grew up together,” when she smiles, I notice the small gap between her two front teeth and quickly look back to her eyes.

Dani had perfect teeth.

I ignore the nagging voice in my head and try to focus on Heather instead.

“Which meant he and I were forced to be around each other often growing up. He’s that annoying older brother figure who drove me crazy. Still does,” she shrugs.

“He has that way about him.” I lift my beer to my lips and take a slow pull. We talk a little more, her telling me about being in nursing school and me trying like hell not to run through the plan to help her straighten her teeth. It’s an annoying habit of mine but something I can’t manage to shut down.

Her brown hair is long, hanging over her shoulders in soft waves, and being this close, I’ll admit, she smells nice too. Vanilla and maybe a hit of something spicy, and if she smiles without parting her lips, she’s not bad looking.

She doesn’t have the gorgeous eyes I can’t seem to wipe from my memory or the full heart-shaped lips that I love to kiss, but she isn’t bad looking. My problem is every woman I’ve seen over the last week, I’ve compared to a certain woman who left me standing in my entryway while she walked away carrying my heart.

Tonight, though unexpected, is a nice distraction. We’ve paired off and are playing teams. While Avery and Tucker demolish Heather and I in a few pool games, we school them in a few rounds of darts.

We end the night with me tucking Heather into the front seat of her car with the promise to meet for coffee the next day. Though I may not feel the uncontrollable lust and desire I’ve always felt with Dani, I find Heather is very interesting to talk to. I figure it can’t hurt to have something to take my mind off the heavy feeling in my chest reminding me Dani and I are over.

When Heather drives off, I turn to find Avery leaning against the side of my car, with her ankles crossed, watching me with curiosity. Tucker is a few feet away carrying on with some guy he ran into, and I know the questions are about to begin. Avery always has the same look on her face when she has something to say. That focused look, as if analyzing me very carefully. Narrowed eyes, staring at me with purpose.

Stepping closer, I join her while leaning back against my fender and crossing my arms over my chest. “Go ahead,” forever trying to ensure her older brother meets his forever girl, and she is a little pushy on most days. Much like my mother, they are nosy and like to bully me into sharing my feelings.

I’ll give a little tonight because, to be honest, I have had shit bottled up for days, and Avery is the closest thing I have to a female best friend.

“You look sad,” she bumps her shoulder to mine, and I nod, not trying to hide my feelings. “I know you said there wasn’t a girl,” she turns her body more toward mine, and I look over, our eyes locking immediately. “But I think maybe there is.”

“Was,” I correct her and watch as her eyes widened a little at my confession.

“Not anymore?”

“It’s complicated, Av,” so fucking complicated.

“Do you love her?” I hold her stare, letting her question linger around in my mind.

“I think had I been given a chance; I could have.” I know without a doubt Dani would be consuming. Hell, I wasn’t that far from throwing away my dreams to have her give me a small part of herself. I was desperate, and maybe I still am.

I can tell Avery wants to ask more, but instead, she leans into me and looks up at me with a smile. “If she can’t see what a catch my big brother is, then, in my opinion, she can’t be all that great.”

If only it were true, because Danielle is everything. Life would be easier if she were some horrible person, but the fact of the matter is, she is a wronged woman with trust issues. Dani is a woman who feels like having a little is better than ever being hurt again. She shut down, managing to convince herself that keeping her heart out of the mix is the only way to be happy.

What hurts the most is I know she isn’t happy. I think if she and I had parted and she was out there somewhere living her life to the fullest, it would be easier for me to let go and move on myself. But I know she is even more closed off now than she was before.

Addison has taken sides, and that alone, I know, is a significant hit for Dani. Those two are closer than sisters, and without her to turn to, who did Dani have. Addison should be with her, but from what Tony has told me, they’ve barely talked.

“Her name is Danielle,” I don’t know what possesses me to say anything at all, but it is out of my mouth before I have the chance to think it over. “She was in a relationship with a real douche bag, and it ended badly.”

“So she’s not ready to try again?”

“I don’t know if she ever will be.”

“So you’re just supposed to wait and hope one day she might want more?” I can tell Avery is trying not to be defensive on my part, but like me, she has a trigger switch when it comes to protecting someone she loves.

“Slow down, killer,” I chuckle, and she narrows her eyes at me. “There’s no waiting; it ended before it even really got started.”

For the longest time, she watches me, still analyzing my words. Seeing right through me, she pushes off the car and turns her body to step in front of me. “Then why do you look like you just lost the love of your life?”

That is the golden question.

Because maybe I have.