The Ex Next Door, page 24
Bartenders and kindergarten teachers—they knew everything.
“I’d better go, though,” Chip reminded Daria and pointed to the screen of his phone, grateful for an excuse to exit. Daria was lovely; the reminder that he was single, on the other hand, was not. “I’ve got a shift.”
“You don’t even need a job,” George grumbled from across the room.
“I like working, Dad.” He heaved a breath. “And that’s my cue to go.” Bending down, he pressed his cheek against Daria’s and somehow pried himself from her without another well-meaning piece of advice. “I’ll see you soon?”
“I hope so.” She patted him on the cheek, a gesture that made his heart ache. Not out of sadness, but gratitude.
Even if he was in the friend zone, perpetually in the single zone and always in the background, he wasn’t quite alone.
Once outside, Chip was greeted by the cool spring air, and his optimism rose. Winter had been mild this year, and he loved the chill against his skin. It was just enough to wake him up, and allowed him to switch his thoughts to the next activity at hand.
Even if Gabby wasn’t into him, she was still waiting for him at Mountain Rush, for a reason he would soon find out.
Right now, that was more than enough.
* * *
Gabriella Espiritu paced the back wall of Mountain Rush while keeping an eye on the front entrance, waiting for reinforcements to walk in.
But they were taking forever.
“This must be a really important email for you to want to open it up here,” Liza Wilcox called from the bar, gesturing to the laptop sitting on one of the high-top round tables. She was the bar’s newest supervisor, and was drying glasses while multitasking and serving the sleepy, late-lunch crowd.
“It is. I took my first CPA test last week and—” she swallowed as the jitters crept up her throat “—the results are up. I got a notification on the way home from a client’s house and thought, why not stop in?”
“And you always carry your laptop with you?”
“Absolutely. It’s a wedding planner’s best friend. Anyway, celebrating here feels right.” This karaoke bar had become a place of respite; she could get lost in the chatter and in the music. Plus, her best friend and favorite bartender, Chip, worked here. Truth be told, as soon as she was notified that her test results were up, she all but sped to Mountain Rush. To share the news with her friends, yes, but especially with Chip, who’d been with her at every step of her journey to achieve her CPA degree.
Liza frowned. “So you’re more than a wedding planner?”
“Yep. I just finished school.” In saying it aloud, she felt a surge of pride. When she’d decided to pursue her accounting certificate in order to help manage the books at the Spirit of the Shenandoah B & B, the Espiritu family-owned business, she’d thought, why not go all the way and get her CPA license?
It could only help. And with the way so many of her college friends had sailed through grad school with a million letters behind their names, she might as well, too.
She’d buckled down and invested the hours studying, in between planning her half-brother Jared’s wedding, in less than a month, among her other duties at the B & B.
The test had been hard, but she was confident that she passed.
“So after this you’ll…what?” Liza asked. She slung the drying rag over her shoulder and nodded at a new customer who’d taken a seat at the bar.
“There are actually four tests, so I have three more to take.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Dang.”
“No biggie.” She shrugged away the thrill in her chest.
Challenges—Gabby loved them. There was adventure in multitasking, in having a deadline. She sought to push her own limits; she wanted to see how much more productive or creative she could be.
“Better you than me.” Liza looked over her shoulder to the front door creaking open.
Light spilled over the dim threshold, and her three best friends walked in.
Game on.
Bailey Jenkins was the first to reach her. Of Irish descent, he was blond with fair skin, though currently sported dark half moons under his eyes. A radiology tech who worked third shift, and who was certified in preparing patients for ultrasounds, MRIs, and any other test one could think of, he rarely saw the midday sun.
“This better be good.” His voice was a croak, though he greeted her with their customary elaborate fist bump that they’d practiced over the course of two whole days. At the end of it, they were both laughing.
“It is. My exam results are in,” Gabby said.
Willa Johnson bowled her over with a hug. A striking Black woman, she exuded a bohemian vibe and wore long braids. She was an herbalist and entrepreneur that specialized in natural skin care. “It’s going to be fine,” she whispered in Gabby’s ear.
“Oh, I know it is.” She stepped back with a grin, though her body tingled with nerves.
“That’s what I like to hear.”
Over Willa’s shoulder came the standard high five of Chip, who was not only a bartender, but also a serial entrepreneur and a whiz with investments. Besides owning several short-term rentals, he was renovating the senior center, and contributed widely to local fundraisers to revitalize Peak. His floppy light brown hair and relaxed smile, however, gave a different impression. At first glance, one could underestimate his ambition. But Chip had an inner motor, driven by this idea that he could make things better.
Around him, Gabby felt light as a feather because he was so capable and solid.
“Let’s get this over with so that we can celebrate,” he said.
She nodded. Yep, Gabby was surrounded by excellence, and passing this test would get her one step closer to it.
She woke her laptop to display her inbox. Next to her, Bailey whistled. “That’s a lot of emails from Jared and Matilda.”
“T minus twenty-two days to the biggest wedding of the year.” She smiled, then clicked on the email from the licensing board.
If she had advice for anyone who wanted to be a wedding planner, it was this: don’t plan weddings for any of your siblings. Just say no, even if wedding planning was one’s passion.
The selfish fact of the matter was that the planner would not be able to enjoy their siblings’ wedding, not in a way that they wanted to.
For example: Gabby hadn’t been able to savor the dress fitting experience with her future sister-in-law, Matilda, because she’d been dealing with a florist emergency for another event.
Gabby clicked the link in her email and it sent her to a log-in page. As she entered her password, her tummy swirled. “I’m nervous.”
“We’re here,” Willa said.
Bailey pulled at the neckline of his shirt. “This is stressful. I remember doing this for my boards, though I was alone. I almost passed out because I held my breath.”
After she pressed Enter, the licensing office dashboard loaded onto the screen. In the middle of the page, in bold blue, was the name of the test. Next to it was another button named Results.
Struck by a sudden jolt of trepidation, Gabby recoiled and stepped back from the laptop. “Wait. I can’t.”
“C’mon, Gabby.” Chip grabbed her attention with the flirtatious tone of his voice. He shook out his body like he was getting ready for a fight. “Let it go.”
Heat rushed to her cheeks. Chip was mimicking a relaxation technique taught to them by one of her mother’s friends at Christmastime, when Eva Espiritu had been in the middle of a heartbreak.
At the time, it had been helpful, even if half of them had laughed.
Which may have been the point.
But in front of strangers? “What? No.”
“This whole bar, we’re your family. Are we not, Mountain Rush?” he asked, raising his voice, and snagging the attention of others nearby. Some faces looked up and cheered belatedly. “See? You know you’ll feel better. Shut your eyes. Shake it out. You know you want to.”
Gabby fought a giggle. Chip was…cheesy, but also quite convincing in his own way, and she found herself wiggling a little. To her relief, Willa and Bailey were participating in this silly ritual.
“You’ve worked hard, Gabby. Studied all year,” Chip said, with his eyes shut.
“Two years,” she corrected.
“Two years. And you earned this.”
“I feel like I’m in church,” Bailey whispered.
“Or some séance,” Willa added.
“Hush!” Chip demanded, then opened one eye. “All those nights poring over your notes. Eating all the dessert.” He kept shaking. “We’ve got your back.”
Gabby inhaled, and exhaled. She found solace in Chip’s conviction. “Minimum seventy-five percent.”
“Seventy-five percent.” Willa shook a hand in the air.
“Seventy-five percent.” Bailey took Gabby by the shoulders and led her to the computer.
“Go on. We believe in you.” Chip rested his hand on her lower back, to urge her to click.
Something inside her stirred. It was fleeting, and for a beat, sent her heart rocketing to her throat.
She turned to Chip and stared at his familiar gray eyes. He stood half a foot taller than her, and was solid, and strong.
That silliness? It drained out of her and she was left with… She couldn’t tell what.
Heat. Tingles. Giddiness. A combination of all three? Though none could fully encapsulate the topsy-turvy feeling of that moment. Except that it held excitement and promise and friendship and attraction.
But.
Chip was her best friend. He was also the best friend of the only man she’d once loved. Changing her platonic relationship with Chip—just thinking about it—wasn’t even a consideration, despite these continued surges of attraction.
Besides, there was William. Her far-away beau whom she’d soon see in person.
“She’s frozen,” Bailey commented.
“Gab,” Chip said, waking her from her thoughts.
“Right. Seventy-five percent.” She reoriented herself—obviously, her stress was getting to her.
“Wait!” Willa halted Gabby, then clumsily set up her phone in front of them. She pressed the red button to record. “For posterity.”
“Good idea. This is why I love you.” Her socials had been lacking these days, and a video of her test reveal would make for a great reentry from her hiatus.
Heaving a breath, Gabby set her fingers on the track pad and hovered the arrow over the Results button.
She clicked.
Hours. It felt like hours before the screen loaded, probably due to the horrible Wi-Fi access in the bar. And when the page fully appeared, it still took too long for her to scan the screen for the score. It wasn’t a number that jumped off the page. Nor was it in red. It was a number in the same black font as the rest of the text.
A number that said sixty-five percent.
Sixty-five.
“No.” Gabby’s voice was a whisper.
“It’s fine.” It was Chip’s voice, except it sounded far away.
To become a licensed CPA, Gabby would have to pass four tests in eighteen months. It had been suggested by her instructors that a test per quarter was ideal, to give her time for proper study.
Gabby had taken one quarter to study after earning her certificate, and now, technically, she would be behind a quarter.
“This can’t be right.” She looked up at her friends, bewildered.
Gabby was a doer. And she did things well. Like, straight A’s since forever, summa cum laude, always on the ball. It was how she could be a wedding planner in addition to school, and be able to manage everyone’s emotions, including hers, while in the depths of boyfriend drama.
And she’d studied. Late-night study sessions with Chip, skipping out on fun, gallons of coffee, and pounds of dessert…
“Don’t worry, honey, you’re going to get it next time,” Liza called from the bar.
Next time, as in three months?
“Thanks.” Gabby nodded at Liza, then noted the faces of other patrons turned her way. At the moment, she couldn’t recognize them, even if they were locals—their expressions were fuzzy in her brain.
Her eyes darted to her friends and their stricken expressions.
At the propped-up phone recording her every move.
She pressed the red button so hard that the phone clattered to the ground.
“Well, I’ve got to go.” She shook herself out of the moment, with only one thing on her mind, and it was to get far from here. To process, to plan for the next quarter. Something.
“But, Gabby…” Bailey began.
“No.” She pushed out a grin and gave each of her friends the eyes that said, Let me go and freak out, okay?
Was she open about her feelings? Yes. Did she live a transparent life? Also, yes.
But when it came to what she was good at, what she was trying to accomplish, she couldn’t fail. And that included people watching her fail.
“Love y’all. I’ll text, okay?” She grabbed her laptop and walked swiftly, with her chin held high, out of the bar. She resisted showing any sign of distress, steeling her expression. Though, as she exited Mountain Rush and was hit by a gust of wind, a full-body shiver overcame her, threatening to loosen her tears.
She lengthened her strides.
“Gabriella!”
She knew who it was before she even turned around. Only one person would be brave enough to come after her when she was in such a state. He was the same person who’d seen her at her drunken worst when she’d found out that her father’d had a child out of wedlock—her half-brother Jared. The same person who’d supported her while recovering from her break up with Nathan.
But she was too upset to turn and face him.
A gentle tug against her elbow coaxed her to slow, and then to stop. Her eyes went straight to the ground.
“I was just thinking.” Chip’s voice was light, as if he hadn’t just chased her across the parking lot. “I have a Costco-size box of Rice Krispies. And enough marshmallows for at least a couple of pans of Rice Krispies Treats.”
“Those things are addicting.” She struggled to keep her voice from breaking. Rice Krispies Treats were her favorite. Anything sweet was, in truth, but her late father used to make them as bribes for a quiet afternoon.
God, what was her dad thinking, looking down from above? Louis Espiritu had gone to war; he’d died there. And she couldn’t pass a CPA test.
“You should come by and do your next round of studying at my place,” Chip said, “because I can’t eat them all myself. Sometime this week? I can help you make flashcards again. You’ll be double prepped for the next test.”
She bit her lip to halt her tears and allowed gratitude to flow instead. This was Chip. Never faltering, always present.
Her eyes fluttered up to meet his, brimming with his sincerity. She found zero judgement in his expression, nor was there pity. It allowed for her to release some of the tension in her shoulders, so much that she could think of the next step. “You’re really going to help me study again?”
“Yeah. I mean, what else do I have to do?”
She laughed. “You’re so bored and all.”
“I know, right? So keep me company.”
Her nerves calmed further at the idea of them spending more time. He was the ultimate hype-man. With him, she could start again, try again.
Gabby would rally. She would come back from this. There was no other choice.
Chip walked her the rest of the way to her car. Then he opened the car door. “Soon?”
She nodded, despite the dread sitting solidly in her belly. Her mental calendar came to the forefront. “How about the day after tomorrow?”
He looked up in the sky for a moment. “Yep, I’m free. I’ll get those treats ready.”
“Okay. Thank you. Love you.”
“Love you.” He shut her car door.
As she pulled out of the parking spot and drove away, she caught sight of Chip walking back into Mountain Rush.
And instead of tears, she found herself smiling.
Copyright © 2025 by Tiffany Johnson
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ISBN-13: 9780369773128
The Ex Next Door
Copyright © 2025 by Heatherly Bell
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