Settling Up: A Playing to Win Novella: Playing to Win, #2.5

By Amalia Theresa

 The last thing Nic wants is to come between Will and his friends, which means there's one last challenge before she can fully claim her happily ever after: Kate.

 While she was living in Ohio, they could all avoid whatever awkwardness might linger from Nic and Sully's brief fling over a year ago and the friendship that followed, but now that Kate's moving to Heron Lake to work for Will at Fowler's, Nic is determined to clear the air between them.  

 But there are more tensions between Sully, Kate, and Will than just Nic's own insertion into their long-established dynamic, and Kate has her own insecurities to face, now that she's back among her friends.

 Taking place just a few months before the epilogue of Playing it Safe, Settling Up navigates the start of a new friendship between Nic and Kate, and revisits the relationships of both Will & Nic and Kate & Sully.

 Fans of Christina Lauren's Wild Nights and Beautiful series and Cora Carmack's Rusk University will enjoy this return to the ultra-sexy contemporary romance series, Playing to Win.

(Visit my author website for content warnings.)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thorskona Books
• Release date: Jul 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201305925

Book preview

Settling Up

A Playing to Win Novella

Amalia Theresa

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Thorskona Books

Settling Up: A Playing to Win Novella

Copyright © 2022 Amalia Theresa

www.amaliadillin.com

All rights reserved.

First edition: July 2022

Cover Design by Amalia Dillin

All rights reserved.

Reproduction and distribution of this work without permission of the author is illegal. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.

This is a work of fiction. Any similarity between characters or events in this story and with any other person or creature, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Contents

Dedication

A Note for Readers

1. One

2. Two

3. Three

4. Four

5. Five

6. Epilogue

Author’s Note

About the Author

Excerpt from Playing House

More Works by Amalia Theresa

Who am I kidding?

I wrote this one for me.

A Note for Readers

You’ll definitely want to have read the first two books in the Playing to Win series before you dive into this novella, which takes place a couple months before the final epilogue of book two, Playing it Safe.

One

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Nic

Admittedly, it was a relief to finally have things settled with Will. Turned out, just committing to being together was a lot less stressful than all the will-we/won’t-we that had come before, even while I was still at Midwestern, finishing up my thesis this summer before I mastered out of my Organizational Psych program.

I had a lot of finger-crossing to do during the year I was taking off, beginning in late August—I’d be praying to the admissions gods that I’d be accepted into Midwestern’s Clinical Psych program, minimum. But I really looked forward to the breather, and not only because I’d be able to move to Heron Lake and live full-time with Will while I waited for an academic committee to decide my fate. After six years straight of higher education while working full time hours across two other jobs, I desperately needed the break.

There’s just one thing I’m not really sure about, I confessed to Violet, picking at my chicken and waffles, smothered in a sticky honey mess. We were in the small diner that served the residents of Sunniva Falls, on the other side of the lake from Fowler’s. It only offered coffee and breakfast foods, closing by two even on the weekends, but it was cute, and made a nice change from the barbecue heavy fare I was usually eating when I came down to visit Will and met up with his sister.

Mrs. Fowler—Sarah—didn’t let Vi start work at Fowler’s until after two on Sundays anymore, ever since she’d taken a closer look at the scheduling and seen the hours Violet was putting in, back before Easter. Now that it was summer, Sarah still seemed determined to keep her out of the restaurant, and Vi was losing her mind at the continued restriction, so when I managed to get away to Heron Lake on the rare weekend—no more than once a month—I made sure to schedule in a brunch for us while Will was on the clock, a little quality time with the little sister I knew my boyfriend loved, and a little girl time for me, in the continued absence of my best friend.

Our long-standing Sunday night phone date had been rescheduled to Monday nights for the summer, to accommodate my new relationship status, but Beebs wouldn’t be back from Boston until the fourth of July, and even then, it would only be for a week and a half. Law school was keeping her busy, and while I was working full time at the bar and another ten to fifteen hours a week for my advisor while I finished my thesis up this summer, even if I felt more secure on the whole, it wasn’t really getting easier to be alone up at Midwestern for two weeks at a time. In fact, now that we’d both committed fully to our relationship, only seeing Will every other weekend pretty much blew. And having a set schedule at all—this was an improvement.

Violet made an encouraging noise, her mouth too full to respond more explicitly. But it didn’t stop her from tilting her head, her eyes narrowing slightly with concern—or suspicion, maybe—and she waved her fork for me to go on.

I grimaced, wishing I could put it off a little longer—but this was the last weekend we had just the two of us. The last trip before my little Heron Lake bubble burst, and Kate officially moved back from Ohio to take the job Will had created for her at Fowler’s. I needed to have a plan before she got here. I don’t know if Will told you, but before I met your brother, I might have briefly been hooking up with Sully.

Violet choked on her orange juice, coughing uncontrollably, and I winced. What? she gasped between coughs, massaging her chest like the orange juice had made it all the way to her lungs. She cleared her throat finally, and the look she gave me was pure betrayal. How am I only just hearing about this?

I shrugged, pushing another piece of chicken and waffle across a streak of honey on my plate. "It wasn’t a big deal, really. We were never serious—or I wasn’t, anyway—and it was only like two weeks. Barely a fling. But um—it was right before he and Kate finally figured things out together. Like, as in, concurrent with."

Shit, Vi said.

Yeah, I agreed. "I mean, Sully and I are fine, obviously, friends now, and he says Kate is over it, no hard feelings. But she and I haven’t really… Talked. At all. Basically ever, beyond placing some orders across the bar and delivering the requested drinks."

Violet rolled her eyes. Leave it to Bilbo to make all this as awkward as humanly possible. But I guess when he put this job offer in motion he couldn’t have known…

I don’t even think Will had my phone number at that point, I said. And he couldn’t have dreamed that I’d be moving in with him right on the heels of Kate’s big return. Once the summer semester wraps and I’m here full time, there isn’t going to be any avoiding any lingering weirdness.

Right, Vi sighed.

But you know her, right? I mean. I got the impression that Kate and Sully were pretty attached at the hip. Sully brought her home with him for the shorter holidays, didn’t he?

Everything, Vi said. The only thing Sully and Kate didn’t do together was Christmas break and that first summer after freshman year.

So you must have some kind of insight? Not that I would expect you to break any kind of trust, I hurried to say, not wanting her to get the wrong idea. I’m just hoping for some kind of—I just know how important Sully is to Will, and I don’t want to make this any weirder than it has to be when we’re all inevitably thrown together.

Violet hummed in sympathy. "Well, I can definitely tell you that Kate isn’t going to be feeling anywhere near as cool and hand-wavey about your continued presence in Sully’s life as he’s pretending she is. I mean, I’m sure she’s telling him that it’s fine, because that’s how Kate is, but I’d be really surprised if he was fully buying what she’s trying to sell."

Yeah, I said, slumping back in my seat. Just like I was sure that Sully had been completely up front with Kate about coming to see me at the bar that handful of times, and she’d assured him that was fine, too, even if she was secretly climbing the walls at the thought. That’s kind of what I was afraid of.

But it isn’t going to matter once she’s here, Violet said. Or it won’t for long, anyway. I can almost guarantee that once she sees you with Will and the two of you get to spend some real time together, whatever anxiety she’s holding on to should dissipate pretty quickly. Kate only really holds a grudge when Sully gets hurt, but if he dumped you for her…?

Over pie, I confirmed. So it wasn’t a total loss.

Violet snorted at that. Yeah, you’ll be fine. One of these weekends when you’re both here, make a date and take her out to the bar. Just the two of you. Clear the air and you’ll probably be new best friends before the end of the night.

Is that a Violet Fowler Promise? I asked wryly.

She laughed, waving her fork again in denial. "I’m not sure