Page 105 of If It's You

He sighed. “Pretending to hate one another so we don’t have to admit we have feelings for each other.”

Her chest deflated. Hating him was so much easier than getting her heart broken. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. This is the same game we’ve been playing all summer. I hate you. You hate me.”

He took a step closer until he was towering over her. “Are those the only options?”

She swallowed. “Yes.” Those were the only options that kept her safe.

“You’re lying to yourself.”

“What?”

He touched the back of her arm, and she wanted to pull away and jump into his arms simultaneously. “You think you can avoid me and we can go back to the way it was. But that won’t happen, and you know it. I know you feel something for me too.”

Her bottom lip trembled. “No, I don’t.”

“I guess we’ll see then.” He dropped his hand from her arm, and she walked back to her protection on the truck.

“You okay?” Hugh got in the truck with her while Jayce went to Christian.

“I will be. When he leaves in the fall.”

Twenty-Six

“When I said I’d help, this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind,” Jayce grunted as Christian put his arms around him and tried to sway with him.

“I want to impress her.” Christian had already explained this multiple times. Maizie was stubborn, and maybe the only way to get through to her, was by speaking her language. Convince her with his actions, with his devotion to her, that he was more than the city boy she had originally despised.

“Why can’t I lead?” Jayce shoved away from him.

“Because I’m taller.”

“By maybe a half an inch,” Jayce scoffed when Christian spun him.

“Now I’m going to lift you.” Christian put his arms out.

“Heck, no. I’m out of here.” Jayce bolted from the room.

Ugh, how was he supposed to impress the girl who drove him mad and wild at the same time?

“Hey, sweetie, we are going to take off.” His mom caught him at the bottom of the stairs. “Thanks for helping us have a great weekend. The Jensen’s are all so great, Grandma invited us down for Thanksgiving,” Mom said with a wide smile.

Thanksgiving? Would he still be invited if Maizie wanted nothing to do with him? It physically hurt to think about a world without the Jensens. They’d become his family too.

“It was fun, Mom. I’m glad you came,” he said, giving her a hug. Talking with his mom last night had been exactly what he needed. He’d felt like everything was his fault. His dad’s death, his mom and sister’s anxiety. But his mom was right; he could only do so much, and then he had to trust that everything else would be okay.

“Are you glad I came?” Emi jumped up and down.

“Of course I am. I missed you most!” He picked her up and twirled her before setting her back on her feet.

“Hey, wait, try something with me.” Christian picked her up again. Emi was smaller than Maizie but not by much. He spun her in a circle then dipped her like he’d seen on the YouTube video. He attempted to pick her up and lift her over his head, but she wrapped her spider monkey legs around his arm and screamed for him to put her down.

“What are you doing?” His mom asked.

“He’s trying to learn to dance to win over Maizie,” Jayce laughed from the kitchen table.

“It’s going to take more than a few dance moves to win her over,” his mom said. “When I met your dad, I couldn’t stand him. He was so bull-headed and confident, which he gave to you, by the way.” She shook her head with a teasing smile. “But he won me over, not just because he was handsome and funny but also because he treated me like a queen. And he treated me like that everyday for the rest of his life.”

Tears glistened in his mother’s eyes, and something stung at the back of his own.