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“Once in a blue moon.”

It takes about twenty minutes to get everything set up and mounted to the wall. I’ve gathered all the extra cords from his gaming units and tried to hide them as much as possible.

“Did you order anything?” I ask, sitting down next to him.

He shakes his head. “There are things I like, but I’m worried that if I order without seeing and feeling, that I’ll regret it. What if we go to a store and try them out?”

Shopping with Trey would be a whole trip. “Yeah, we can do that. We’ll have to work around the filming schedule. What about your workouts and preseason stuff?”

He waves a hand in the air. “I can do those whenever. The offseason is when my schedule is the most flexible.”

“Okay, I’m going to head out. Let’s order the garage shelving units because those are standard. We’re going to need those here soon so we can start moving around the totes and opening the space.” I pause to think about anything else we’ll need. “Then I’ll have to schedule some time for the container store to find the odds and ends.”

“Just let me know. I might be able to drive out there with you.” He pauses, watching as I put away the few tools I used on the mount. “Wait, let me drive you home.”

“I’ll be okay,” I say. I stow my laptop in the bag.

Trey slips on shoes and grabs his keys from a basket by the door. “I’ve got you. Did you grab your clothes?”

I’d almost totally forgotten that I’m wearing Trey’s clothes. “Do you mind if I return these to you later?” I ask, pointing to the t-shirt and shorts.

“For sure. I don’t want you getting a cold from wearing your wet stuff again.”

He grins and I’m pretty sure that the guy has me hooked and he just keeps reeling me in. Whether he knows he’s doing that or not is another story.

28

TREY

“Trey, you’ll be waiting here for your date, Melissa. Then we’ll take some shots of you walking into the aquarium. She’ll be here in about five minutes.”

“Wait, where’s Kenzie?” I ask. Samantha is studying the clipboard in front of her and glances up as if she just now heard me.

“Kenzie and her date are at the Museum of Fine Art today.” She lifts her arm to glance at the watch on her wrist. “They should be starting in about an hour.”

My stomach sinks. I guess I didn’t really ask and only assumed that we would be together for every date we went on. “Can I ask why we didn’t have another double date?”

“The last one you went on together was a disaster.”

“Are you kidding?” I say, trying to keep from laughing at the ridiculousness of the two of us dunked in water. “You still made a match with Whitney and W–the other guy.”

Samantha takes a step forward, her gaze intense as she speaks. “Is there something between the two of you?”

That was kind of a complicated question. “Well, she, uh, is organizing my house. And we’re friends.” Why does that word taste so bitter on my tongue? After the time we’ve spent together, it’s like I want to keep her next to me just to see her reaction to things. And the fact that she doesn’t put me down because of skills I don’t have is commendable.

“You’re friends?” Samantha says, looking as though she doesn’t believe me.

“Yeah, I don’t do well with cameras and I completely forgot about them on the last date because she was there.”

“Probably because you were waterlogged from the pond water.” She reaches up and touches her ear, nodding at something I can’t hear. “Yeah, we’re ready.” She turns to me and says, “We’re starting. Just relax and have fun on the date.”

I’d been so excited that the date would be at the aquarium and hadn’t thought to text Kenzie to meet up before. Lesson learned.

Me:They split us up today. ??

Kenzie:What? You’re not going to be there to question the art choices?

I grin, knowing that would’ve been exactly how it played out.