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But soon.
Very soon I can tell this woman everything I feel.
“Also, I was thinking,” she says. “About the date tonight.”
“I still think you should go,” I say before she can say anything else.
“I knew you were going to say that.”
“Linnea, you need to go. For you. You need to have some choices. I want you to know how that feels. No matter who you pick at the end, I want you to know that you had a choice. You haven’t had a lot of those.”
She gives me a smile, one I haven’t seen before. There are emotions in her eyes I can’t quite name.
“Thank you.” Her voice is a little wobbly. “That means a lot to me.”
“Youmean a lot to me.” That’s as close as I can get to spilling my emotions tonight.
“Well, if you think I should still go, then I think there is one change I want to make.”
“Okay. Whatever you want.”
“I want to go bowling. “
I was not expecting that. “You want to gobowling?”
“I do. I’ve never been, and I know it’s something you like. But even more, after you told me how you took Torin bowling to figure out what kind of guy he is, I was thinking, that would be the perfect way to figure out what kind of guy Christian really is.”
I think that over. I love this idea. She’s amazing. “That’s a fantastic idea. I’ll find out where there’s a great bowling alley. We can make sure his security team has time to check it out. I’ll get in touch with his people.”
“I already texted him. And he agreed. He’s working on the security and everything on his end.”
I laugh. “See, you do kind of like being in charge sometimes.”
She laughs. “Maybe. Except when it comes to you.” Her voice gets softer. “I really like when you’re in charge.”
I lean in and kiss her. “Don’t be getting all sexy with me. We need to get ready for the big bowling night.”
But it takes everything in me to force myself to stand up from the edge of that bed and walk into the next room, away from the woman I am convinced I am fully in love with.
And who I’m accompanying on a date with another man tonight.
A man who her fiancé, my best friend, would really like her to end up with.
Fuck. This is going to be really complicated.
Chapter21
Linnea
* * *
It surprises no one, least of all me, that Christian Waite is an exceptional bowler. Not that I ever would have wondered about that if it wasn’t for this date. Who wonders if someone is a good bowler? But if anyone had ever asked me if I thought he would be, I would have said yes. He simply exudes competence at everything. Though, I suspect, even if he was a terrible bowler, everyone would walk away from this event thinking he was amazing.
He’s that guy.
Everybody likes him. He won his district with an unheard of seventy-eight percent of the vote. His opponent pulled out things like Christian wanted to spend too much money on social programs, and he’s not a military veteran. But that was about all they had to criticize him on.
They also tried to get some traction with him not being married, but it was very difficult to paint him as “not a family man.” He’s from a big, loving family. His parents, four sisters and their adorable families, his nieces and nephews and brothers-in-law, all show up to his campaign events and there are a million stories in the press from people who knew him growing up and know the Waites as a close, supportive, wonderful family.