Page 50

“No emergencies?” Ryan asked when I returned. She’d paused the TV show. As if I’d even been paying attention to it.

I flopped down next to her and leaned on her shoulder. It was very comfortable.

“No emergencies,” I said, and she started the show again.

“So, this is relaxing,” she said a few moments later.

“Yup. This is relaxing.”

She leaned back and put her arm around me, pulling me closer. I pulled my feet up onto the couch and snuggled into her chest.

I felt her kiss my head.

“I think I like relaxing.”

As much as I didn’t want to, I really needed my own clothes and to go home and see my parents. Usually after being with another non-family person for this long, I would have been absolutely fried and would have hit my limit the night after only a few hours.

Things were different with Ryan. She didn’t demand anything of me. If I didn’t want to talk, she didn’t care. There was something about her presence that felt like sinking into a warm, scented bath after a long day. The strain I usually felt with others was just gone. I’d never experienced anything like it with someone I’d just met.

“I don’t know how I’m going to relax without you,” Ryan said as she drove me home after I’d put my other outfit back on.

“You’ll figure it out. I can message you ideas,” I said.

She pulled in front of my house far too soon and I leaned over to her.

“I really want to kiss you right now, but I know my parents are watching out the window,” I whispered.

“Why are you whispering?” she whispered.

“Because I feel like they can still hear me,” I whispered.

She laughed and then pulled me close.

“I’m going to kiss you anyway,” she told me just before her lips met mine.

All too soon she pulled away and I was left breathless again.

“Okay, that was worth it,” I said.

“Good,” she said, and it was time to go. “I’ll send you updates on my relaxing.”

“Please do,” I said, getting out of the car and heading into the house without looking back.

My parents were on me the second I closed the door.

I put both hands up.

“Can you just hit the pause button for a second until I change my clothes?” I asked as Mama bounced on her toes and made little noises as if the words she wanted to say were struggling to get out of her mouth.

“Yes,” Mom said, gripping Mama’s arm. “We’ll just be down here when you’re ready.”

I walked up the stairs and closed the door of my room with a happy sigh before going to my dresser and pulling out a new outfit.

Not a bad weekend at all.

“Is this something serious with Ryan?” Mama asked as she cooked dinner.

“For the hundredth time, I don’t know,” I said. “Probably not. She’s like, an heiress, she’s older, and she needs to get her life together, so I’m the last thing she needs.”