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He takes a moment to reply, then glances at me sideways. “It’s been a long time.”

“I know the feeling.”

He winks at me. “I know you do.”

On our walk back to the house, my phone vibrates in my pocket, and I take it out to see a text from Feather.

Feather

Hi… where are you?

Walking with Tyler, Poppy, and Boomer

Feather

Steve and I are doing dinner and a movie tonight in town. You two want to come? I thought a double date would be fun and we could get to know Ty.

Ohhh I’m not sure

Feather

Come on! It will be fun. It’s just us.

And everyone else in the restaurant. And the theater.

Let me ask him

I look up to find Ty leaning against a tree, smoking, looking all rough and sexy and so… just perfect.

“What’s up?” he asks.

“It was a text from Feather.”

He flicks some ashes onto the ground. “Everything okay?”

“She and her boyfriend are going to dinner and a movie tonight. She wants to know if we want to go, too.”

He takes a long drag on his cigarette, holds it in his lungs for anextended amount of time, then exhales. His eyes, crystal blue a few minutes ago, darken as he stares off into the trees. He takes another aggressive drag on the cigarette. His mouth opens, but no words come. Instead he puts the cigarette to his mouth again and lets it hang from his lips, its smoke billowing up into his face as he hangs his head down, his hair falling over his face, perfectly trained to hide him.

I see the retreat, the abandoned smile, the door closing. His discomfort is palpable, and such a mirror to my own.

I wish Feather had suggested we all meet at our apartment, in private, instead.

“Holly…” He kicks at a rock with his shoe.

“I don’t think I want to go out,” I say, saving him from having to say it. I think we both see the same scenario in our heads: people staring, whispering, and asking questions. Feather and Steve being put in that same awkward space with us. A double date sounds like fun, but that doesn’t seem like the best way for all of us to get to know each other first.

He comes closer and hesitantly touches my cheek. “Maybe…,” he starts, and coughs.

I stare up into his eyes. “Maybe another time. Here… or at my apartment…,” I finish for him.

He nods, and a faint smile touches his lips. “I can make us dinner tonight. We can watch a movie on my iPad. Just me and you.”

“I would really like that,” I answer softly, and pull out my phone to text Feather back that we won’t be joining them this time. He holds my hand tightly as we walk back toward the house. “I’ll make popcorn, too. It’ll be even better than going out.”

Maybe it will be, maybe it won’t. But for now, his fingers linked through mine, his smile, and the lingering bliss of the morning we had has made me happier than I’ve ever been. I have no complaints or regrets.

CHAPTER 25