Page 36 of Rockstar Baby

I forced my lips to curve up into a smile.Relax. Enjoy. Keep your planning for the future focused on the ice cream truck.

That should be easy, since it was my longest held dream and the one closest to coming true.

I leaned in for one more scorching kiss, then slid back to my side of the car, unhooked my phone from the charger, and pushed open my door.

“Dammit,” he muttered behind me just as I closed the door.

Whoops.I’d forgotten to let him open the door for me again. At least that was what I thought thedammitwas for.

He caught up to me on the sidewalk and held open the door for me. I patted his cheek as I strolled into the diner to find it nearly empty. I frowned and dug my phone out of my pocket.

Gina came out with a smile, her perky smile fading to her regular one when she saw it was me. “Hey, girl.” Her gaze slid back to Rory with an arched brow. Probably because he was nearly on my ass.

I kinda liked it and yet I wondered if I should make some space between us.

There were going to be a lot of damn questions. People were nosy as freaking hell in this town.

“Sorry, I’m late.”

She tipped her head. “Didn’t you get my text?”

I pulled my phone out and noticed the three texts loading. One from my brother and two from Gina. “Dammit, I didn’t have the phone charged.”

She played with the end of her fat braid. “As you can see, no one is really up and around today. I think I’ve had four people all day.”

“Really?”

She swung her braid over her shoulder. “Not sure what the hell’s going on. The Cove is usually much hardier than this. It was even a pretty nice day.”

Rory stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Shouldn’t the snow be gone? It’s spring in like…two days or something.”

Me and Gina both laughed.

“Oh, honey. Snow is forever here in Central New York.” Gina tucked her thumbs into her apron pockets, then looked from me to Rory. “So, who might you be?”

“About that text?” I needed to steer her away from asking questions. Mostly because I had no answers.

Gina narrowed her eyes.

Rory pressed his lips together, then sighed. “I’m—”

I put my hand on his chest. “A friend. And if you don’t need me today, I’d love to have a rare day off to go hang out with my…”

“Friend,” Rory finished.

“Right.” I smiled brightly.

Gina grabbed my arm and dragged me over to the counter. “Girl.”

“I’m fine.”

“You got laid is what you got.”

Was there a scarlet letter on my chest or something? Hmm, wrong analogy, but honestly, how could she tell?

“You’re wearing a dude’s sweater.”

“Oh. Yeah, that’s true.”