Page 65 of Things I Read About

“All right, all right.”

“Plus,” Shep turns from Dad to me. “Joe will be over all the time, right?”

“I don’t know, we’ve only gone out three times, Shep.”

Nate’s head jerks in my direction.

I frown, but he looks away immediately.

What did I say? Does he want me to promise Joe won’t be over? I can’t just cut Joe off without talking to him first. And why would I cut Joe off, anyway? He’s a perfectly nice guy who, unlike the scorching-hot-mafioso-looking bad boy to my right, seems to like me.

“Spacey,” Shep yells, pulling me out of my head. “You’re worse than Skye. Man, just like your mama.” His voice takes on that sad quality we all know so well. Because we all still miss my mother, every day. He shakes it off. “Anyway.Joe will come over, if you need anything. Anytime.Anytime,” Shep adds, eyeing Nate.

Nate just scans around us, uninterested.

“Take care of our girl.” My obnoxious brother-in-law hands Nate the tablet, and he just nods once, busying himself tapping away on the screen.

Shep hops into one of the SUVs and they start to pull away, but not before Samantha rolls down her window and starts yelling about how much she loves me.

I roll my eyes and Nate chuckles beside me.

No. Not a chuckle. Scoff, maybe. He’s unhappy.

“Yeah. You’ll get use to us,” I offer with a smile.

“Won’t be around that long.” Nate doesn’t glance up from the tablet, but I’m frozen in shock and can’t look away. He really is different.

Eventually, he peers over at me. “My company is the best. So, I’ll only be here a few days, maybe a week. I’m going to check out the house, just pretend I’m not here.”

“Let me give you the tour. The house is… well, you’ll see.”

He sighs and lifts a hand for me to lead the way. “All right.”

A sound chimes on the iPad, my phone, and a third device. I pull my phone out of my back pocket and check. It’s a new group text with Shep, myself, and likely Nate.

My pulse quickens at that idea. For the past six months, I would’ve done unspeakable acts for his number. I put myself through mafia romance hypotheticals. Lying, kidnapping, torture. My desire for his number was alarming.

Shep: If you use the weight room, please make sure to set the machines back EXACTLY as you find them.

Nate grunts and shakes his head as we walk into the house.

“Sitting room in front of us, obviously. This room is touchy because there are so many lamps.”

Nate looks up from the iPad.

“Shep told you everything is in the Smart Home system, right?”

He nods, frowning.

“Yeah. There aren’t switches in most of the house. You have to tell the house what to do.”

“What?”

I actually laugh a little bit at how confused he looks. “It’s the brainchild”—Great Britain, 17thcentury—“of Matt and Shep. Matt had been tinkering with the idea and Shep insisted he test it out here. It is… awful.” Nate opens his mouth and then shuts it. “So, finicky room. Now, I’ll show you their wing, in case you want to work out.”

I lead him down the hall and feel his presence behind me every single step of the way. My psyche is still creating a current between us, as if our bodies are calling to each other. It’s not real, but it sure feels that way.

We enter the small sitting area leading to Shep and Sadie’s rooms.