“I’m just glad the world gets to see my girl shine,” she said. “I’m so proud of her.”
“You should be,” I said. “She’s amazing.”
Allison wiped her eyes and turned to me with a look that made me feel like I was a teenager about to get grilled before prom. “So, tell me, love. What’s going on between you and my Ellie?”
I gave her a respectful smile. “Well, ma’am, we’re dating.”
She laughed and gave my shoulder a little swat. “I know that, silly.”
I blinked. “Then what do you mean?”
Before she could answer, the song ended, and the stage went dark, shifting to the next set. Applause thundered through the tent.
“I mean,” she said casually, “do you love her?”
“Allison.” Clay’s brows rose. “You can’t ask him that.”
“Well, I did,” she replied, not even looking at him. “So? Do you?”
I opened my mouth, then shut it again. The truth was…complicated. We hadn’t been together long—if we were really together at all. But it wasn’t a yes or no kind of answer.
I’d never told a woman I loved her. Hell, I wasn’t sure I knew how to say it without sounding like a sarcastic asshole, throwing out lines to appease someone.
Now, I was standing in front of Allison Miles, trying to figure out how to explain what Ellie did to me—the way she cracked through my walls and pulled out something I didn’t know was there.
I took a breath, pushed the doubt aside, and gave her the only honest answer I could.
“We haven’t been together long,” I said, my voice low but steady. “But if I keep spending time with her…yeah. I think I’m gonna have no choice but to fall for your daughter completely.”
Allison’s eyes softened. Her lips curled into something that looked a little like understanding, maybe even approval.
As I looked back toward the stage, Ellie was getting ready for the next song.
This wasn’t love, not yet, but it was close enough to feel dangerous. I’d made a habit of being easy to like—lighthearted, quick with a joke, the kind of guy people kept around until they didn’t. It was safe that way. Keep things on the surface, and they couldn’t hurt you when they left.
This thing with her? It wasn’t staying on the surface. The closer she got, the more I wondered what would happen when she saw the parts of me that weren’t easy.
Still, I wanted her.
Maybe that was how love started—not with perfect timing or even a real relationship, but by agreeing to something temporaryand realizing you were scared shitless because you already wished it wasn’t.
TWENTY
Sawyer
Goodnight, fake girlfriend. I'll be imagining you next to me.
That's presumptuous.
You're right. I should probably ask first... Can I imagine you next to me?
I suppose I will allow it.
Good, because I was going to anyway. See you tomorrow.
“You excited to be back here?”I glanced sideways at Ellie as we drove the winding two-lane road toward my house.
She had her legs curled up on the seat, her sleeves tugged over her hands, and her cheek pressed to the window. The sweater—the very one I’d convinced her to wear after a full-on negotiation—was covered in glittery gingerbread men and topped off with an aggressively festive candy cane collar. It should’ve been ridiculous. On her, it was unfair. She was so fucking adorable.
