“Yep. They move all the furniture over and deep clean the floors after school lets out so everything has to be empty.”
The next few days would be busy. Grace and Ben’s couples’ shower was tomorrow and her final dress fitting was on Sunday, and we’d planned to make a lunch-and-pedicures afternoon of it with all the bridesmaids. Monday and Tuesday would be wild with the final days of the school year, and then Ryan and I left on Thursday night for a pro sports awards event in Vegas. The news of our secret wedding was scheduled to drop on Friday and my birthday fell on Sunday, and I didn’t think we could cram much else into those days even if we’d tried.
Grace’s wedding was two weeks away and Ryan reported for training camp not long after that. Based on everything he’d said, it seemed like his franchise deals would go through before the end of July. When we crossed those lines, we wouldn’t need to keep this going. We’d only be doing it because we wanted to—and that felt right but also terribly dangerous, like jumping headfirst into water without knowing what hid under the surface.
Ryan had started longer, more intense workouts and spending time studying game tape. He met with coaches andtrainers almost every day. I’d pored over his schedule for the season, nearly gnawing straight through my lip when I realized he’d be on the road for five straight weeks to start. He’d come home between them of course but I’d be going back to school at the same time and I already knew it’d be tough for us. I’d be able to travel to some games but not all of them. Probably not most of them.
I’d had to stop myself when I started looking up how long it would take to fly to Baltimore on a Monday afternoon. I hadn’t even decided if I wanted to attend his games yet and I was already mapping out flight plans. I required seven to ten business days to recover from any amount of travel and I didn’t like putting myself in the spotlight enough to endure a camera panning over me for ten seconds.
It would be tough for me. If we kept this going. But I knew I wouldn’t have to figure it out alone. And I knew with every bit of me that my mother was wrong. Ryan wouldn’t cheat. He wasn’t like any of the men she’d chosen for herself. He wouldn’t lie and he wouldn’t break me.
I stood, pushing away from my desk to grab the storage bins I used for my books. “There’s a system.”
With a nod, he said, “Show me how you want it done.”
“So,youcan showmehow you want it done when we get home?” I teased.
His gaze landed on my mouth and then scraped over the bustline stretching my t-shirt to its limits. “Yes.”
Oh, these were dangerous waters and I was getting in way too deep. Any minute now, one of us would break and we’d laugh and blow this off as a joke. Just like the time I’d asked him to be my date to the prom at the last minute. I didn’t know why I’d tacked onas a joke,but I had. I didn’t even know what I’d intended by that. But those had been dangerous waters too. We’d held the friendship line hard in high school and we’d nevercrossed it. Even at the end when we’d made that pact, it’d been as friends.
But we’d crossed the line now—and I didn’t want to go back.
chapter twenty-nine
Ryan
Today’s Learning Objective:
Students will go to war—and win.
“Canyou explain this to me one more time?” I glanced at Emme as she redid her hair again, her phone propped on her knees and the camera in selfie mode. Since I knew it was a matter of time until we hit a pothole and this all went to hell, I reached across the back seat and held the phone steady. Bowen was off tonight, and as much as I liked Soto, he drove like he was trying to qualify for an F1 race. “I understand the basic concept of a bridal shower but I don’t see how it turns into a bar crawl.”
“They’re not into the traditional stuff but we still wanted to give her something like a shower,” she said, a few bobby pins held between her lips. “We came up with some different ideas to involve both of them. Trivia night. Wine tasting. Some really cute stuff that seemed like a lot of fun. But I missed the conversation for a weekend and then it was a shower followed by a bar crawl. I asked Grace if that was what she actually wanted because that sounded like something boys would come up with. But she said it was great and here we are.”
I nodded as she plucked all the pins from her hair and started over. “Got it.”
“All I know is that I appreciate the hell out of Audrey for doing the actual work of planning this night,” she said. “Her compulsive need to organize things came in clutch with this one. She sent out a twelve-page PDF with interior and exterior photos of every venue, an itinerary with scheduled bathroom breaks and the contact info of every bar manager, and dress code suggestions to balance the locations with the wedding’s colors.”
I hadn’t been able to place it until now but I realized her simple blue and white dress was nothing like her usual bright, saturated styles. Not that I’d say it out loud but the soft floral print reminded me of my grandmother’s nightgowns.
Still, Emme looked amazing. I loved her summer dresses with flouncy little shoulder straps and long, ruffled skirts that made me want to put her on my lap and see what we could get away with.
“Last chance to back out now,” she said around the bobby pins. “I wouldn’t blame you if you did. You’re going to get mobbed by fans.”
“Nothing I can’t handle.”
She cut a sharp look in my direction. “You realize we’re going to a bunch of bars in Boston, right? That’s where they recite the Ryan Ralston lore.”
“I think I’ll be okay.” I nodded to the driver’s seat. “And we’ll bring Soto in with us. He’s not bad at crowd control.”
“Thanks, boss,” he replied.
“I give up. I’m done.” She huffed out an impatient breath and waved away the phone. “If you’re sure you want to do this, can you just promise to save me from another conversation with Clara?”
“I can commit to that only if you’re never more than”—I stretched my arm out across the back seat and brought my hand to her shoulder—“this far away from me.”
Emme dropped a hand to my thigh. “Works for me.”
