“Amanda?” Grandma calls again.
“Okay,” I say. “One kiss, then you go swim, I’ll get her to town. Do you want to get Chili, or do you want me to see if I can convince him to head back to the house?”
“I’ll get him.”
“Okay. Okay. So now we kiss.” I amneverthis awkward onstage.
It’s different when it’s real life.
“Amanda!” Grandma hollers.
“Just a minute!” I call back.
When I look back at Dane, he’s smiling again. “Grandparents, man.”
And just like that, all my tension leaves me, and it’s the most natural thing in the world to propel myself closer to him and press a quick kiss to his lips.
But he wraps an arm around me and tugs me closer, clearly tall enough to be anchored on the lake bed, and the next thing I know, I’m having arealkiss.
One that has our bodies flush and him gripping me under one leg and parted lips and mingled breath and chilly noses and a flush breaking out over my entire body.
I don’t live for physical touch. For kisses. For sex.
Other people are not the adventure that I crave.
Yazmin is right. I have too many hang-ups around relationships, all rooted in having to grow up hiding my best friend.
But I don’t want to break this kiss.
It feelssafe.
And at the same time, it’s an absolute thrill.
For one fleeting moment, I let myself pretend that it’s real.
That Danewantsto kiss me. That it’s not just for show.
That I can trust him.
“Amanda!” Grandma hollers again, breaking into the moment and making me break the kiss.
“Sorry,” I gasp.
One of his eyebrows twitches. His smile is gone. “For what?”
“For—I don’t know.” For my grandma? For me liking the kiss? For me getting us into this situation? For me forgetting why we’re doing it?
He quirks a half grin. “Then don’t be sorry. I need to check in with work, and then I’ll join you in town. Don’t make up too much about me without texting me what I’m supposed to know, okay?”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Amanda?”
“Yeah?”
“We have to plan this wedding, or the town will plan it for us.”
“Right. Crap.Crap.Okay. Okay.” I’m babbling, and I need to stop. “You’ll come to the bakery, and then we’ll say we have to go get lunch to plan the wedding. That’s good. Really good. Cut them out and make them want to be involved. Or maybe they’ll come with us. Or maybe—you go swim. You go swim, and thenyoutextmehow we’re going to solve this, okay?”
