Harris laughs. “My credit score. It was super low at the time—embarrassingly low. But like, I’d rented furniture for a shared apartment and stopped paying thebills and went apeshit buying electronics and could never afford the minimum monthlies.” Oh.Yikes.“When our coffee came I made up an excuse about needing to help my roommate move furniture.”
“The furniture you weren’t paying for?” I tease.
“Exactly.” He nudges me with his toe. “Shortest date ever and never spoke to her again.”
“You ghosted her?”
“I mean—technically, I didn’t ghost her.” He holds up a finger in protest. “I politely ignored her texts forever.”
A giggle escapes my throat. “That counts!”
His head tilts to the side, and he considers this. “Does it?”
“One thousand percent.”
“The good news is, I’ve matured since then and haven’t done anything as stupid since.” He pauses. “Fine, that’s not necessarily true—I’ve done a ton of stupid shit.”
I lean back against the couch. “Okay, give me your top three.”
“Okay,” he says, holding up three fingers. “Number three—one time, I accidentally texted my ex-girlfriend instead of the girl I was dating. I didn’t realize it until she replied with ‘Wrong girl, you prick.’”
“Oh my God.” I gasp, unable to fathom. “What’s number two?”
“Number two ... hmm.” He hesitates. “I tried to jump off a roof into a pool at a party and missed. Landed in the shallow end and sprained my ankle.”
Jesus! I clutch my queasy stomach. “Please tell me you were sober.”
Harris shakes his head. “Negative, Ghost Rider, and I’m glad I was drunk because I didn’t feel a thing.”
“Shit. That drunk?”
He looks sheepish. “Yeah. It wasn’t great. I’ve never seen my mom so pissed off in my entire life. I was playing football in college, right? So it was a whole thing, spraining my ankle.”
I can only imagine. “I’m afraid to find out what number one is ...”
“You should be afraid. The dumbest thing I’ve ever done: I thought it would be romantic to surprise my high school girlfriend by climbing through her bedroom window. You know—like in the movies?”
“Stop it, you did not!” I laugh. “What happened? Did you fall?”
“No—worse. Her mom was sitting at the end of her bed. When she saw me, she started screaming for the dad. It was a fucking disaster.”
“Wow. You sound like you were ... seriously something else growing up.”
Harris laughs, rubbing his face like he’s still embarrassed by the memory. “Oh, I was definitely something else. Thought I was smooth as hell, but really, I was such a douchebag. But I’ve learned my lesson. No more grand romantic gestures involving windows.”
“Aww, I wouldn’t say that—the gesture sounds super sweet. No one has done anything as remotely romantic as that for me.” I barely get flowers from my dates, let alone have them scale a building to see me.
We sit in comfortable silence for a moment, the soft hum of the lake breeze drifting through the open window. I sip my wine, watching him out of the corner of my eye as he leans back, looking completely at ease.
“I appreciate you saying that.” He watches me for a moment, his smile soft. “Your turn. What’s the dumbest thingyou’veever done for a guy?”
“I don’t know.” I scoff. “Let him live with me?”
He goes quiet. “When wasthis?”
Parker. I should never have brought him up because now Harris wants details. I can see it on his face.
I take another sip of wine, trying to play it off like it’s no big deal. “It was a long time ago.”
