As much as I like Kate, might love her even, I don’t know if I can go through that again.
This strange new feeling of weighty hesitation around Kate feels like a one-eighty degree turn from what I thought I wanted, and my head is spinning.
I don’t just wantKate. I want support. Trust. A partner to weather life’s storms with.
Liza continues to grin up at me like I’m a long lost story.
I can’t help but smile back. She looks more like Vivian than Kate does, with her brown hair and flushed cheeks, though they both share their dad’s pronounced Chinese features.
“So, Kate, are you bringing Brandon to Marisol Bay for family vacation next week?” Liza’s brown eyes shine as she informs me, “It’s my only break from my residency for a while.”
Kate sputters a cough like the idea went down the wrong pipe. She raises a fist and hacks against it. I give her a good-natured thwack on the back, turn my megawatt smile to her family, and give them a vague answer.
“She’s told me all about it,” I lie, twisting back to Kate. “You okay, tinkle monkey?” I pat her head, and she finally stops coughing.
“Great,” she gasps. “Just great… bunny ears.”
“I’m so excited for you both to come to Marisol Bay!” Liza exclaims. “It’s gonna be a blast.” She’s definitely a hugger, because she wraps us both into another one.
“We’re…” Kate sucks in another breath, pushing a palm to the chest of her overcoat. “We’re gonna get out of here.”
“It was nice to meet you all,” I say.
“I guess we’ll see you both next week, then!” Liza beams.
Cameron bumps my fist with his. Vivian smiles beneath glinting amber eyes, and Kate’s dad nods again.
Kate tugs me away, and we slink into the shadows. The sensation of her black gloves threaded through my fingers makes the alarm pounding in my chest roar to a new decibel. I can’t ignore it any longer. I stop on the sidewalk and gently withdraw my hand from hers.
“What was that all about?”
Her neutral mask slides into place like a drawbridge gate. “What was what?”
I blink. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe skipping the whole, hey, good to see you tonight, Brandon. Maybe we should be friends, ya know, before I feed you to the wolves?”
Her lips twitch, though she tips a shoulder. “We are friends.”
“That’s all you got from that?”
She shrugs again but sweeps a glance behind her as if looking for someone. I dip my chin closer, tugging her jawline back toward me until those obsidian eyes meet mine.
“No matter what your mom thought we were,” I say, “I’m not a piece of meat you can flaunt anytime you need a stand-in.”
Her neutral mask cracks, and she rolls her eyes. I can’t help the corner of my mouth ticking up. She’s just so cute when she’s irritated.
“I didn’t mean to flaunt you, Brandon. Really. And I know that was uncomfortable?—”
“I never said it was uncomfortable. I rather liked having you all over me.”
Her gaze snaps to mine, though a smile toys at her lips. “You really are an incorrigible flirt. Has anyone ever told you that?”
“That is brand new information,” I say, and her laugh cuts the cold air. “But can I askwhyyour mom assumed we were dating?”
She nibbles her bottom lip, which is thoroughly distracting. “She was pissed when I showed up to the parade without Tanner,” she says. “I didn’texactlytell them when, or why, we broke up. Then I got a text that—” She freezes. After a moment, she continues. “That distracted me. And I didn’t know what to tell them. She saw me run to you, then assumed I had cheated on Tanner with you.” Her eyes flit to my cocky smirk before she playfully backhands my chest. “Focus. Anyway, I just didn’t have it in me to correct her. I mean, I corrected her about the cheating part, but not the rest…”
Her knee bounces like she’s got a spring embedded in it. A long strand of hair falls over her cheek as she picks at the lint on her gloves.
“So now what?” I murmur.
