“I was thinking Disneyland.”
“Zoey!” He heard the warning from Maeve in the background.
“Ok-ay,” she relented.
Brodie said, “How about we start with going to the park? Play a bit of basketball?”
“Can we go for a Cookies and Cream Dream?”
Brodie had lived in Autumn Falls long enough to know every flavor of milkshake in the diner. He heard Maeve again say, “Zoey…”
Zoey said, “We don’t have to get a milkshake, I can bring water.”
Brodie smiled inside. “I’d love to get a Cookies and Cream Dream with you.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Quarter of an hour later, Brodie rapped on the door of Maeve’s house, his nerves on edge, smoothing back his hair in the reflection, pulling at his T-shirt. It was worse than any date. The fear of rejection was acute.
Maeve opened the door looking unbelievably lovely in a white shirt and jean shorts. Still with the ugly mushroom shoes, but he’d grown quite fond of them. Her hair swept over one eye, like she hadn’t had time to do anything with it. He felt his unaccustomed nerves get stronger.
“You look better,” she said.
“I feel better,” he replied. “Totally fine.” Which belied the constant knot that had appeared in his stomach.
She seemed to sense his nervousness and smiled up at him through dark lashes. “That’s good.”
He had rarely been around a woman he was this attracted to for this long without at least kissing her. It made him unfamiliarly awkward in his movements, like all of a sudden he’d forgotten how to stand still.
“You all right about this?” Maeve asked.
Brodie nodded, although he felt increasingly terrified.
Maeve seemed totally unaffected. “What are you going to do if there’s photographers or anything like that? Will you just make sure that Zoey is safe, please?”
“Maeve, I’m old news. People don’t take photos of me anymore. I’m boring.”
She raised her eyebrows in disbelief. “I don’t think that’s strictly true.”
Did that mean she didn’t think he was boring?
Focus, Brodie!
“Look, we’re going to have to deal with it sooner or later,” he said. “If I see a photographer or someone takes a picture on their phone, I tend to just smile and wave. It’s the best way to deal with it.”
Maeve nodded uncertainly.
Brodie wanted to ask her to come with them. But before he could say anything more, Zoey came bounding down the stairs in dungarees and a yellow top.
“Hey, you look like a Minion,” he said.
Zoey paused, looked down at herself and immediately turned around and went back up the stairs. “I have to get changed.”
“I didn’t mean—” he called but Maeve shook her head and said, “You’ve done it now, day’s ruined.”
“You serious?” He could feel himself start to sweat.
