Jesse laughed. “His proposal went well then?”
“Not like Rowan’s. Nate nailed it the first time.” Dee Jones had turned Rowan down twice, which entertained everyone apart from Rowan. We all knew she’d say yes eventually, she just loved to keep Rowan on his toes.
Jesse sat down on one of the steps, the bag still in his clutches. “I got these for you.” He gave me the bag.
I sat down next to him. “A gift!” I smiled at him. “I love presents.” Especially unexpected ones.
I put my hand in the bag, already figuring it was book shaped. Two books. A romance by an author I loved and a football autobiography I knew of as it kind of set the bar.
“Thank you.”
He nodded, looking uncertain. “I knew that you liked that author, and that’s one of my favourite books. The footballer, Paul Lake, didn’t have his career work out for him the way he wanted, but he still managed to succeed.”
I heard what he was saying. Perfect people with perfect lives didn’t exist. He didn’t claim to be perfect. The arrogance that some footballers carried wasn’t part of his luggage.
“They’re both great.” I sat down next to him on the steps. “Why have you bought me them?” Everything we’d done with each other in the last few weeks had been done with honesty. That wasn’t stopping now.
Jesse laughed, like he was trying to fill the air for a second. “Nicky wanted to get Kitty a present and I suggested books. I wanted to get you something too.”
“Oh. But Kitty is Nicky’s girlfriend. We’re friends.” If I’d wanted to be cutting, I could’ve said that I worked for him, but that wouldn’t have been fair or accurate for either of us.
“Friends. Yeah.” He fiddled with his hair. “About that.”
I’d always been good at reading people. My gut was reliable, and I didn’t see things in others just because I wanted to see what my heart was looking for.
“Do you want to be more than friends? I would like that.” My heart hammered in my chest and my stomach flipped several times, making me wish I hadn’t finished Libbie’s ice cream as well as my own. My confidence could be completely crushed here, but if it was, I’d survive.
I didn’t think that was going to happen, though.
“Can I take you on a date?” Jesse squeezed his hands together. “I know I said — I said a lot of things, and I still don’t know how to do this shit, or why the fuck you’d be interested in me, but I’d really like to go out with you.”
My heart had joined my stomach in doing somersaults now. “I’d really like to go out with you. When?”
“Friday night?” He still looked nervous.
“Friday’s great. What do you want to do? Restaurant? Something like bowling? What do you fancy?” My knee brushed against his leg. Considering we’d spent the best part of five days getting to know each other very intimately, this conversation made me feel like we were both fifteen-year-olds and tentatively stepping into theI like you; do you like me?phase of being completely clueless.
Jesse smiled. “I haven’t been bowling for ages.”
“I’ll book a lane — the Fort Centre?”
His smile grew wider. “I’m pretty sure I’m meant to book it, seeing as I asked you out. Might need you to drive, though. Or I can see if the club can book a driver.”
“I’ll drive. Shall we eat out?”
“Burger afterwards?”
I nodded, unsure how I was going dispose of this excitement without squeeing like the fifteen-year-old I’d reverted to.
His grin was boyish, contrasting with the tattoos that were exposed by the short-sleeved T-shirt he was wearing. “Just don’t tell Neva.”
“Promise I won’t. Do you want to see inside the treehouse?”
He nodded, following me up the steps, the books in my hands. I typed in a code to open the door, because of course, Nate had everything secured.
“Some people would want to live in this.” Jesse looked around him, slightly shocked. “Did he have Amber's sister-in-law in to do the interior design or something?”
“He and the girls chose it. We had a treehouse when we were kids — this wooden thing my dad made. Nate and I loved it, even when we were teenagers. I’d hide in there if I’d had a row with my parents, and I’m pretty sure it was where Nate lost his virginity.” I grinned at the memories. “I saw him from my bedroom window, leaving the treehouse with his then girlfriend, both of them looking dishevelled and then having a really long kiss in the garden. I did think at the time about banging on my window and making some sort of obscene gesture — I’d been about thirteen at the time — but I decided to save it to embarrass him with later.”
