We stood at the door together, staring at one another awkwardly like we had just been on a first date and were saying goodbye, like we wanted to keep the conversation going but didn’t know what else to say.
“Well . . . good night.” I stared down at my black ballet flats. “I hope you get in some good writing.”
“Aspen.”
I tilted my head up and met his gorgeous eyes.
“Thank you for today. And I apologize if I made you feel uncomfortable leading your ex to think we were more than we can be. I was out of my head. I haven’t been that riled in a long time.”
I noted his language,more than we can be. “I appreciate what you tried to do. And I enjoyed helping you today.”
“I look forward to many more days like it.”
“Will we be going on more field trips?” I hoped the answer was yes.
“Count on it, love. Good night.”
“Good night.” I watched him walk down the hall. Something felt different. Maybe it was me.
On my way downstairs, my phone buzzed. I answered when I entered the mud room that had an exterior door which allowed easy access to the path that led to the cottage.
“Hey, Emma.”
“Hey there yourself. How was your day?” She was fishing for some juicy details. She knew full well I was at the Ranch with Miles. I’d called her first to see if her dad would mind.
“Itwas interesting.”
“Oh, come on, I heard it was more than that. My dad said the two of you were awfully cozy together and he could sense a spark between you.”
My first instinct was to say there wasn’t, but that wasn’t true. “Even if there was, nothing is going to happen.”
“So you are admitting to sparks between you two?”
“We’re friends.”
“I used to say that about Sawyer and me, remember?”
I sat down on the upholstered bench and kept my voice down. “Yeah, well you didn’t sign a contract agreeing to no romantic entanglements, and we all tried to tell you Sawyer was into you.”
“True, but contracts can be amended.”
“That’s not going to happen. Miles has made that very clear. Besides I had this weird epiphany thing happen to me today and I’m not really sure what to do about it.”
“What is it? Are you okay?”
“I think so, but I’m not going to lie, I’m a little freaked about it.”
“Do you want to talk?”
“It’s kind of embarrassing and I don’t even know how to say it.”
“It’s me, Aspen, you’ve seen me in panda pajamas and burping the alphabet. And let’s not forget half naked in a vat of slime singing to the Spice Girls. It doesn’t get more embarrassing than that.”
She had me laughing, remembering some good times. “All right. While we were doing some research on the Ranch today—which, by the way, this book is going to be killer good, but I can’t tell you about it. Anyway, it struck metoday that I’ve never been emotionally intimate with someone of the opposite sex. And worse, I don’t think I know how.”
Emma was awfully silent on her end, which had me pulling up my knees, feeling stupid for sharing so much of myself.
“I’m just being dumb,” I tried to play it off.
