Dad poured the popcorn into two bowls, same as always—one for him, and one for me and Ryder to share—and by the time we were watching the Mini Cooper chase scene inThe Italian Job, Ryder was sitting practically in my lap, with the popcorn inhislap, and I realized we’d always sat just like this.
What I hadn’t been allowed to do before, though, was run the pad of my thumb down the back of his neck and feel him shiver against me. I hadn’t seen him tilt his head to the side to give me better access to his neck, and I hadn’t made his breath hitch by dropping a kiss behind his ear, soft and subtle, just because.
“Ran into Seth today,” I murmured once we got to a less-exciting part, grabbing a handful of popcorn before Ryder ate all of it.
“Mm?” Ryder hummed, half-focused on me, half on the TV.
“Yeah. Says they can finally afford to fix the theatre roof. I volunteered to help with the framing to bring costs down a little. It’s not much, but I’m not a roofer.”
“That’s great though,” Ryder said. “Maybe you can enlist my help with like. Holding the nails for you or something.”
“Maybe,” I allowed, smiling at the thought of apprenticing Ryder into the carpentry business.
Not that I thought he couldn’t do anything he set his mind to, just that the one time he’d tried to help Dad, he’d hit his thumb so hard with a hammer that it was purple for a week. Dad had done that plenty of times too, though, so maybe it didn’t mean he couldn’t be great at it.
“Funny thing is,” I added, not letting Ryder distract me from the point I was making. “Seth said they could do it because of an anonymous lump sum donation for exactly the amount they were short. Exactly the amount, coincidentally, that the tracker he sent to you showed at the time.”
“Wow,” Ryder said, and if I hadn’t known him as long as I had, I might actually have believed he was surprised. “What a coincidence.”
“Shh,” Dad nudged Ryder’s leg. “You’re talking over the good part.”
Ryder tilted his head back for a kiss instead, and that was the end of the conversation.
He was almost all the way asleep by the time the credits rolled when his phone vibrated in his lap and woke him up. I had to grab him to stop him from falling off the couch.
I kissed the top of his head as he made an unhappy noise, picking the phone up to look at it.
“Aren’t you supposed to turn those off when you’re watching a movie?” Dad teased, taking the empty popcorn bowl from Ryder as he passed by the back of the couch.
He’d managed to keep it off for a full twelve hours after we got back, but then he’d remember Allison had been planning to text, and he’d had to deal with the real world anyway.
I was proud of him for the twelve hours, and even more proud of him for all the calm conversations he’d had this morning about why he’d left and why he wasn’t coming back. Not that there’d been a day in my life when I wasn’t proud of Ryder.
But he was good at standing up for everyone else. What he’d never been all that good at was standing up forhimself. It was nice to see him learning.
“Oh my god,” Ryder mumbled, voice thick with sleep. He held his phone screen up so I could see it.
I burst into laughter at what I saw.
Astrid:you are still in the doghouse but I’ve set up a call with a publisher for you tomorrow
Astrid:they want your memoirs
31
Ryder
“You’re like,illegally hot when you’re all dressed up,” I said as Ward came into view at the top of the stairs, wearing an actual button-down shirt without a hint of plaid in sight in the most stunning emerald green that brought out his eyes like nothing I’d ever seen on him before.
He’d even managed to find a pair of black jeans for the occasion. Ones that fit him properly.
Not that I didn’t always think he was the single sexiest man on the planet, but this was definitely something to look at.
“So I’m an acceptable date on your big night?” he asked, coming down from the loft like a princess making an entrance at a ball, except that the smile on his face was as shy as ever.
“You’re perfect,” I said, meeting him at the foot of the stairs.
“You’re sure I don’t need a tie?” he asked, shoving both hands in his pockets.
