“Even if someone took a picture of me kissing you and posted it to the internet?” Ryder asked.
The world shifted under my feet and I grabbed my truck for balance.
Dammit. Ryder couldn’t catch a break, could he?
“Who?” I asked.
I was gonna…
Well, I would have liked to think I’d kick their ass for Ryder, but despite my size I wasn’t the ass-kicking type.
But I definitely wouldn’t help them back their car up into a spot on Main Street again or anything. Hurting my friends was the one thing I couldn’t forgive.
“I have no idea,” Ryder said. “Could’ve been a tourist or something. Someone who recognized me.” He paused to let out a shaky breath. “I’m sorry Ward. I didn’t mean to drag you into all this.”
My brain—which was a few cups of coffee short of a morning—finally connected the dots between Liz telling me that it was all over the internet that I was dating Ryder and what Ryder was telling me now.
“It’s honestly okay,” I said. “I mean, I’m angry, but not at you. I’m angry that people can’t let you have ten minutes of privacy. For my own sake… people think someone likeyoumight date someone likeme. That’s not the worst thing in the world.”
Was that too much to say? I wanted Ryder to feel better about this, but had I just given away what I’d been thinking earlier? About how maybe, sort of, I would have liked to think about possibly kissing him again, sometime?
“Funny you should mention that,” Ryder said with a nervous laugh. “Can I, uh. Buy you lunch, maybe?”
“Umm.” I glanced over at Liz’s stairs, grinning as Maisie poked her head up over the kitchen windowsill, pressing her tiny nose to the glass.
I hadn’t liked leaving the temporary fix yesterday and I’d only done it because I needed time to build a new set of stairs. There was no way to justify leaving it any longer.
“I’m gonna end up working through lunch,” I said, hating myself for it. Ryder needed me right now. “But I mean, you’re still staying at my place, right?”
“Am I?” Ryder asked, voice small.
When we were kids I could’ve fixed all this with a hug, a movie night, and falling asleep together on the couch. Why did being grownups have to be so much more complicated?
“Of course you are,” I said. “I mean… if you want to? It’s okay if you don’t.”
“No, no, uh. I want to, if that’s okay.”
“It’s okay.”
It was a lot more okay than Ryder feeling like he wasn’t welcome. Whatever happened, I couldn’t imagine a day when he wouldn’t be welcome wherever I was.
“My agent wants you to pretend to be my boyfriend,” Ryder blurted out in a rush.
Meanwhile, I wondered if it was about time I got my hearing checked. Maybe the constant sound of power tools was starting to get to me.
“Would you care to repeat that?” I asked. “Slower, if at all possible.”
“My agent.” Ryder paused to take a deep breath. “Wants you to pretend to be my boyfriend. I know it’s ridiculous but I had to tell you.”
“I…”
“I wanted to tell you in person but Seth’s giving me a look that says he’ll kill me if I leave it any longer. I’ll tell her you said no, it’s fine.”
“No, wait—”
What was I saying?
“Why does she want… y’know?”
