Page 43 of Scoring Lessons

“I didn’t even say anything!”

“We all knew what you meant.” I settled her with a dry look. “I mean…good for you, I guess, but”—I shivered—“no more of that. Please.”

She rolled her eyes, followed by a chuckle. “Fine.” She grabbed her purse from the coffee table. “I have our next read, by the way. I bought copies for all of us.” Her lips etched into a knowing grin that had me immediately narrowing my eyes in suspicion.

When she dropped the book on my lap, I scrunched my nose in disgust. “A hockey romance?” I tilted my head back with a groan. “I swore off athletes. That includes fictional ones. And I work for a hockey team. It will feel like reading about work.”

“Her obsession is my fault,” Valentina said, grinning. “I made her read one, and she has been down a rabbit hole ever since.”

“Trust me, Olivia, out of everyone here…you need this one the most.” Kennedy dared to look smug while grabbing a chocolate-covered pretzel and munching on it.

I grabbed the book and turned it around to read the description. Once I finished, my eyes met Kennedy’s in genuine disbelief. “You’ve lost your fucking mind, Kennedy Jones.”

Aurora frowned and grabbed the book to read the back, too. “I don’t get it. Someone let me in on the secret!”

“Oh. I read this one already. It’s a brother’s best friend, and the guy is a total playboy, but he ends up falling for his best friend’s sister after he helps her cure her broken heart after a shitty breakup.” Valentina flapped the book in the air as she let out a squeak. “I’m down to read it again.”

“This isn’t funny.” My voice held a defensive tone. I shot Kennedy a deadly glare. “This isn’t Wesley nor me, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

The nerve! I was baffled. Horrified.

“Aha!” Kennedy snapped her fingers. “Everyone heard that, right?” She looked at the girls to get their approval. “Let the record show it wasn’t me,” she sing-songed.

“The more time you spend with my brother, the more insufferable you get,” I mumbled under my breath then waved the book in the air. “I am not reading this.”

“You and Wesley make a lot of sense together,” Aurora commented thoughtfully. “I hadn’t thought about it before.”

“A match made in heaven,” Valentina added, her tone as innocent as ever, as if what she’d just said wasn’t out of the norm.

My eyes ping-ponged between all of my friends then landed on Aurora in genuine shock. “How exactly do Wesley and I make sense? Hmm? Every time we’re near each other, we bicker like an old married couple.”

What no one knew was that even though, yes, Wesley could drive me up the wall sometimes, the longer I spent around him…the more fun it was becoming. I couldn’t even begin to figure out how I felt about it. The signals my body and mind were giving me were confusing as hell. One minute, he frustrated me. Then the next, he could make me laugh like no other. But, most of all, he saw me for who I was.

It was exhilarating and terrifying, all at once.

“It means you care about each other, even if both of you show it weirdly,” Aurora said softly, seemingly lost in thought. But then she shook her head, and her eyes came back into focus. “We’re reading this. I need to know what happens.”

Kennedy gripped both of my shoulders to shake me back and forth playfully. “Come on, Olivia. I’ll even let you shit on the cliché moments when we get together to discuss it. Though I know you’ll love them. There’s a magic to them.”

“They are clichés for a reason,” Valentina said wistfully.

I let out a long exhale as I sagged my shoulders. “I want to point out I was cornered into reading this against my will.”

Kennedy’s triumphant smile widened. “I have a feeling you’ll be fine.”

“Doubtful,” I grumbled under my breath.

It was no big deal, right? Only fiction and far from real life. An impractical joke from my future sister-in-law that we would most likely laugh about down the line when I visited them for the holidays to hang out with my nieces and nephews.

I’d entertain Kennedy’s shenanigans because I loved her, and not because part of me was sort of curious what the endgame of this book looked like.

Only for the sake of fiction, of course. Nothing more.

After book club, I went to the bookstore to get a few more books (because a girl could never have too many) then arrived at the apartment and found Wesley hanging out with Daisy on the couch. She was sleeping on top of him while he watched game tape. She didn’t even come up to the door to greet me. I would have gotten offended, but the sight of them cuddling did something to me.

Daisy lifted her head to acknowledge my presence, but quickly settled on Wesley’s chest again. For a girl who was particular about the people she liked, she loved Wesley. I couldn’t even bring myself to feel betrayed. He loved her like she was his own, too. It was oddly sweet.

I dropped my bags on the counter, and when I turned, there was an empty sleek, white bookshelf propped against one of the walls in the living room.