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I sit back in my seat, staring at the banana on my tray. Shit. Maverick is going to meet Blaire and Bax. They’re going to meet the guy I’m very quickly falling for.

This is a terrible idea. Maybe I should call the whole thing off. Maybe I should tell Maverick I want to drive down by myself so I can spend more time with the twins. Maybe I should--

“Thane,” Tess says, pulling me out of my spiral. I look at her across the table. “Stop freaking out. I think this is a great thing.”

“You do?”

She nods her head. “You seem different since you started spending time with him. More grounded. More, I don’t know, free?”

“I do?”

“Yeah. It’s a good thing. You know how we were just talking about you taking on everything yourself?”

I nod my head.

“Seems like he doesn’t let you do that with him.”

“He doesn’t. If anything, he’s the one who takes care of me.”

“And that’s exactly what you deserve.”

I sink further down into my seat. I pick up a fry, eating it slowly. Tess’ words hit me square in the chest.

“Hey, Tess,” I say softly.

“Yeah?”

“I really, really like him.”

“Good. I’m happy for you. I think he really, really likes you too.”

“You can’t know that,” I say right away, picking at my food.

“Call it a sister’s intuition. Or something. I don’t fucking know. He seems like the type of guy who wouldn’t do something just ‘cause. He’s older which means he’s probably wise. He’s a doctor which means he’s not stupid. I don’t know, Thane. I think he feels the same way but the only way you’ll know is if you talk to him about it.”

“I will. Not yet, but I will.”

Tess reaches over, swiping a couple of my fries. “You’ll give the twins my love, right? Don’t let them think I’m just ditching them like Mom and Dad.”

“They know, Tess.”

“I know, they know. It just sucks. I don’t want to be like them but now that I’m away from that place, it’s really, really fucking hard to go back.”

I reach across the table and squeeze her wrist. “Don’t worry. This is one of those things I don’t mind doing.”

“Okay. You know I love you, right?”

“Course I do. I love you too. Even if you steal my fries and are a general pain in my ass.”

“Hey!” Tess yelps, swiping at me. I duck enough to miss the hit, both of us breaking into a cackle.

I have so much to think about but I think Tess is right. One of the first steps is to just talk to Maverick about how I feel. Surely, that won’t be too difficult.

Chapter Eleven

Maverick

My hands tighten around the steering wheel as I pull my car into the high school parking lot. There’s already a ton of people here, probably because it’s a special night. Thane rubs his palms against his pants, turning to look at me.