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“These are just pictures of you and your grandma, Reed. Maybe you went to juvie the week after these were taken.”
He rolled his eyes and pulled his phone away from me. “Going to need just a little bit of trust here, Sunshine. Or I could call my mom, and you can ask her?”
“No, no. It’s okay,” I quickly answered. I imagined that would be a very awkward conversation.
“Glad to hear it,” he replied.
The bell above the door sounded, and when I glanced over my shoulder, I was surprised to find the café had filled with people while Reed and I had been talking. I’d been so consumed in our conversation I hadn’t noticed. Mia and Nicole seemed to have everything under control, but I still felt guilty I’d taken such a long break.
“I should get back to work soon,” I said. “It’s getting busy in here.”
Reed smiled. “That’s fine. If we’ve missed anything, I’m sure we can talk about it on our date tomorrow.”
“Fake date.”
“Of course.”
It wasn’t the first time I’d had to correct him, and I was worried about how easily the edges of our agreement might blur over time even with my attempts at implementing strict rules. I was also a little worried about how much Reed seemed to be enjoying our arrangement so far. Given the way I’d lost track of time while we’d been sitting here, maybe I wasn’t hating it as much as I’d first thought I would either. I decided to make another addition to our rule book.
“Reed, before we go, there’s just one more thing,”
“Okay…” He suddenly sounded nervous, and I didn’t blame him because I probably looked a little sick as I thought about how to voice what I was thinking.
“We should promise each other that we won’t let any feelings get in the way of our arrangement.”
I slowly looked up at him, and his uncertain expression mirrored my own. “No feelings?”
“No feelings,” I replied. “Think of it as the golden rule. This isn’t a real relationship, and it’s never going to be. I’m not ready to date again after what happened with Jeremy, and I can’t afford to get my heart stomped on all over again.”
“Yeah, I get it.” Reed slowly began to nod, and it looked like he genuinely understood. “Okay, no feelings,” he agreed. “And I promise I won’t stomp on your heart if you don’t stomp on mine.”
I didn’t think there was any danger of that, but I nodded all the same. “Deal. And then in a few weeks, you can go back to your girls, and I’ll go back to avoiding hockey like the plague.”
“Sure” was all he said in response.
I blew out a breath, feeling more at ease now we had our golden rule to guide us through this minefield.
With that delicate conversation out of the way, the two of us stood from the booth at the same time. I was about to turn and walk away, but then I noticed there were a few kids from school seated nearby who were watching us. What would they think if I just left Reed standing there alone? I was supposed to be his girlfriend after all. I needed to act like it. But what about the rules I’d just?—
Before I could fret any longer, Reed stepped forward and gently placed his hand on my waist. He leaned toward me and brushed a featherlight kiss against my cheek. His touch was so gentle but somehow still held an intensity that left me breathless. I was taken completely by surprise, but his lips were gone before I could react.
Had he already broken a rule? Or had we agreed that a kiss on the cheek was okay when necessary? I couldn’t remember. All I could think about was the feel of his lips on my skin. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly as he took in my wide eyes, and I quickly hid my shock as best I could.
“Uh, did that qualify as necessary?” I whispered. His face was still close to mine, and his hand still rested on my waist.
“Yes,” he murmured. “Definitely.” He brushed past me and made his way to the door. I stood frozen to the spot for a few seconds before quickly snapping to my senses and hurrying back behind the counter to return to work.
I was suddenly feeling very glad I’d decided to add our golden rule to the game plan at the last minute but also a little more worried I was going to have to work hard to enforce it.
13
REED
“Hey, Reed. Is that your girl over there?”
I skidded to a stop, the ice flying up from my skates, as I looked in the direction Matt had nodded toward. Violet was standing at the edge of the rink, and she lifted her hand slightly to wave. I was surprised to see her here so early. I’d told her she only needed to make an appearance for the last few minutes of practice. Given her feelings about hockey, I knew this would be boring for her to watch. Plus, we only needed Hoffman to see us leaving the center together, so it wouldn’t have mattered if she’d arrived a little later.
I still couldn’t believe Violet’s ex had expected her to watch him train. I knew she was set on avoiding jocks, specifically those with big egos, so I couldn’t fathom how she’d ended up with a guy who had one bigger than the rink we played on.
