“And your hair is wet,” Billie added. “Like you just showered.”
“Ididshower. This morning. Because that’s when people shower.”
“Leigh,” Delaney said gently, meeting my eyes in the rearview mirror. “Where were you last night?”
My face was on fire. “I was... out.”
“Out where?”
“Just... out.”
“With Dex,” Blake said. It wasn’t a question.
I opened my mouth. Closed it. Tried again. “I…”
“Oh my God,” Blake crowed. “You slept with him!”
“I didn’t… we didn’t…” But I could feel my face burning at epic levels now, and I was apparently the worst liar in the world.
Delaney pulled out of the driveway, but I could see her smiling in the mirror. “How was dinner?”
“It was...” I gave up. “It was really good. Great, actually. We went to this Italian place in Riverside and talked for three hours and then he took me to this spot overlooking the valley and we...” I trailed off.
“And you what?” Billie prompted.
“And we decided not to take things slow.”
Oh my god, why was I saying these things? There was some kind of witchcraft going on in this SUV because the words werejust coming out like these weren’t people I’d only just met a few weeks ago.
Reece squeezed my hand. “Good for you.”
“Really?” I looked at all of them. “You’re not going to lecture me about moving too fast or keeping it secret from the brothers? Or that this is a terrible idea because it’s going to end with us both with broken hearts?”
“Are you happy?” Delaney asked.
“Yes.”
“Does he make you feel good? Safe? Respected?”
“Yes. All of that.”
“Then why would we lecture you?” Blake turned around fully, kneeling backward in her seat. “Leigh, you’re both adults. You’re allowed to have a life. To want things.”
“But my brothers…” It still felt weird calling them that but I couldn’t be bothered to list off all four of their names every time I needed to mention them.
“Will deal with it when they need to,” Billie said firmly. “Right now, this is between you and Dex. And if you want to keep it private for a while, that’s your choice.Andit would be totally normal to do so. No one wants that kind of pressure on a new relationship.”
“We’re not going to say anything,” Reece added. “But you should know... they’re going to figure it out eventually.”
“I know.” I leaned my head back against the seat. “We’re just... it’s just for the summer. I’m going back to Blue Point Bay in August. We both know this isn’t permanent.”
“Are you sure about that?” Delaney asked quietly.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, feelings don’t always follow our plans. What starts as temporary doesn’t always stay that way.”
“We have an agreement. Clean break in August. No drama.”
