“Harold? I thought you went with Roger? And what about Hank?” I said, laughing.
“Aunt Rita!” Veronica cried. “Get ya some!”
I made a face. Aunt Rita beamed. “Ladies, I must go. It’s time for the poolside conga line.”
“I have to go, too,” Veronica added. “I need to tell Gus we don’t have to drive all the way up to Creekstone and pick you up. Unless you want us to?”
“Nah,” I said, my eyes flicking up at William who was still watching football. “I think I’m good here. I need some down time.”
Veronica made a face, and I said, “Merry Christmas,” before ending the call. She immediately sent a text that said,He’s hot!
I texted back.Not happening.
I put my phone face down on the coffee table. “Thanks for doing that.”
“Oh, well, we’re even. You just participated in a call with my mom and extended family in the Philippines. I think I canhandle being your alibi for being a poor communicator with your aunt and Veronica, who I’m guessing is your best friend.”
I scoffed at William’s annoyingly accurate assessment but, instead of getting defensive, I changed the subject. “You like football?”
“Yeah, I do.” He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and then back at the game. “How about you?”
“Eh, I don’t watch much NFL, but I do watch a lot of college football,” I said. “It’s pretty big down here in the South.”
“Oh, yeah?” he said.
“It’s hard to escape. Everyone down here loves it,” I said. “Well almost everyone. Matt was never that into it. I always felt like I was dragging him to games, so we just never went.”
“Really? Seems like most guys would kill for a partner to watch football with,” William said in disbelief.
I shook my head. “Yeah, he was more of a golf and tennis guy. His parents were preparing him to be a doctor from day one, and I guess they just assumed those would be the right sports for a doctor.”
William’s eyebrow raised and as if he just realized something, he said, “So, wait, do you watch all the college football bowl games that are on TV between Christmas and New Year’s Day?”
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year,” I said with a coy smile.
“This might not be such a bad week after all!” William laughed.
We watched football and movies for the rest of the evening. Then I headed upstairs to take a shower and sleep in my own bed. William seemed a little disappointed, but I didn’t need to fall asleep on the sofa with him two nights in a row. I had to admit that I was really enjoying spending time with William. When he wasn’t trying to buy up half the town, he wasactually pretty charming and laid-back, but I knew there were dozens of reasons why it was a bad idea for us to get too friendly. There was the obvious reason that he was on the other side of a potentially huge business deal for Aunt Rita and me. Another reason was that I didn’t want to catch feelings for a guy who had just told me he was only interested in casual relationships. I had just navigated five of the hardest years of my life emotionally, and I was far too familiar with the loneliness of losing someone. The last thing I wanted to do was to put myself into a situation that could be far worse than being lonely, which was dating someone who was entirely indifferent. Plus, in my gut I knew that William wasn’t really going to stay in Creekstone, and I was definitely not interested in a long-distance relationship. I needed to stay focused on my priorities and to keep my boundaries.
Chapter 8: William
Kit came bouncing down the back stairs the next morning looking totally refreshed. I had thought Kit looked cute on Christmas Eve with her messy bun and oversized sleep shirt, but this was another level. Kit looked hot. She had her hair pulled back into a neat braid, and she was wearing a loose-fitting zip-up hoodie over what appeared to be a spandex workout top and a pair of black leggings. I tried not to look at her butt and legs as she crossed the kitchen.
I swallowed my coffee, trying to be as casual as possible. “Hey, still okay if I join you for your morning run?”
“Of course,” Kit said, getting a glass and filling it with water from the sink. “I’m surprised to see you down here this early in the morning. Usually, I don’t see you until sometime in the evening. I don’t think I’ve seen you before two p.m. since you moved in.”
“Except for yesterday morning.” I couldn’t help but point out that we had woken up together on the sofa the day before. I saw a slight upturn of the corner of her lips. She took a gulp of water.
Kit put the glass in the sink. “You ready?”
Kit told me the route as we stretched. “We’ll run three blocks in this direction and end up at the edge of town. We’ll cross the street into the woods where there’s a trail. We’ll take the trail until we reach the riverbank. Then we’ll run along the riverbank for a bit, take another trail that loops us back to the main road, and run along that back into town.”
I should have been tipped off by Kit’s expensive running shoes and the whole stretchy running outfit that I was in trouble. Kit wasn’t just fine, she was actually exceptionally fit, and it turned out she got that way by being a distance runner, something she omitted telling me the day before.
As we ran through town, Kit pointed out houses and told little stories about each family. She didn’t even seem to be breathing hard. At first, I was fine. But by the time we crossed the street and started running the trail in the woods to the river, I was struggling to keep up. As we ran through the woods, she was completely unphased as she hopped around rocks and limbs.
Eventually, Kit led us up the trail which was on a slight incline to the top of a hill. When I reached the top, I saw that we were at the river. I stopped to catch my breath but pretended to be taking in the view.
