Page 112 of Our Chaotic Love Affair

But neither of us moved.

“Hey,” I said. “Want a code word?”

He pulled back to look at me. “What?”

“A code word. For this weekend. If things get tense with your father or if you need an out from an awkward conversation, you say the code word and I’ll rescue you.”

His lips quirked. “You’ll rescue me.”

“I’m very good at rescues. Ask Melody.”

“What’s the code word?”

I thought about it. “Pistachio.”

“Pistachio.”

“It’s random enough that you won’t say it by accident but normal enough that you can work it into conversation.”

He chuckled. “You’ve put thought into this.”

“I contain multitudes of code words.”

“You have code words with other people?”

“Just Melody.”

“Like what?”

“I can’t tell you. Then it wouldn’t be a secret code word.”

“Why would Melody need code words?”

“Mostly before Austin. If she was on a date, she’d text me an emoji and I would get her out of the date. If we were at an influencer event and she got the ick from a fan, code word.”

He shook his head. “Cleo the Rescuer.”

“I think that’s better than Cyclone Cleo or Chaotic Cleo. Whatever you called me.”

He grimaced. “Sorry about that.”

“I don’t mind. It’s true. I love to cause chaos. I won’t stop.”

“Good. Don’t stop. It’s who you are.”

We stood up together. Brushed off our clothes. Headed back inside to the party. But before we stepped back onto the patio, he caught my hand again. Squeezed once.

“Thank you,” he said.

“For what?”

“For coming after me. For sitting with me.” He stopped. “Just thank you.”

My throat felt tight. “Anytime, Lurch.”

Something flickered in his eyes when I called him that. Relief, maybe. Or recognition that we were finding our way back to something, even if neither of us knew what it was yet.

We rejoined the party separately. Me first, then him a few minutes later. I went back into hostess mode. It wasn’t my party, but I was taking on hosting duties to help Melody out. I circled the room and made sure everyone had drinks and didn’t need anything.