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As much as she wanted to run her hands under that T-shirt, to feel what was under those sweats, she knew that would completely derail her mission.

“Sam,” she began just as he said, “Do you want a—”

He quickly dropped the hand that had gestured toward the kitchen.

“Oh no.” He did the little self-deprecating laugh again.

“What?”

“That doesn’t sound good. Whatever you’re about to say.”

“Um.” Arden felt the courage leaking out of her. “A drink would be nice. If that’s what you were going to say.”

They settled on the couch, each with a can of seltzer.

“How was the rest of your day?” She knew she was beating around the bush, but she couldn’t just come out and say goodbye, like she had no heart.

“It was fine. Pretty chill. How was yours?”

“I went to the Elliott Bay bookstore. It was one of the things on my Seattle bucket list.”

“That’s a great little place. Did you buy any books?”

Delighted by the question, Arden nodded and told him which ones.

“I love a good thriller. Have you read any of the Jack Reacher books?”

“No.” Arden was tickled. It was such a guy thing to say, but she loved that he loved to read, too. She didn’t know many guys who did.

“You should definitely check those out. I have a few if you want to borrow one.”

“Thanks.” Arden set her drink down on the coffee table. “Sam, I—”

His phone rang. Arden expected him to silence it, but when he saw Mom flashing on the screen, he answered. “Hey, Mom, what’s up?”

Arden supposed this would have become annoying if they had actually dated. His thing with his mom.

She vaguely heard a few of Donna’s words.

“—at the club tonight—seven—”

“Yep, I’ll be there.” Sam glanced at Arden and mouthed, Sorry.

“—can’t, so—girlfriend’s welcome to come—”

“Mom!” Sam sprang up and crossed to the kitchen, where Arden could still hear him clear as day. “Arden is not my girlfriend. She is my friend. Yep. Okay. Great. I’ll see you there.”

He returned, pocketing his phone, his face flaming. “Sorry about that.”

Arden waited to see if he was going to elaborate—or perhaps invite her to tonight’s event—but he didn’t. He sat back down beside her and took a long drink of seltzer.

Deep breaths, Arden told herself. Because she was feeling like she was the one who’d just been dumped. Why had he been so quick to say it? With everything they had shared, was there not a small part of him that thought of Arden in a girlfriend-adjacent way?

She was being ridiculous. This was just her fear of rejection, of not being good enough for anyone. It didn’t matter if Sam shouted from the rooftops that Arden was definitely not his girlfriend. Because she wasn’t. That was simply a fact.

But she couldn’t seem to communicate this to her nervous system. Her heart was pounding as though she were being chased by a bear.

“Are you okay?”