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After a bark of laughter, I replied, “Exactly.”
“You could call him and tell him,” Laurel suggested.
“But then I wouldn’t get to see the look on his face.”
“It’s going to be epic,” Jasmine agreed. “Can I be there with my camera?”
I thought of how excited he would be, and how he’d made me feel with one kiss, and decided it was time for me to act like a grown woman and talk to him.
I was absently running my thumb over my lower lip as it turned up at the corners, when I heard Laurel let out an exaggerated sigh, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“I wish I could find a man to put that look on my face,” Laurel said dreamily.
“Me too,” Jasmine said, propping her head on her hand as they both stared at me.
“Oh, shut up,” I replied, but couldn’t stop myself from laughing with them.
It felt great to have friends, even if they were making fun of me. I was finally starting to feel like I belonged here. That’s what worried me the most. What if I took a chance with Reardon, and ended up messing things up with one of Cherry Spring’s favored sons? Would I go back to being an outsider?
Was it worth the risk? Was he?
Chapter Twenty-One ~ Reardon
When I’d received the text from Chloe asking me to stop by her house, I was elated. I’d been trying to give her space, and who was I kidding, trying to wrap my head around what had happened at the bar that night.
I’d been just about ready to reach out myself, when she did.
I arrived with a bottle of wine in one hand and a fresh loaf of bread from the local bakery in the other. As my mama had taught me, you never show up to som
eone’s home empty-handed, especially when they just moved in.
The door opened and the site of Chloe momentarily took my breath away.
Her hair was down, her face fresh and free of makeup, and she had a cleaning rag in her hand.
“Hey,” she said easily, and the knot that had taken up residence in my stomach eased.
“Hi,” I replied, then pushed my hands out and said, “These are for you.”
“Oh, thank you,” Chloe said, then held up the rag. “Can you bring them to the kitchen? I’m all dirty from unpacking and cleaning stuff off.”
Deciding to just go for it and bring up what was plaguing me, rather than begin with idle chit-chat, I looked at her back as she led me and began, “About the other night…”
Chloe stopped and turned, her face flushed.
“It was totally my fault. It was late and we’d been drinking. I shouldn’t have touched you.”
“No,” I argued, wanting to state my case before she blew the whole thing off as a misunderstanding, or worse, a mistake. “Look,” I said, putting the items on her counter and taking her hands in mine. “I know the kiss was unexpected. There was a moment, so I took it, and, Chloe, I don’t regret it at all, if that’s what you’re getting at. Do you?”
“No,” she said with a shake of her head. “But,” she added, causing that knot to tie itself back up. “We’re friends, and I don’t want to ruin that. That being said … It was, amazing, and no, I don’t regret it.”
I breathed out a sigh of relief, and I knew my grin was so big it bordered on maniacal.
“Still,” Chloe began again, and my stomach dipped nervously. “I’m worried about how intertwined our lives already are. What happens if something happened between us, and things went bad? Not that I’m assuming off of one kiss that something’s going to happen, but still, I’d hate to ruin things not only between us, but Zoey and Gabe, or me and Gabe, or you and Zoey … See?” she said, taking a breath and removing one hand from mine to clasp the back of her neck, her eyes widening as she spoke. “There are so many risks.”
I chuckled a little at her panic, a little pleased that she’d obviously put so much thought into this, and that she was beginning to care about me and my family enough to worry about the possibility of a fallout.
“There’s a lot in there, so let me start with this,” I said, running my thumb over her hand in what I hoped was a soothing manner. “You’re not crazy in assuming that I do want to pursue whatever this is between us. I have for a while, and that kiss just solidified my feelings and helped propel this along. Second, I understand your concerns, and agree that ours is a very unique situation, but we are all adults, and we are friends, so I suggest we take things slow. Feel things out, and then go from there. How does that sound?”
