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She raised her palms up, likeobviously. “CJ Cunningham’s an actor. A pretty famous one.”
“Really?” Mike leaned back against the pole. “What’s he been in?”
“Um. Last year, he was in that one about the boxer and the heiress,Gilded Cage? He was nominated for an Oscar.”
He shook his head.
“He got famous because he was in that James Dean biopic a few years ago.”
Didn’t ring a bell.
“Okay, here…”
She pulled out her cell phone and Googled the guy to show Mike a picture. “Oh yeah, okay. I know him. He was inThe Interviewer. It’s really good. What’s he like?”
Sam tucked her phone away. “He’s actually really sweet—and over-the-top, disgustingly in love with Bronte. It’s going to be a small wedding on this private island in the British Virgin Islands in August.”
Mike rubbed at his jaw. A private island wedding was some real celebrity shit. “What about you? Getting hitched anytime soon?”
She flicked her hand. “No. I’ve got more important things to do, millennial stuff.”
Mike took his hat off to run his hand over his head before putting it back on. “Millennial stuff?”
“Yeah, we’re ruining the average for marriages and children. You didn’t know?” She rattled off information about age groups, the middle class, and how it all intersected with new wave feminism. “I wrote about it as part of my master’s thesis:Confidence of Millennials.”
“So that’s how you knew I was a statistic?”
“We’re all statistics.” She batted at him, and he caught her hand midair. “You’re not that special,” she said, her teasing trailing off as he wrapped his fingers around the back of her hand, pressing his palm to hers.
His chest tightened in a way he hadn’t felt in a long time. And from the way Samantha sucked in a breath through parted lips, he assumed maybe she hadn’t either.
“You ready to head back?” he asked, rubbing his thumb along her skin to see how she would react. “I could use some coffee.”
She avoided eye contact as she hopped off the swing and dropped his hand. Her eyes briefly strayed to his fingers before darting up to his face then off toward Eddie. She bent down, untying his leash from around the end of the monkey bars, and wrapped it around her fist.
“Thanks for coming with me,” she said as they started back in the direction of their neighborhood.
“Thanks for letting me crash your walk.”
“Maybe we could do it again?” she asked with a hopeful lilt to her voice.
“What’s up with you and Jimmy?” he asked like a bull in a china shop.
“Me and Jimmy?”
“Yeah.”
She looked at him like he’d sprouted horns. “Nothing.”
Mike took a few more steps, remembering how easy she and Jimmy were together. Cozy. “Really? It didn’t look like nothing.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You guys were always together. All the time. I know you slept in his bed once or twice.” He recalled all the days and nights they’d spent together. They were two peas in a pod. If she and Jimmy were such good pals, Mike had to assume something was going on between them.
“We were kids, and we’re still good friends.”
“That could be more, though, right?” He didn’t think the idea was unreasonable, but she outright laughed at him.
