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“Thought you might need it. And I also brought…”
He reaches back into the truck, grabs a Tupperware, and opens it. A rich, sugary sweet, chocolatey scent fills my nostrils and I moan despite myself. “Is that…?”
“Brownies? Absolutely.”
He takes a napkin, picks up a brownie with far more restraint than I’d have, and holds it out to me. I take it eagerly, try not to notice the way Ethan licks the sticky chocolate off his fingers with that perfect mouth of his.
I can’t believe I used to kiss that mouth.
Not that that’s at all relevant to what we’re doing.
I’ve been trying to look at the bright side of this hapless adventure. Ethan and I texted through the week to organize ourselves—because of course he still has my childhood number memorized despite the fact that we haven’t texted in years—and I’ve come around to thinking that this trip is an opportunity for us to reestablish our friendship and move past the awkward limbo stage.
I’m tired of the lengths I’ve had to go to in order to avoid him over the years. If I no longer have to dive behind snowdrifts, or bushes, or groups of children, my life would be better for it.
Besides, New Val wouldn’t dare pull a muscle hiding from an ex. So patching things up with Ethan and putting the past in the past is another way to move forward.
We’ve already taken the first step by acknowledging the awkwardness. Now, it’s a question of becoming somewhat friendly again. Not to say that I think we’ll ever be as close as we once were. Or that I would want to be. After what happened, I fully intend to keep him at arm’s length.
Just need to get my wayward mouth thoughts under control.
“So what’s our first stop?” I ask in a very friend-ish way as Ethan circles the car and opens the door for me.
“If I tell you, I’ll have to kill you.”
I sigh tiredly. “I’ve never met anyone below the age of forty-seven who makes so many corny dad jokes.”
Ethan gives me another smirk. “Classic Pops. He’s structured this as a bit of a treasure hunt.”
I shift, my heart suddenly racing. “A treasure hunt?”
“Yeah.” Ethan pauses, shoots a glance my way. “That okay?”
I almost say no. Almost dive out of the car. But my hands feel tied. This is Pops’ final request… no matter how uncomfortable I feel about it at the moment. I tug on my seatbelt with a touch more force than necessary. “Yeah, sure. Of course.”
“Great. We’re going to play paintball.”
My hands freeze around the seatbelt. “Paintball? As in… shooting at each other with dangerous rainbow pellet guns?!”
“That’s the one.”
“And do we actually have to… participate?”
“Yup.”
My mouth turns down. I’ve never played paintball, was conveniently sick or busy or unavailable whenever Ethan and his friends had plans to play. Why Pops wanted me along for this particular portion of the trip, I have no idea.
Ethan shoots me a glance as he starts the car. “What? Scared I’m gonna beat you?”
“Not in a million years,” I say, all bravado. I turn to grab the Tupperware from the backseat. “But if I’m going to be kicking your butt soon, I need to restore my energy.”
I open the container and practically faint once again at the chocolatey goodness. I reach in and take a big slice, licking my lips.
“Glad to see you’re still into brownies.” Ethan chuckles.
“I’ve actually diversified my brownie portfolio over the years. Raspberry, red velvet, blondies… The ones I can’t get on board with are peanut butter brownies.” I shudder at the memory of the ones I tried a few weeks back. They were dry, heavy on the salt. Disappointing.
“I’ll have to try my hand at those ones when I get some time to bake.”
