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“Oh, just one, thanks.” I collected a bottle for him and passed it over.“We haven’t met. I’m Ethan Winston. You’re here with Riley, right?”
“Yeah.” We shook, and I appreciated his firm and businesslike grip. “Joe Newman.”
As if saying her name brought her to us, she stepped next to Joe and retrieved the beer bottle from him as she cozied up to his side. His eyes locked on her face, and he casually put his hand to her lower back as she faced me.
“Ethan.”
“Riley,” I replied.
“I see you met Joe.”
“I did, and I see the beer is for you.” Her eyes popped wide for a moment before she narrowed them at me.
“Rude, even for you, Officer Winston.”
I shook my head and laughed before I turned back to her date. “It was nice to meet you, Joe. Good luck with this one, and just a word of advice, cut her off after six. After that, she starts doing shots, and that’s not so pretty.”
Riley’s jaw dropped, and Joe spiked a brow, but I didn’t care what either of them thought as I walked away. I actively made sure to keep my distance and my back to them. After the cake was cut and distributed, my father pulled me up to the deck.
“Hey, can I have everyone’s attention? I have some news that I want to share with everyone, and I know Coral is not going to mind at all sharing the spotlight with this one.” People turned their attention toward us, and I scanned the backyard, taking in all of our friends and family. My gaze paused on Riley but then kept going. I wasn’t sure if she was a friend or family anymore.
I was a little surprised that I had said that to her and her date. It wasn’t like me to be catty or rude. Unfortunately, my defense mechanism was kicking in to keep her further than arm’s length until I could put more distance between us. That training class was going to be a godsend and couldn’t come soon enough.
My father pulled me closer to his side, putting an arm around my shoulders. “You all know that Ethan takes his job very seriously, and he has served this community well for almost ten years now. What you might not know is that Ethan has always had higher dreams.”
My eyes slipped back to Riley, and I watched her as my father spoke. One of her brows popped up, but otherwise, nothing.
“Now, one of those higher dreams is about to come true. His mother and I are so proud to announce that Ethan is now a County Detective—or will officially be in a couple of weeks. And not only that, but they are sending him to Georgia for three months to get certified as a polygrapher! Isn’t that cool? No more lying to Ethan; he’ll make you do a polygraph.”
“Are you serious?” my sister Cara thundered from my left, but I couldn’t look toward her. I was absorbing the expression on Riley’s face.
She stared back at me, her lips parted in surprise, her brow lined momentarily, and then she turned and faced away as if she were trying to school her features. When she shifted my direction again, I saw I was right. Her facial expressions were blank.
I tore my eyes from her and knew that somewhere inside of me, I was secretly pleased with her surprise. I accepted congratulations and hugs and answered many questions after apologizing to Coral for pulling the attention off of her.
“Oh, please! We have birthdays every year. How often do you get a county detective job? I’m so thrilled for you. What does Riley think?”
I frowned. “What does she have to do with this?”
Coral’s gaze cut off to the side as her jaw dropped. “You didn’t tell her before tonight, did you?”
“Why would I?”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on, Ethan. Everyone at this party knows that you’re in love with her, and she loves you too.”
“Ha! I don’t think her date would like that information.” I laughed loudly, “And that is most definitely not true.”
“What, the part about you loving her or her loving you?”
“Either!” I joked back but was slightly irritated that we were talking about this. “Look, I gotta go talk to a few more people. Happy birthday, Coral. I love you.”
“I love you, too, Ethan, and you can avoid the subject all you want. You can’t get away from it.”
“Yeah, actually, I can, for at least three months.” I winked at her and disappeared into the crowd. I spoke to a few more people before I walked off to the side and watched the kids playing with glow sticks in the side yard.
“How long have you known?” A voice reached out to me from behind. I didn’t bother to turn around.
“I got the acceptance on Thursday.”
