AllFreeNovel
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“Guess it’s just you and me. Again,” she says, her cheeks a little pink. “Not that there’s anything wrong with it,” she quickly adds. “You know I love spending time with you.”
“Yeah. Me, too. Evie’s waiting in the car and I’m sure she won’t mind dropping us off at your place.”
Once we find my older sister in the parking lot, we get in her car. She puts on music and she and I sing along with it. Chloe’s a little too shy to sing, claiming she doesn’t have a good voice. I want to tell her it doesn’t matter if she sounds good or not. I’d love to hear her sing. But I press my lips shut because I don’t want to make her uncomfortable.
“Here ya go,” Evie says as she pulls up before Chloe’s house. We thank her, get out, then she drives off.
“Let’s hope the house isn’t in chaos,” Chloe says with a laugh as she leads me up the stairs to the front door. “Who knows what Rylee has gotten herself into today—” She yelps when she trips over her feet and pivots forward. I quickly catch her before she goes splat on the stairs.
Her face is so close to mine. I feel the heat radiating off her skin.
“You okay?” I ask.
She stares into my eyes. “Yeah. I’m…I’m good.”
“What are you doing?” a voice demands.
I drop my arms from around her and find Rylee standing in the doorway with the door open.
“What are you doing here?” Chloe asks, her cheeks a little red.
“I live here?” Rylee rolls her eyes as she lifts a garbage bag. “Mom and Dad are making me take out the trash.”
“Oh,” Chloe says. “We were just…um…” She looks at me helplessly.
“School project,” I blurt. “We’re reenacting a scene from Shakespeare.” My eyebrows furrow. That was probably the lamest excuse.
Rylee shrugs. “Whatever.” She shoves the garbage bag into the bin and drags herself back toward the house. Turning around, she asks, “If Liam’s here, does that mean he’s making us dinner?”
“I sometimes make us dinner,” Chloe says.
Her sister tilts her head to the side. “Yeah, but he’s better.”
“Hey,” I say. “That’s not nice.”
She shrugs. “Mom and Dad always tell me to be honest, so this is me being honest. Oh, and by the way, your face doesn’t look that bad.” She gives me two thumbs up and walks into the house and shuts the door.
I turn to Chloe. “She doesn’t know what she’s saying. Of course you’re a great cook.”
She rolls her shoulders. “We all know I’m more of the baker and you’re the cook. It’s okay.” She smiles. “Your talents shouldn’t go by unnoticed. We’d better get inside before people start thinking we’re…um…” She shrugs. “You know.”
I swallow. “Right. Of course.” I follow her inside.
Kara and Brayden are snuggled on the living room couch, his arms wrapped around her waist as they watch sports on TV. They sit up as soon as they see us and smile. “Hey, kids,” Kara says. “Liam, it’s so good to see you, hun.”
“Same. It’s been a while since you and the moms have had your book club.”
Kara frowns. “Yeah, unfortunately Charlie’s been swamped with work, but we’ll meet up soon. We’re not giving up our tradition.”
Brayden looks from me to Chloe. “Any plans for tonight? A party? A movie?”
Chloe shakes her head. “Liam and I want to cook dinner tonight. I have a feeling he has something special up his sleeve,” she teases as she smiles at me.
I chuckle. “A few options are spinning around in my head.”
Chloe sighs dramatically. “Looks like we get to be the guinea pigs tonight again.”
“Hey!” I playfully whack her shoulder.
