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Meredith laughs as she examines each bike, one at a time. “Well, that would be silly. Of course she didn’t call me back to talk about nothing.”
“So?” I say, watching her as she studies the used hybrid Soltera.
“I know you have bikes that aren’t all scuffed up. Why are we looking at these?” She lifts her head, giving me a quizzical look.
I sigh. She isn’t even avoiding the topic, her mind is just somewhere else. But then, I still have Coco to interrogate. “These are used. I can give you a good price on any of these.”
Her grin turns lop-sided and she walks over to where I stand, placing one hand on my forearm. Jitters break out inside of my body with her touch. “Stop worrying about me. I want to present Nikki with something shiny and beautiful. Take me to the shiny and beautiful.”
“Mer,” I say, talking over the dumb jitters that my sister likes to refer to as butterflies. “You don’t have a job. I know you have an inheritance, but number eight and number twenty-two are expensive.”
“Iwillget my own place. I have time. And I have money set aside for college. Besides, it’s not like I’m never going to work. I’m starting college in the fall! And then, I’ll get a job.” She crams her eyes closed, a goofy grin on her lips—she’s giddy with the idea of attending our local college.
“Yes, but college is expensive.”
“Levi,” she says my name like it’s a plea. “Thank you for caring about me.” She wraps her arms around my middle and hugs me close, her face pressed to my chest. She is warm and soft, and it’s pretty much impossible to not return the gesture. With my arms around her back, I rest my cheek on the top of her head.
Pulling her closer, I press a soft kiss there. She can’t feel it—not through the hair on her head.
She pulls back a couple of inches, still holding me around the waist. “Now take me to your shiny things.”
I breathe out a rumbling laugh. “You know where the shiniest bikes are. Out front.”
She nods, but she doesn’t look away. “Are you ready to kiss me yet?”
“Uh—” I think my jaw drops—just a centimeter, but I can’t quite find the energy to pick it back up. She’s surprised me.
“For the list’s sake?”
“Well—”
She closes her eyes, puckers her lips, and stands there, waiting for me.
I clear my throat—letting her know, I’m not moving in. She opens one eye and peeks at me.
“I just think your first kiss should be something special. Not something planned in the back of a greasy bike shop.”
She drops her arms from around me. “Not my first kiss,” she mutters.
But it is.
“Come on,” I say. Coco is right, I’m an idiot. I grab her by the hand and lead her out to the front. “What type of bike are you thinking?”
Meredith keeps her fingers locked within the folds of my own, holding on. “She loves my bike. I can’t tell you if she’d want a mountain bike or a town bike or whatever other kind of bike there is. But I can tell you that a bike is going to make her smile.”
“Okay—well, there’s the hybrid, like you were looking at in the back. It’s got the feel of a mountain bike, but the speed of a road bike.”
“That. Let’s go with that.”
“They’re all over three hundred. The pink one is seven.”
“Pink! So cute. Ooo, but she’s always in this blue hoodie. Any blue?”
I chuckle. She talks like she has all the money in the world. And maybe she does. I don’t know how much her inheritance is. “Yeah. There’s a blue one.”
I ring Meredith up, using my store discount. I’m not sure she even realizes it. She just hands me her card—it’s a debit card, I looked. I just want to make sure she isn’t digging herself into a hole of debt all because Bob gave her some money.
“Can we stop by the store and buy one of those giant red bows?”
