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It's better not to chance it.
I kicked the ball in her court by telling her I’m available to meet her needs for the next two years. If she wants something to happen, she’ll have to make the first move.
If she doesn’t make a move, a clean-and-cut marriage and divorce will probably suit everyone better anyway.
She gets into the rideshare and I shut the door for her.
She waves goodbye and I wave back as the car pulls off the curb.
I walk back to The Commons while replaying what she told me about her dad, and how her mom wouldn’t be happy if Juliet dated an athlete.
I wonder what her mom thinks about her marrying one.
Chapter Ten
Juliet
The loud thumping of knuckles on my apartment door wakes me from a deep sleep.
Oh God… if my mother walks in here yelling at me, she’s going to wake the whole floor.
I quickly get up at the second set of loud knocks against my apartment door.
“I’m coming!” I yell as I grab the fuzzy pink robe that Shawnie bought me a few Christmases ago.
I think it was meant as a joke since I look like a bubblegum version of the cookie monster when wrapped up in it, but jokes on her. It’s so comfy.
I stomp up to the door and look through the peephole… It’s Shawnie.
Thank God… and with coffee.
I let out a thankful breath that it’s not my mom and begin to unlock the two deadbolts on my apartment door. I yank the door open to let Shawnie in.
“You’re my savior! Gimme that,” I say, reaching for the clear plastic coffee cup filled with iced liquid heaven.
“Hold on a minute there missy. You owe me a story,” she says.
“Are you kidding, I’d give you a kidney right now if you asked for it in exchange for that coffee,” I tell her honestly.
“Here,” she says, taking a step into my apartment and handing me the iced drink. “You’re too pitiful looking when you beg like that. But I refuse to feel sorry for you now. You just got the hottest fiancé on planet earth.”
I grin just before I wrap my lips around my straw and take a long pull off the vanilla cream coffee.
Ryker is attractive, I’ll agree with that. And the minute he pulled my hand against his abs, I can’t deny that my body reacted. But it’s that smile he has and the fact that everyone I met last night loves him. You can see it in the way the crowds cheer for him in the stands and in the way that everyone talks about him in the owner's suit when he isn’t even around to hear it.
He’s too easy to like, which has me worried. As long as I keep a little distance between us and remember that this is a business arrangement, then it will be fine.
“I need to know everything. Did you know he was going to propose?” she asks.
I close the door behind her and then walk to my small living room to sit on the couch. She’s going to be here until she gets everything she wants out of this.
“No. I told you, we hadn’t even talked. He didn’t know what my answer was going to be. I could have said no for all he knew.”
“I have to tell you. From a viewer’s perspective… his proposal didn’t look fake at all.”
Don’t say stuff like that.
“Shawnie… it’s all fake, no matter what it looked like from your television screen at home. This isn’t real,” tell her.
