AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I’ve never done anything like that before… I don’t walk outside the lines. Ever. But for some reason, this man brings out a part of me that wants to grab hold of the adventure and just say yes.
“I’d love to.”
A few minutes later, I’m rubbing my hands against my shorts as I sit over the treetops, rolling fields, and a handful of lakes with my feet dangling so high above the ground it feels like I’m flying.
“You weren’t kidding. It’s gorgeous up here.”
“This is my favorite spot. Where I always came to think when I had a decision to make.” Wade leans back on his arms with a peaceful smile. “Sometimes it was serious stuff, like how to handle hockey and football and what I wanted for my future. Sometimes it was about a girl.”
My jaw drops. “Oh my God, Wade, is this a historic make-out point we’re visiting? Is this where you brought your girls?”
He laughs as a breeze plays through his hair.
“Believe it or not, you’re the first person I’ve ever brought up here.”
That’s not the answer I’m expecting, and a shiver tickles over my arms that has nothing to do with the moving air. “Why bring me?”
“You’ve given me this week back. And pretty sure I promised you some fun. Said I’d show you the best Enderson has to offer. Ask me? This is it.”
“Well, thank you.”
We stay there a while, talking about popcorn and people who mix candy into it, what to do on rainy days, and how he thinks I might be a secret jock. He’s nuts and he’s kind of wonderful. Then after we climb down, we walk back to the hotel, taking our time. No rush. No hurry. No emails or regulatory meetings. Just talking and laughing and me trying not to notice how different it feels to be with him than it’s ever felt with a guy before.
* * *
Harlow
“I thoughtthere was a rule about no touching?” Janie asks a few hours later, swirling a fry through her ketchup at our table in Sonny’s Café. It seems like half the town stopped over to say hello to Wade when we first walked in… and even more to check in with Walt and Janie about the wedding.
She holds it up, and Walt leans over and takes it from her fingers with his mouth. They are ridiculously cute together.
“No touchingthe girls. The other way around though?” He winces at his brother. “Even, so, last night wasn’t normal. Bro, I’ve never seen anything like that in my life.”
Wade shrugs.
Walt turns to me with earnest eyes. “You should have seen this guy putting her off like a champ. Typical Wade, trying to be polite. Doesn’t want to be a dick or make a scene. Had to be a solid twenty minutes he kept setting this chick back from him with all the ‘No, thank you’s and ‘Sorry, I have a girlfriend’ business.”
I bite my lip, imagining Wade trying to fight off yet another woman’s unwanted advances. Then leaning into his side, I ask, “Sort of a running theme with you, huh?”
He lets out a low laugh, our secret hanging in that look between us. “Too bad you weren’t there to help me out.”
“Too bad.”
And then he turns to his brother, who’s watching us like he’s never seen Wade flirt with a girl in his life. “No big deal. I mean, it all worked out in the end… Harlow helped me wash off all those hard-to-reach places.”
The bounce of his eyebrows suggests he’s talking about something more than me standing with him in the bathroom, and all I can do is laugh.
Janie rolls her eyes, giving her fiancé a shoulder bump. “Oh my God, with these two! Harlow, have you got siblings?”
“A brother, older by five years. Or half-brother. My dad’s been married a few times. But between the age difference and rarely being in the same house, we’re not close like these guys.” Not to mention that we couldn’t be less alike.
“That’s too bad,” Walt says, going after another fry. “He didn’t get along with your mom?”
I take a sip of my iced tea, searching for an easy answer that won’t invite more questions. But short of lying, there isn’t one. “Actually, I don’t know how they got along. My mother was killed in a car accident when I was an infant.”
Wade reaches for my hand as Walt and Janie both tell me how sorry they are for my loss and I try to make them feel better about bringing it up.
“So you never knew your mother?” Janie asks, her eyes misty.
