Page 121 of Fall Fake-Out

“You two should go ahead.” The smile Landrie gives me is entirely too knowing, making me regret telling her the truth about Wade and me. “We’ll catch up.” She winks at me as she drags Jaxon away, leaving me to believe her matchmaking skills have turned onto us.

“Come on.” Wade pulls me toward the hay. “I’ll let you lead.”

Why do I get the feeling there’s more behind that statement than how it sounds?

By the time Wade and I emerge from the maze, Landrie and Jaxon are waiting near the pumpkins.

“There you are.” Landrie immediately grabs my arm. “Come help me pick out a good one.”

Before I can protest, she tugs me away from Wade. I glance over my shoulder at him, but his expression doesn’t give much away.

The second we’re out of earshot, Landrie groans dramatically. “Oh, my gosh! Could you two be any cuter?”

I shake my head. “You know none of it is real.”

“Um…yeah, it is. It’s obvious Wade is gone for you.”

“This is Wade Stevenson we’re talking about.”

“So?”

“So, he’s acting.”

“No.” She shakes her head. “This is different.”

“Landrie.” I roll my eyes.

“Seriously. You don’t see what I see.”

“And what exactly do you see?”

“The way he watches you when you aren't paying attention. And he’s nervous around you, like a teenager around his first crush. It’s adorable.”

That almost makes me laugh. “Wade isn’t nervous around women.”

“Maybe because he’s never liked one as much as he likes you.”

Against my better judgment, I glance across the pumpkin patch. Wade stands beside Jaxon near a display of small pumpkins. As if he feels my eyes on him, he looks up. Our gazes meet instantly. Then he smiles. Not the big, charming smile he gives everyone else. Something smaller. Softer.

I feel that smile deep in my soul.

Landrie bumps her shoulder into mine. “See? It’s so obvious that he’s into you. And now that I think about it, it’s been obvious for years.”

“Amazing theory, except for one tiny detail. I haven’t even lived here for years.”

Landrie stops beside a pile of cream-colored pumpkins. “When Wade and I dated, all he ever wanted to talk about was you.”

My heart stutters. “What?”

“At the time, I thought he was just being nice because you two were friends.” She picks up a pumpkin and immediately puts it back down. “But now I realize he was way more interested in what was happening in your life than mine. What you were doing in Florida. Whether you liked your job. How often you came home. Stuff about Andy.”

The words take my breath away because, for years, I’ve carried around the same story. Wade never wanted to date me. He wasn’t interested. I wasn’t good enough for him. Case closed.

But suddenly, Landrie’s words poke holes into that belief.

She laughs. “Looking back, I don't think he was ever really interested in me. He just wanted you.”

Across the pumpkin patch, Wade looks over again.