Page 3

“I thought this was way too feely for you. I was starting to worry.”

Very funny.

I pace in a small circle, relieved as the swell of emotions rising inside me begins to subside.

“Mom and I were at the carnival getting cotton candy, as one does, and someone touches my shoulder. I turn around to see Cade Samuels.” I fight a smile as I recall the handsome quarterback from our high school team. “Cade was a couple of years older than me and was, arguably but not, the hottest guy to ever come from my hometown. I haven’t seen him in probably twelve years, and time has done nothing but favors for him.”

Layla stays quiet, and I know what she’s thinking. Even though her brother and I are explicitly friends with benefits, she likes to forget that and pretend that we’re more. I’m sure she’s wondering why I’m telling her, of all people, this story.

Patience, sweet Layla.

“Turns out that Cade works for a nonprofit, and I mentioned that I might be starting something similar. We chatted for a couple of minutes, and then he asked me out. Now, keep in mind that there was a time in my life when I would’ve done incredibly vile things to be asked out by Cade, okay?”

“Okay …”

“I figure that he’s asking me to dinner to talk shop, right? So I tell him that I don’t have a solid direction yet, but thanks for the offer.”

I can almost hear Layla’s relief. “That makes sense and was so nice of him.”

“Except that he said he didn’t care about that and was hoping we could go out. On a date.” I pause for dramatic effect. “And I said no.” I throw up the hand not holding my phone. “I didn’t even think about it. I’m not sure I really even processed what was happening until he walked away and all I could see was Finn’s smirk in my head.”

And that’s a problem. A big one.

“I’m sure Finn will be happy to hear this,” she says, making no effort to hide how happy she is about this, too.

Yeah, I bet he will.

“My phone is about dead,” Layla says. “I took way too many videos of Sunny today without charging it.”

My heart squeezes. “How is my beautiful little goddaughter?”

“She’s sleeping in Branch’s arms right now while he watches a sports show because, God forbid, she sleeps in her crib.”

I groan. “I hope they’re not watching basketball.”

“Why?”

“Because I’ve been teaching her that if she’s going to go for an athlete, we look at the football players and the hockey guys only. We tune out the rest.”

“And why would you tell her that?” she asks, laughing.

“Because she’s clearly going to be exposed to lots of football with Branch and Finn, and you and I like football. It works. It fits. And hockey guys are hot, and the game is fairly entertaining, so I think we can make an exception if she goes that route. But basketball players? What the hell would we do with one of those?”

She laughs again. “I think Branch is telling her no guys ever, no matter what, so the two of you can hash this out.”

“If there’s one person that I’m not worried about, it’s Branch,” I joke, remembering that I forgot my phone charger at Mom’s and my phone is probably about dead, too. “I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”

“What time are you supposed to land?”

I glance at the empty spot where a plane should be parked, waiting for us to board. “I don’t know. They’re saying we’re taking off at six, so I’d land around nine thirty. But I bet we get delayed again.”

“How are you getting home?”

“Social Ride, probably.”

She gasps. “No, not that late. That’s when the creeps are out.” She says something off the phone, but it’s muffled. “Poppy?”

“Yeah?”