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Hope grew in his chest as he leaned in to press his forehead to hers.
“It is too early to be seeing PDA in the kitchen,” Diane said, groaning. “Break it up.”
Diane and Cameron walked into the kitchen with tired eyes. “Look who’s talking?” Holly said, slapping Diane’s backside when she tried to steal a piece of broken crepe. “How long did you stay up with Cam Bam here?”
Cameron laughed and nodded at her. “Nice nickname.”
“Hungry?” Holly asked everyone.
After a resounding “yes,” they all sat down at the table and discussed their plans for the day. Since he and Cameron had never been to the Hoover Dam, that was first on the list, and if they came back in time, they’d have a pizza and movie night.
Holly placed a crepe on Eric’s plate and bumped her knee against his. As long as he was with her, he didn’t care what they did.
The group gathered around the bypass bridge that overlooked Hoover Dam. Built in 2010, traffic had been rerouted to the bypass bridge above to decrease the amount of people going over the main bridge of the dam.
“Look, there’s some dam police,” Cameron said.
“And all the dam traffic,” Holly said with a laugh.
“I love seeing the dam water from this high,” Eric added, playing along. They’d been telling jokes since arriving, but Diane wasn’t having it.
She pouted out her lip and glared at them. “All right. That’s enough dam jokes!”
All three of them burst out laughing at her obvious slip up, and once Cameron gathered Diane in his arms, she was laughing and smiling too.
The weather was perfect—not too hot, with a cool breeze. Light jacket weather, and all Eric wanted to do was hold Holly. But whenever he got close to her, she edged away. She had promised to take things slow, not avoid him altogether.
But it was fine. Eric could be patient. They walked down the bridge a little bit to see the other side of the dam where supposedly bodies had fallen during construction and had long since been covered up with concrete.
Holly led the group, but he wasn’t too far behind. She pointed out things she’d learned as a teen, and he hung on her every word. Just as they crossed the street to see the other side of the dam, Holly stumbled on a rock, and Eric caught her before she face planted. He held onto her hand as he helped her right herself.
“Thanks,” she said, laughing it off. “As you know, I’m not very stable on my feet.”
He squeezed her hand with no intention of letting go. “I guess I’ll have to hold onto this then, to make sure you stay upright.”
Her cheeks pinked, but she didn’t pull away. Instead, she entwined her fingers with his, making goosebumps crawl up his wrists and arms. Yes!
He felt like shouting out loud and fist-punching the air. Out of the friend zone! One glance at Cameron and Cameron looked ready to do the same.
While they were standing on the other side of the bridge, a group text came from Aimee.
They leaned in to see what she’d sent—a photo. A picture of her sitting on the couch, curled up with her dog.
“Cute,” Diane said. “Should we do a picture swap? Do you think she’ll get mad we’re all together?”
“Yes, I think we should,” Holly said, glancing at Eric. “It’s the first step of letting her know.”
He squeezed her hand again and then reluctantly let go. They gathered in a group and Cameron, who was the tallest, shot the selfie. Even though Eric couldn’t hold Holly in the picture, he leaned close to her and slipped an arm around her back to grab the hand she’d hidden there. They played thumb war while the picture snapped, making their smiles that much brighter.
Once they sent the picture, Eric pulled Holly by the hand until she faced him. Then he slipped both arms around her and pulled her in. “Is this okay?”
She blinked fast a few times, but nodded. Then her arms went around him, holding him closer until she was leaning her head against his chest, just as she’d done at the dance.
“Is this okay?” she asked.
As if she needed to ask.
Putting his face next to hers, he blocked the small draft of wind creeping through the bridge. She shivered and pressed her cheek closer. It took everything in him not to turn his cheek and kiss her, but he held back. Slow was slow, and he wanted to make this work.
