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“Well, we’ll need to change. Eventually. But we could go explore some first if you wanted. Either on foot or I can get the car back.” I checked the time. I had tickets for a Broadway show, but curtain wasn’t until seven. We should get there before that, obviously, but since it was only just three thirty, we had time.
Megan crossed her arms. “Maybe you should go ahead and tell me the rest of the plan.”
“Broadway. Late dinner after the show.” Here was the sticky part. I took a deep breath. “Tomorrow, I planned to go to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. And then if there was time, maybe a driving tour so we could see more of Central Park and places like Rockefeller Center before heading home.”
“Tomorrow.” Megan looked away. “So we’d stay here. At the Plaza?”
I waited for her to look back at me, then nodded. “That’s what I was thinking. There should be two beds.”
“But just one room?”
“They stay pretty full. And I planned this last minute.” I licked my lips. “We can go home after dinner, if you’d rather. We can just use the room to change. I’m not trying to do anything nefarious here, Megan. I just wanted to give you something special.”
“Okay. You’re right. I’m overreacting.” She blew out a breath. “You know everyone’s going to find out. And they’re going to think the worst.”
“I only care about that if you do. We’re adults. I love you. And I trust you not to take advantage of me.”
Megan snickered. “I think that was my line.”
“Snooze you lose.” I reached for her hand and tugged her into my arms. “If you want to go home right now, we can do that, too. I wasn’t trying to make you uncomfortable.”
“No. This is amazing. I’m sorry—I just had a moment.”
I kissed the tip of her nose. “It’s understandable. Maybe I shouldn’t have done this as a surprise. But I really didn’t want you to say no.”
“And I probably would have. And that would have been my loss.” She glanced over at the elevators before stepping back. “Let’s go walk around. When do we need to be back here to change?”
“Maybe ninety minutes?”
Megan grinned. “Then let’s go see New York.”
18
MEGAN
I’d been floating all week since we got back from New York late Monday evening. Even Reuben’s annoying habit of showing up, sitting and reading for a half hour, and leaving didn’t bring me down. Honestly, if he kept buying books like he’d been doing? I’d reserve him a spot on the couch. My bottom line was going up, and I couldn’t give all the credit to the author signings.
But they didn’t hurt.
Friday evening was still a slow time, though, and I was looking forward to the girls getting here. I wished I could tell them all about Cody’s surprise, but we’d decided—well, I’d pushed for it more than anything—to wait and see if they brought it up.
Cody thought we should just tell them. Maybe he was right. But now it felt like it was this whole big thing, and I didn’t know how to come clean. Even if they weren’t angry that we were dating, they were going to be mad that we’d kept it a secret.
I bit my lip. Was it going to get worse the longer we waited, or had we maybe reached a point where it was going to be awful, no matter what, so there was nothing to lose by waiting?
“There you are.” Kayla came through the door, the bell’s cheerful jingling a counterpoint to the storm cloud on her face. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Uh.” I looked around, checking that there weren’t any customers. “Running a business?”
She squinted her eyes, and her scowl deepened. “Don’t.”
“What?”
“Okay. You’re going to play dumb. Fine. I’ll ask outright. Are you sleeping with Cody?”
I leaned back like she’d slapped me. “What? No. I’m not sleeping with anyone.”
Kayla looked somewhat mollified. “So Austin misunderstood what was going on when he saw that Cody took the plane overnight, and also we stopped by to see you, but you weren’t there?”
