But she wasn’t quite ready to share yet.
“Zac?” She blinked innocently, knowing she probably didn’t fool her sister for a second. “He was checking on me after my date with Bodie. Making sure I was okay.”
“Oh, right, uh-huh. Making sure you were okay.” Eva snorted. “Why, did he have some reason to think you wouldn’t be?”
“Well, yes. He thinks Bodie’s convinced he has sexual rights to all his dates.”
“That wouldn’t surprise me. I mean he must score all the time. He is so hot, that—” She jumped with a squeak and glared accusingly at Ames. “I was getting to the bad parts.”
“As long as you remember he has many.” Ames kissed her on the cheek. “Thousands, in fact.”
“I know. Such a shame.” Eva sighed forlornly. “But back to Zac. It’s significant that he came to check on you, Chris. That kind of protectiveness means something. Not to mention the chemistry between you guys is hot enough to melt lead. Did you see how he was looking at her, Ames? Aren’t they perfect for each other?”
“The only thing I think is that I’d better bring our stuff in from the car.” Ames winked at Chris, who grinned back. She liked this new version of Ames. She could even forgive him and Eva for barging in on her and Zac just as things were getting really good between them. Why had she waited so long and wasted so much time on Bodie and Gus? Maybe she’d just needed to get to this new place of self-confidence or whatever it was before, she could—
“—or not?”
Oops.
Eva had just asked her something. “Sorry, what?”
“Ha!” Eva looked triumphant. “You had a totally goopy, dumb look on your face. I knew you weren’t listening. It’s Zac. It’s got to be Zac. Something happened tonight.”
“Okay, okay, it’s Zac.” She flung up her hands and let them drop.
“I knew it!” Eva pumped her fist, sending bracelets jangling down her arm. “This is fantastic. It would be so great if things worked out between you. Or hell, if you got married. Maybe after you move back to New York, you can—”
“Whoa, Nelly.”
Eva cracked up at Chris’s dead-on imitation of their father’s dead-on imitation of a character from the old Roy Rogers show. “Sorry, sorry. I just got so excited.”
“Nothing is going to ‘work out.’ We’re just hanging out for a while. It’s totally low-key. When I go back to New York, he’s going to graduate school and that’s that. No big romance, no big deal.”
Her text signal went off. She dragged her phone out of her pocket.
I’ll pick you up in half an hour. Pack a change of clothes, a toothbrush and a flashlight.
Chris gasped. She felt her cheeks turn red. Zac wanted to finish what they started tonight, even though Eva had just arrived. The thought made her feel a little giddy and a lot crazy. For once, she didn’t mind.
He didn’t want to wait.
And in a big, meaningful rush she realized her own truth: neither did she.
“Chris! What is it?”
Chris stared at her sister, mind whirling. Zac couldn’t be inviting her to his house. Luke would be there, which would be awkward, to say the least. They couldn’t stay here, either, so where...
Wait, a flashlight?
Camping? Ew.
“Um. It’s nothing. Really.”
“Uh-huh.” Eva folded her arms across her chest and peered at Chris over the rim of her red glasses. “From Zac?”
“Mmm-hmm. From him. Yes.”
“Ah. So this is ‘no big deal’ and ‘totally low-key,’ which is why your eyes are the size of quarters, fireworks are shooting out the top of your head and you can’t come up with more than two-word phrases.”
“My eyes are fine.” She squinted comically. “And it is no big deal. Zac just wants to hang out tonight, probably on the beach or something, just to talk.”
“Goody.” Eva grinned angelically. “Then Ames and I will come with you.”
“Oh...” She would not let her face fall. She could not. It must not.
It did.
“Ha!” Eva pointed triumphantly. “You’re busted. I was right. If this isn’t a romance, it’s sure as hell about to be. From there it’s only a matter of time till you fall completely and madly in love with him.”