Right?
Mia had been anti-relationship and anti-marriage for the last nine years. Vehemently so. He wasn’t naive enough to think one kiss would change her mind, but he wanted to hear it from her.
“Right.” Her tone was all the confirmation he needed.
“Then it’s not worth it to risk our friendship,” he said. “It could mess everything up.”
“Maybe,” she said thoughtfully. “But...what if it makes everything better?”
How could it, if it wasn’t real? “It could ruin us.”
“Maybe it already has.”
He shook his head. “Don’t say that. That was just practice for our public performances. Nothing more. And you were right, it will definitely be easier to kiss you in front of other people now.” When had he become such a good liar? He didn’t know if he was proud or ashamed of himself. Either way, if he allowed things to go further, this wouldn’t end well. “I won’t be weird about it if you won’t.”
She wiped her hand across her lips and he wanted her to take it back. Or to kiss her again, to puthimback on her. “Okay. I won’t be weird.”
There was nothing for it. The silence that fell inside that tree house was ten shades of awkward.
“Quick, tell me the thing that’s annoyed you most since I moved in,” she said.
“What?”
“I must do something that drives you crazy.”
She was attempting to lighten the mood, and it worked. “I’ve had to triple the amount of toilet paper I buy.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Excuse me? I have to use it no matter what I’m in there for, you know.”
He laughed. “I know. I guess I just didn’t realize how much faster women go through it. Also, you refold my towels.”
“It’s not my fault you do it wrong.”
“Why don’t you show me the right way, then?”
She shrugged. “Just seems easier to fix it.”
“Every time I wash them?”
“Yep.”
He laughed. “Okay, what about me?”
“You leave dishes in the sink.”
“For like, a day. I do them in the evening.”
“True, but in the morning you just set your coffee cup in there and move on.” She gestured to the right as if she were standing at his sink this very moment. “The dishwasher isright there. You just pivot and put it in there instead of the sink.”
“Could be worse,” he pointed out. “Have you ever seen the state of Graham’s kitchen?”
She shuddered. “No, and I think I’m better off not knowing.”
They climbed down shortly after, though not before Mia peeked through the other side of the tree house at the redbrick home next door. He saw the sadness in her eyes and his own gaze passed over the window that had been her bedroom as a kid.
Her parents had sold the house shortly after the medical bills started rolling in.
They made rounds to say goodbye to everyone, and when they came to his parents, his mom pulled him into a hug. “I’m so proud of you,” she said.