Page 106 of Holding On To Good

“—and you accused him of being the reason I broke the rules in the first place—”

“It’s not out of the realm of possibility.”

“—and even after I told you how he helped me get unstuck, you didn’t thank him.”

“How do you know I didn’t thank him after you left?”

It was a trick question, one meant to get her to say more than she should.

She wasn’t falling for it.

“Did you?” she asked.

He kept silent.

Answer enough.

She broke a piece off one of the cookies. “What did you say to him after I left?”

Miles pushed away from the counter. “I’m not discussing any conversation Walsh and I may or may not have had that night or any other night.”

“He said you arrested him,” she blurted, because when it came to Reed Walsh and this incessant need to know more about him, she had absolutely no cool.

Even when the boy was nowhere near her he had the ability to make her stupid. Careless.

Something that was concerning, for sure.

“When?” Miles asked.“When he was eight.”

“No. When did he tell you that?”

She shrugged. Broke the piece of cookie in her hand in two and reminded herself she was an almost-adult and therefore had the right to converse with anyone she so chose. “I texted him Sunday night—”

Miles groaned, long and low, like he was slowly being disemboweled.

Drama queen.

“—to thank him for helping me and I brought up how you two seemed to be fairly well-acquainted, and he mentioned that you arrested him—”

“I didn’t arrest him when he was eight. Jesus. I let him go with a warning.”

“—and he asked me if I’d texted him to, as he so charmingly put it, yank your chain.”

Miles stilled. Looked at her hopefully. “Did you?”

“Oh, absolutely,” she said, giving him a wide-eyed I’m-just-a-naïve-simple-girl-without-a-brain-in-my-head-or-a-thought-of-my-own, look. “I mean, what other possible reason could I have other than to irritate, annoy or otherwise induce panic in one or more of my brothers?” She laid her hand against her chest. “It’s what I live for.”

“I know,” he muttered. “That’s the problem.”

“Hilarious,” she deadpanned. “Believe it or not, there are a few times in my life where I make a decision that has absolutely nothing to do with anyone else but me and what I want—”

“I’ll give you a thousand dollars right here, right now, if you swear you’ll never, ever, want Reed Walsh.”

“—and as someone who’s seen Reed, I know darn well you realize that a girl doesn’t have to be trying to rile up her brothers to become infatuated.”

Miles blanched. And as satisfying as it was to be able to make him uncomfortable, she had a sneaking suspicion this conversation wasn’t going to end well.

Not for her.

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