Page 54 of The Relationship Clause

Owen snorts. “I do.” Then he grabs his dad by the elbow and hauls him to his feet. “Come on, Dad. Time for you to go. I think your ride’s probably here by now.”

“Huh? What?” Fred blinks his bloodshot eyes and looks around confused until he sees me. “Oh, Junie. It was wonderful to meet you, dear. Have a good night.” Not a mention of the kiss. Did he even see it? Or had his eyes closed before we started?

He trips toward me and makes a sloppy attempt at a kiss on my hand, but Owen slaps his hands away from me before he can make any sort of contact. “Goodbye!” he calls as he’s being dragged out the door.

I take the chance and grab my keys, following them into the hallway. I’ve got a million alarms going off inside me, all of them telling me to do different things, but I listen to the one that is most familiar: the one telling me to create some distance between myself and Owen.

“Where are you going?” Owen asks as I sneak out behind him. He’s holding his dad up and has pressed the button for the elevator, but even through all this, I can see the hurt in his eyes.

“Um, I’m, you know, going home. To bed.” I cross the few feet of hallway to the door of the other apartment.

“Right now?”

“Yeah. I think it’s best.”

“Okay. You sure you don’t want to stay a little longer?”

Nope. Because the only thing I am sure about is that if I stayed in Owen’s presence alone for any amount of time, I’d end up kissing him again, and that would be…

Bad, Junie. Bad. The word you’re looking for is bad.

“Uh, no. I’m”—I force a fake yawn—“you know, tired and stuff. Well, this was great. Thanks for dinner. See you on Monday!” Then I shut myself in his extra apartment before he can say anything else and lean against the door, telling my wild heart to forget tonight ever happened.

“There she is, the woman of the hour!” Kiera grins as I arrive in the restaurant, but I turn my nose up at her.

“I only came for the food,” I tell her as I slide into the booth. We’re at a super cute Thai place I’ve been dying to try for a while now. I was looking forward to it, until Kiera entrapped Mr. Ferguson and me into going on a couple’s trip to Vail last night.

I blame everything that happened after dinner on her. Everything. If she hadn’t been so insistent that I stop and talk to her and her dad out in the hallway, I never would have been invited to Vail, I never would have stayed to eat, and Owen and I never would have kissed.

Now, thanks to her, I’m going to Vail. With Mr. Ferguson. Where I will be pretending to be his girlfriend after I went and kissed him, and then he kissed me back, and then I really kissed him back.

FOR THE WHOLE WEEKEND.

Maybe I’m overreacting a teeny tiny bit, because I know I tend to do that sometimes, but the fact that this is happening on Valentine’s Day weekend makes everything that much more complicated and weird.

One thing’s for sure, I am not telling Kiera that I kissed her brother. We may be best friends, but I’m taking that one to my grave, especially since it was a one-time thing and it will never ever be happening again.

Especially not this weekend.

“Come on, you’re not still upset at me, are you?” Kiera says, making a pouty face.

“What are we upset at Kiera about?” Summer breezes into the booth beside Kiera and looks at us curiously.

“Nothing,” I say quickly. Kiera rolls her eyes and proceeds to spill her guts about my personal life to Summer, despite my insistent kick at her shin under the table. Thankfully, she’s smart enough to talk about things generically, leaving out the fact that this is all happening with Mr. Ferguson, our boss. Summer is in HR, after all.

Even still, I’m squirming in my chair.

It’s not that I don’t want Summer to know. I like her. In many ways, she’s kind of like the yin to Kiera’s yang. Where Kiera is loud and outgoing and sure of herself, Summer is quiet, thoughtful, and more on the shy side. She brings a calming balance to our otherwise crazy girl group.

But she’s also new to my life. Up until now, she’s been a work friend. Someone to sit and have lunch with or send work-related memes to throughout the day. This lunch is the first official get-together we’ve had outside of that, and it’s difficult to open myself up to someone who feels like an outsider. Kiera has been encouraging me to “let more people in” though, and in her mind, the only way to do anything is with a baptism by fire.

As Kiera talks, my stomach churns, and I watch Summer for her reactions. On the surface, she’s as calm and cool as a tranquil mountain lake. Spring roll appetizers arrive on the table, and I munch on one quietly until Kiera finishes.

“Wow,” Summer says, taking a spring roll for herself. “I think if you did something like that to me, it would take a long time to forgive you.”

“Thank you!” I throw my arms up and send another glare Kiera’s way.

Okay, I changed my mind. Maybe opening up to Summer isn’t so bad.

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