Page 31 of The Best Friend Power Play

Hannah winces the same way she did over breakfast this morning when I brought it up. Hmm. Maybe she actually isn't on board with the whole thing?

It's time I made sure.

"Hey. Listen, if you don't want to do the hot girl summer thing, it's fine. You're under no pressure. I won't tell anyone if you change your mind."

"Hey. I said I'll do it, so I will."

"Hey. But do you actually want to, or are you just doing this to fulfill an obligation to your friends? Or the kids? Or me?"

She rests her hip against the counter. "Look, I'll admit that at first, I wasn't sold on the idea. But it's grown on me. I want to do it. In fact, I've come up with a motto for the summer."

"Which is?"

"If it feels good, do it," she says, smiling proudly.

"Now that's something I can get behind." I extend my hands, fingers curling and uncurling. "So hand over the list."

"Why?"

"Now that I know you're totally cool with it, I will remind you that I was assigned to be the man of the house which, if we overlook the slightly problematic undertone of that, means I need to make sure you follow through with your commitment. Consider me your accountability partner. Oh, and I also just had an idea about something else I can add to the list."

"What's that?"

"Nightly foot rubs. Assuming that's all right, of course?"

She clears her throat. "Of course it's all right. It's just, um, I left the list in my room. I'll add foot rubs to it later myself."

"Nightly foot rubs," I clarify. "And then you'll hand it over?"

She hesitates for a moment, then eventually says. "Tell you what. Why don't I take a photo of the list and send it to you? That way you don't have to carry a piece of paper around."

Why is she acting so strange about handing over the list? If I were a paranoid person, I'd be starting to think she doesn't want me to have it.

I ignore her weirdness and reply with a cheeky grin, "Yeah. Because that single sheet of paper would have weighed me down like you wouldn't believe. I can hear Coach's sigh of relief from here."

She smacks me lightly across the chest. "Stop it. But you've got yourself a deal," she says, straightening. "I'll get changed, and while I'm in my room, I'll send you a photo of the list." She smirks and lifts on her toes. "Oh, and the apron is in the third drawer to the left of the oven."

My eyes widen.

She actually owns an apron? I never expected that, but I'm not about to renege on what I said. So I pull out my phone from my back pocket and wave it in front of her. "I'm waiting."

She giggles and bounces out of the kitchen.

I like seeing her like this.

She's had a good night's sleep and is well-rested. I made sure everyone had a hearty breakfast to start the day. And even though Chester and Katie leaving is hard on her, at least she's not going to be alone, apart from me having to leave every few weeks for three-day training sessions in LA.

My phone buzzes.

I open the message and see the photo of the hot girl summer list in Katie's neat handwriting.

My eyes scan down the image.

Hmm, that's weird.

I pinch the image to enlarge it.

It looks like when Hannah took the photo, she accidentally cut the list off. I can just make out the tops of a word or two scrawled underneath the last item. I'll have to ask her about it.

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