Page 29 of Resorting to Romance

Mila: I don’t mind. Besides, I owe you from the kitchen sink repair. And don’t say I don’t owe you.

Kai: You don’t owe me. But I’ll gladly take one of your chicken salad sandwiches.

Mila: Stubborn man. ;) And I’m glad you’ll let me cook for you. See you in a few.

Kai: See you then.

I stroll across the sand, smiling. Between Mila and me, I’m sure we’ll figure out how to handle Shaw witnessing us in the lobby.

When I open the door to the watersports shack, Ben is behind the cash register.

“Something you want to share with the class?!” he asks, an impish expression on his face.

“What? What are you talking about?”

“You and Mila. I thought that should happen. You kept telling me it would never. All that talk about only being friends. Well, I’m glad for you—for both of you. She’s a catch, and you're good for her. You two have a solid friendship to build from. My mom always said that was the best way to build a romance. Not that I listened. I had to go all rogue and try to date my enemy … but this isn’t about me and Summer. It’s about you. And Mila. Man, Noah’s going to be over the moon about this.”

Ben’s babbling rapid-fire and grinning like he’s never been so deliriously happy. Each word out of his mouth feels like a BB pelting my skin.

“Whoa. What?”

“Sorry. Does Noah not know? I assumed he would, but of course you might be keeping this quiet from him for a while. You’ll want to put some time into this before you rock his world. I get it. Just say the word and my lips are sealed, bro.”

“Uh. No. No. Noah doesn’t know.”Whaaaaaat?I quickly amend that. “Because we’re not dating. Officially, that is. We are still friends. And we’re not dating. Because we’re friends.”

“Friends can date.”

“Well, we aren’t.”

“Uh huh. Huh. That doesn’t add up.”

“And why is that, exactly?”

“Welp. Bree at the front desk just called over to tell me she saw you and Mila and some guy outside Horizons. She wanted to see if I knew anything. According to her, you put your arm around Mila. And then you kissed her temple. And then your armremained around Mila while the three of you—Mila, you, and this unknown guy—talked. From what Bree said, it all looked very much like you and Mila are together.”

“She what? Bree? Who is Bree?”

“She’s a girl who works at guest services, but mostly the front desk end of things. I met her through Cam. She’s been to your barbecues before.”

Note to self: stop hosting barbecues.

“Well, she’s wrong. Mistaken. She’s mistaken.”

“So you didn’t have your arm around Mila? You didn’t kiss her temple?”

“Why would a front desk hostess call back here to let you know what she saw in the lobby, anyway?”

“Are you kidding me right now?” Ben looks seriously confused.

“No. Not at all.”

“It’s like the Pony Express. News, my friend. News. This is the way we spread it.”

“News?”

Ben just nods. “So, confirm or deny. Did you have your arm around Mila? And, did you kiss her face?”

“That’s out of context. And … we’re at work … so, I’m done talking.”

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