Page 111 of If Only In Our Dreams

“Hey,” Jane said, voice quiet and as close to angry as I’d ever heard her. “You said they were forme.”

Ben’s teasing smile softened as he turned to look at her. He crouched low to speak, tone gentle. “I was just flirting with Robin,” he promised, like she was a little adult.

So fucking cute, oh my god!

I seriously doubted Jane knew what “flirting” meant, but she seemed to settle regardless, nodding seriously up at her dad, her little pigtails swinging. “I wanttwodonuts,” she negotiated—because he’d made her sad.

Apparently Rosie wasn’t the only evil mastermind in their family.

“How about a donut and some cider?” Ben negotiated right back, always aware of the twins’ sugar intake. He’d already promised them cider—earlier, when we’d first arrived. But Jane didn’t seem to realize she’d been tricked because she nodded along, excited about the idea of not just one, buttwodifferent kinds of treats.

Ben broke the box open, handing a donut to both of the girls with a napkin each. And then he made one up for me, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he passed it over. I accepted the donut with a grin, then groaned, because damn—it smelled like fucking nirvana.

“You Vermontinarians don’t fuck around when it comes to apples,” I told him around my mouthful of chewy, delicious goodness.

Ben snorted, lips quirking up. “I think that word gets longer every time you say it.”

“What word?” I played dumb as he reached out to gently brush the sugar from my lip with the hand Jane had abandoned so she could double-fist her own donut. “Vermontinarianarians?”

“JesusChrist,” Ben laughed. I fluttered a kiss against his gloved fingers, simply because I could—even though he wouldn’t feel it.

His eyes were the color of honey when the sun hit just right, and for a second, I was lost in them. Lost in the way he looked at me like I was something good, and right, and precious. Lost in his smile, the prettiest smile in the whole wide world.

No one had ever looked at me like that.

His eyes said,I adore you.

They said,I adore you.

They said,I adore you, I adore you, I adore you.

My throat felt tight all of a sudden. My eyes burned. I shoved more donut into my mouth and pretended like I hadn’t read the sonnet in Ben’s gaze. Pretended like my heart wasn’t racing. Like my hands weren’t sweaty. Like I wasn’t two seconds from bolting the moment he turned his back.

Because Ben was Ben, he didn’t push.

He never did.

He was more of a coaxer, that one.

Like I spoke a secret language and he’d figured out how to translate.

Always patient, even now.

“It’s okay, Robin,” Jane told me, leaning heavily against my side, her tiny voice sweeter than ever. “Don’t worry.”

We’d lost the race. Which…shouldn’t have come as a surprise despite our training. I was slow and uncoordinated. The girls were better than me—but only by a bit. And Ben, despite beingpretty fast, hadn’t been able to make up for the lack of skill on his team.

Still though, he was grinning, like he wasn’t mad at all.

His smile was brilliant as he spun Rosie around in lazy circles on the dance floor. The way he was bending had to be hurting his back, and I made a mental note to make sure to give him a rub later to help ease the ache.

The sun had set, fairy lights twinkling in arcing loops above us. Other families littered the shoddily put up, temporary dance floor. But the chaos of the day had softened, and the crowds had begun to dwindle. Jane hadn’t wanted to dance, and I’d lied and told her I didn’t either—so that we could hang out together.

“Thanks, baby,” I said softly, leaning down to kiss her fuzzy head. I hadn’t thought the kiss through—probably should’ve asked first. And for a second, I just froze, worried I’d crossed a line that I shouldn’t have. Apparently, I hadn’t needed to worry, because instead of pushing me off, Jane twisted and smacked a kinda slimy but perfect kiss against my cheek in return.

Jane seemed to think I was torn up about losing.

And I was—in a way—because I would’ve loved nothing more than to help my favorite little gremlins win.

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