Page 59 of Faking the Shot

“In my room. I was having dinner then I thought I’d try and call you, but I didn’t want to do that in front of the others.”

“Oh.” She was tempted to ask why, when they were trying to keep their relationship alive in front of others. But maybe he had some conditions he finally wanted to share.

“Where are you?” he asked.

“In my apartment. Here in Vancouver.”

“Want to video call?”

Oh! Should she? She should probably refresh her makeup and fix her hair, but then, this wasn’t a date. She didn’t need to fuss. He was only her friend. “Uh, sure.”

A moment and a few glitches later, she could see him on-screen, wearing a Canucks T-shirt and sweats, sitting up in bed.

She smiled and waved. She’d propped the phone against a vase of lilies on the dining table. “Hi.”

“Hi.” He grinned.

Oh, this felt awkward. Almost cutesy real. Like they were in one of the rom-coms she so often starred in.

“You look nice.”

She tucked her hair behind her ear. “So do you.”

She’d seen him so often in intense mode or dressed up that it was really nice to see him relaxed like this, smiling at her like they really were a couple—whoa, herfriend.

“What’s that face for?” he asked.

“What face?”

“You were looking happy, then you weren’t.”

Oh, she must be in relaxed mode, too, to have turned off her face. She hadn’t given it permission to act like that today. “Um, I don’t know.”

“You know, if I was your friend, I’d call you on it and ask what it was. Oh wait, Iamyour friend.”

“My pushy friend,” she grumbled, but with half a smile.

“Whoa. Not trying to be pushy.”

There was no way she was telling him that just seeing him made her heart smile. They weren’t at that level of good friends.

“I’m guessing you’ve been pretty busy lately.” He clasped the back of his head in a move that made his muscles pop and her almost avert her eyes. Almost.

Maybe a video call wasn’t such a great idea. “Um, yeah.”

“So, I wanted to check in about what my mom said. Do you mind if she posts something about your filming on the island?”

That’s right. The original purpose of this call was to talk about that. Not ogle him. “Um, if it’s all the same to her, I’d really appreciate it if nothing gets said for a little while. At least until after the filming.”

“Which is when again?”

She told him, and he nodded. “So you leave the day I return. For how long?”

“It depends a bit on the weather, but maybe five to eight days.”

“Which island again?”

“Thetis. It’s pretty quiet. They have a Capernwray Bible School there, and my aunt lives there too.”

---