Page 23 of Seeing You

She walked past him, but Marcus turned and fell in step with her. “Sorry. I sort of made a snap decision and…”

“And got it all wrong.”

He pulled the door open for her and waited for her to step inside. They both spotted Silas right away and slowly made their way toward him. Marcus had a feeling Billie was going to find a reason for him to go, but he wasn’t ready to yet.

“You’ve got excellent form, Silas,” he said, moving next to him. “Try holding the ball like this and then shooting.” He posed with one of the balls and then threw it. “Now you try.”

Silas did and made a basket. “Hey! I did it! Wow! Thanks!”

Stepping back, he looked at Billie and grinned. “I shoot a lot of baskets when I’m working.”

“Then I’m surprised the NBA hasn’t recruited you yet,” she muttered.

“Ha, ha. You’re hysterical.” Although he had to admit, he missed her sass. She had a way of making sure he never took himself too seriously, and she was certainly never afraid to say exactly what she was thinking.

“Who says they haven’t?” he joked, nudging her slightly with his shoulder. The look of utter shock she gave him and the soft gasp of surprise should have made him apologize, but all he could think of was how it used to be so natural to do that sort of thing.

Old habits and all…

So instead of making a big deal out of it, he turned his attention back to Silas. “This is my first time here at Summit Ridge. What’s your favorite thing to do here?”

Silas continued to shoot baskets even as he replied. “My favorite is the mountain coaster and the alpine slide. Aunt Billieand I already rode them once, but I definitely want to do them again if we can. They’re super fun if you like fast rides.”

“I do.”

“Since when?” Billie asked with a snort of laughter. “You used to have panic attacks on the Ferris wheel back when the fair used to come to town.”

Rolling his eyes, he tried to ignore her, but it was important for some reason that he not look completely lame. “For your information, I got over that. I’ve gone with friends to different theme parks over the years and had to…you know…power through. Now I’m good with all the rides, no matter how wild.”

The look she gave him said she didn’t believe him even a little bit, so that’s why he had no choice but to say…

“It’s true! If there were a real roller coaster here, I’d prove it!” The only reason he felt confident in making that statement was because he didn’tseeany roller coasters on the property—at least, not the kind you’d find in a real theme park. Plus, he didn’t think she’d want to spend the time with him to prove his point.

“That’s impressive,” she said mildly. “Silas, what would you think of us bringing Mr. Calloway with us when we ride the mountain coaster again?”

The boy immediately stopped throwing basketballs. “Like right now? Really?” he asked excitedly. “Because you said you weren’t sure if we could do any of the rides twice and we still haven’t gone on the ATV trails or tried skiing!”

“Skiing? There’s no snow.” His voice sounded condescending, even to his own ears.

“Indoor skiing,” she clarified. “Neither of us has tried it before, but Chloe brought her class here and loved it.”

“Chloe’s a teacher?”

“She is,” she replied, nodding. “She teaches kindergarten, and so does her husband. They just got back from theirhoneymoon. Tanner used to be a professional Alpine skier, and the topic of winter sports became a big thing for them.”

Unable to help himself, he smiled. “It’s hard to imagine shy little Chloe being all grown up, teaching, and married! Wow! Good for her.”

“She’s still shy, but Tanner’s brought her out of her shell a bit.”

“Aunt Bill? Can we really go on the coaster again? I’d rather do that than play video games right now.” Then he looked at Marcus. “It’s so cool! You’re gonna love it!”

Smiling smugly, Billie glanced over at him. “What do you say, Calloway? You sure you’re up for it?”

“Oh, absolutely. Let’s do it!”

But for a brief moment, he had to wonder why she was even asking. After their disastrous meeting the other day, he would have thought she’d be eager to get as far away from him as possible.

Yet she wasn’t.

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