Page 26 of It's Complicated

“Good,” I said, at a loss for words. “That’s good.”

He chewed on his lip, his expression blank.

“Are you okay?” I asked. I hated that I couldn’t get a read on what he was thinking.

“Yeah, fine.” He scooped our fallen controllers off the floor. “Ready to get your ass kicked?” he asked, not looking at me.

I didn’t like that, but I had no idea how I was supposed to act right now. If Jamie wanted to pretend like nothing happened, then I could play along.

“Bring it.”

He fiddled with the controllers, figuring out which one was whose.

“Prepare to lose epically.”

He shot me a flat look and slapped one of the controllers in my hand. “Cocky much?”

“You know it.” I relaxed back on the couch. I really needed to clean up, but I wasn’t about to bring up our little interlude if Jamie was trying so hard to ignore it.

“I’m up by one, and there’s two minutes left on the clock.” He settled next to me, keeping almost a foot of space between us. “Who’s about to lose epically?”

“That would be you.” I restarted the game and tried to focus on the screen.

We couldn’t take back what happened, and neither of us were freaking out. Not outwardly, at least.

This didn’t have to be a big deal.

We’d be fine.

6

JAMIE

“Why areyou hiding in my kid’s blanket fort?” My sister, Emma, asked from outside said blanket fort.

“I’m not hiding,” I said. “I’m making sure it’s structurally sound for when they wake up from their naps.”

She lifted the edge of the blanket door and peered inside. “Is that really the story you’re going with?”

“I’m notnothiding,” I relented.

“Am I coming in there, or are you coming out here?” Emma asked.

“I’ll come out.”

The fort was big enough for two kids to play in, but not for two adults to sit comfortably.

Mindful that I didn’t knock over the supports, I crawled out of the fort.

“Sit.” She pointed to the couch.

I sat.

“Eat.” She pointed to a bowl of apple slices, another of crackers, and a juice box on the coffee table in front of me.

“You do realize I’m an adult, right?” I grabbed the juice box and peeled the straw off the side of it.

“I know, but you haven’t eaten since you got here, and all I have is kid food.” She flopped onto the couch next to me. “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”

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