Page 51 of The Friend Game

“What?” They all say in unison.

“Her sprinkler system,” Luke repeats as he gestures behind him at the orange trees. “How do you think she keeps her orange trees going strong? She has a very specific watering schedule she follows for them. I know because I walk back here so much and I used to get hit by them sometimes.”

“Did you have to go to the doctor when you got hit?” Caroline asks with wide-eyes.

“Uh, no.” Luke shoots me a quizzical look.

I shrug. “Supposedly she hit a kid with the jet setting on her hose.”

Luke laughs. “Now that sounds like an urban legend if I ever heard one.” He shakes his head at Caroline. “No, nothing as serious as all that. You just get pretty wet if you’re not paying attention. Luckily I’ve learned the schedule. She usually only waters on Thursday evenings in these colder months. You guys should be safe.”

“Oh man, that’s a bummer,” Toby comments. “I wouldn’t have minded playing in the sprinklers.”

“That would ruin our paintings,” Mia says indignantly.

The kids take off talking over each other, all eager to voice their opinions on Scary Miss Sherry’s sprinkler system.

I eye Luke a little nervously. I haven’t seen him in person in a while and with my heart performing all of its best tricks I feel a bit as ifwe’re doing something wrong. Which is silly. Just because my body is having a physical reaction to his nearness that doesn’t mean I’m going to act on it. We are still safely in the friendzone.

“So, you’re a walker, huh?” I say, annoyed that the words come out a little flirty sounding. Gotta reign that flirt in.

“I am,” he says with a smile. Good grief, he has such a nice smile. If I painted Luke’s smile the Mona Lisa smile would become obsolete. That’s right, nobody would even care about that enigmatic smile of hers because Luke’s wide-open smile would be too magnetic. “I like to walk while I pray,” he goes on. “I find surrounding myself with nature calms my spirit and makes me a better listener. This is the first time the person I was praying for materialized in front of me, though,” he adds with a devastating wink.

Well, see now. Stick that in your freshly squeezed orange juice and drink it, Scary Miss Sherry. Luke was praying for me! Again!

Wow. I really need to get off this whole weird orange juice/Scary Miss Sherry line of thought.

“Luke,” I say to him, suppressing the urge to reach over and squeeze his forearm, “you were praying for me? Thank you.”

“Oh no, I’m sorry. I meant the kids.” He dips his lips apologetically. “I was praying for them.” A blush rises to my face.

“Oh, right. Of course.” I fumble for something to say that will make my embarrassment fade, but nothing comes to mind.

“Hannah,” Luke’s wide smile is back, “I was joking. You were the person I was praying for.”

“L-Luke!” I sputter, relief surging through me. This time I’m unable to stop myself from touching him, and I reach over and swat him on the arm. He laughs.

“Sorry, couldn’t resist.”

I grin up at him, shaking my head. “You’d better watch your back,” I tell him. “I’m going to have to get you for that. Toby,” I call, “how’s that paintbrush sword of yours?”

“En garde!” Toby’s voice replies and a second later he appears by my side brandishing his paintbrush.

“Oh, brown paint,” I say, eyeing his wet brush. “That won’t look so good on your pants, Pastor Abbott.”

Luke chuckles, then moves so fast I almost miss it, bending down to retrieve a stick off the ground and holding it in front of him. “You sure you want to do this, Toby?” he asks the little boy with faux seriousness.

Toby looks surprised, like he wasn’t actually expecting Luke to be willing to spar with him. “Am I really allowed to get paint on you?” he leans forward to whisper.

“I think Miss Garza will be disappointed if you don’t,” he replies. That’s all the encouragement Toby needs. He moves his paintbrush toward Luke, who meets him a couple of times with the stick, but then lets Toby knock it out of his hand. Toby gets a long swipe of brown paint across the leg of Luke’s jeans, but then Luke does some sort of move that involves grabbing the paintbrush by the tip then flipping it so it’s in his possession. “Uh-oh,” he says to Toby, who shrieks with delight and runs off.

Luke takes off after him and a second later so does Musa. The girls all stare after them.

“Boys,” Agatha says, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, boys,” Kylie is quick to agree. The ten of them all look at each other then a second later they all take off running too, chasing Luke around the grassy space. After a couple of minutes they catch up to him, then Musa trips, his arms tangling with Luke's legs. For the first time, Luke goes down at the hands of the kids. I move forward in concern, but then pause as Musa swipes his paintbrush across Luke's cheek and Luke's booming laugh fills the air in response. The other kids all join in, swiping their paintbrushes all over Luke as everybody shouts with laughter.

I’m about to go and rescue him when the sound of a back door opening draws my attention to Miss Sherry’s backyard. A stern-looking older woman steps out, catches sight of the mob of kids on Luke and lets out a loud cry. Before I can even call to her she’s got her hose in her hands and she’s surging forward rather quickly for a woman of her age spraying the water all over the kids–andLuke by extension.

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