Page 62 of Never Kiss Your Neighbors

Both Wyatt and Cam give me supportive looks when the others are preoccupied, and it’s so nice having someone here who’s on my side.

Outside of having Jessie, I’ve felt very alone for much of my adult life, until I moved in with Marissa. Now, having not one but two men in my corner feels incredible.

“I keep thinking you both look very familiar,” my mom tells Cam and Wyatt at one point as she studies them.

Horrified, I wonder if she’s about to tell us that she’s seen them online, but then she says, “Maybe you just look like some young men I’ve seen around our town.”

I let out a sigh of relief, and inwardly shake my head. There are definitely no men where I’m from who look anywhere near as good as Cam and Wyatt do.

“That reminds me,” she says. “There’s a new pottery painting shop in the plaza by our house. It’s too bad you moved away. I could take Jessie there. I bet it would be fun.”

I try to be the grownup when I’m with my mom, but when I see my daughter’s face fall at the thought of the fun she’s missing out on, I decide to say what I’m thinking for a change.

“There were so many places around town you could have taken Jessie during the first five years of her life, but for some reason, you never did.”

Turning to Jessie, I ask, “Does pottery painting sound like fun? There’s a place just past your school that we could check out.”

“I went to a painting party once when I was a kid,” Wyatt says. “I ended up getting more paint on myself than on the dish I was supposed to be painting.” He lifts up his hand and puts it right in front of his face, inspecting it. “I think my fingers might still be blue, actually.” Holding his hand out to Jessie, he asks, “Do you see any blue on here?”

With my daughter distracted and entertained, I shoot my mom a quick dirty look, then I paste on a smile.

After a couple of uncomfortable hours, their visit is finally over and my parents leave without too much added drama. I brace for Jessie to be upset like she is after their phone calls, but with Cam and Wyatt here, she’s in good spirits.

The guys insist on helping me clean up, and then the three of us relax in the living room while Jessie plays outside with Goldfish.

“Thanks for your help today,” I tell them. “I really appreciated the support.”

“Always,” Cam says, lightly resting his hand on my leg.

It’s so hard to keep a friend-appropriate distance from the men, and I can tell they feel the same, because they take every opportunity to touch me.

“Do you and Jessie have any plans tomorrow?” Wyatt’s tone tells me it’s more than just a casual question.

“Just some chores around the house, and I’ll probably do some schoolwork.”

“Can you take a day off from that, to do something fun?” Cam asks.

These men are doing the absolute opposite of ghosting me. In fact, I may need to tell them to back off a bit—just kidding! I can’t get enough of them.

“Maybe. What do you have in mind?”

“We didn’t want to say anything in front of Jessie, in case the answer’s no, but we were thinking Disneyland would be fun.”

“Disneyland?”

“Yeah, have you ever been?”

I shake my head. Of course, I know it exists, but I’ve never even thought of going there. “Have you?” They both nod. “When you were kids?” I ask.

“Yes,” Wyatt says, “and several times as adults. We went last year, actually.”

“Oh, was it something you did for your channel? A promotional thing?”

They both seem surprised that I would assume that. “No, we just went for fun.”

“Isn’t it for kids, with princesses and pirates, and all that?”

“Why don’t you let us take you there, so you can see for yourself?”

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