Page 76 of Absolutely Not in Love
“You came here for me?” Maddox asks.
“I sure did. I’m a friend of your Aunt Gracie’s. She told me you’re an Appies fan.”
“Are you serious?!” Maddox yells, his hands lifting to either side of his head like he can’t believe what’s happening. “Of courseit’s okay. My friends are going to freak!” He grabs Felix’s hand and tugs him back to his feet and toward the door. “Come on! Everyone is in the backyard!”
Felix looks over his shoulder and grins, even as Maddox is dragging him through the house. Josh and I follow behind, quickly enough that we hear Maddox yelling to my parents, “Grandma! Grandpa! Gracie brought Felix Jamison to my birthday party!” Then he’s pushing through the back door and yelling to his friends.
“I’ll go make sure Felix doesn’t get mauled,” Josh says, but then he turns back and lifts a finger, pointing it right at me. “But we’re going totalk,sister.”
He disappears into the backyard, leaving me with Jadah and my parents who are staring at me, their eyes wide.
Mom presses a hand to her chest. “Was thatactuallyFelix Jamison who just walked through the living room?”
“It was,” I say.
Dad immediately moves to the window and raises the blinds, practically pressing his face against the glass.
“Don’t stare, Sam!” Mom says. “He’ll see you!”
“What do I care if he sees me?” Dad says. “He came to the party, didn’t he?”
Mom is at the window now, too, and she nudges Dad out of the way. “Let me see. Jadah, where’s my phone? I want to take a picture. Ohhh, just look at him! He’s bigger in person, isn’t he? The size of those hands!”
“Those are goalie hands,” Dad says. “What is he, six-three? Six-four?”
“Six-four,” I say. I look at Jadah and roll my eyes, but her expression says she’s a lot more interested in why I know the exact height of the Appies star goalie than she is in my parents and their ridiculous antics.
“Look at that, Sam,” Mom says. “An actual Appie in our neighborhood! Do you think he likes pie? Maybe I could run home and bake him something.”
“He can’t eat pie,” Dad mutters. “He’s right in the middle of his season. Plus, he’s not getting pie if I’m not getting pie. Why aren’t you offering to makemepie?”
“Because your arteries are clogged and you need to drop forty pounds,” Mom says. “But I bet Felix Jamison’s are just fine.”
“Oh geez,” Jadah says under her breath. She walks over and stands next to me. “If we don’t do something, they’ll keep this up for an hour.”
I chuckle. “They aren’t hurting anything. Let them have their fun.”
She shoots me an odd look. “Are you feeling okay, Gracie?”
I meet her curious gaze. “Will you believe me if I tell you I really am?”
“Okay, you’re coming with me so we can talk.”
I quickly shrug out of my coat, then follow Jadah into the kitchen.
She nudges a bowl of frosting toward me and holds out a spatula, pointing to a tray of cupcakes sitting in the middle of the counter. “Want to help?”
I take the spatula. “As long as you don’t need them to be pretty.”
“Are you kidding? For a bunch of ten-year-olds? I could drop the bowl of frosting in the middle of the backyard, pour in the candy corn, and throw a bunch of spoons at them and they wouldn’t care. I definitely don’t need them to be pretty.”
I smear a glob of orange frosting over a cupcake, then decorate it with candy corn from a bowl next to the frosting. “How’s that?”
“Perfect,” Jadah says. “Better than I can do.” She hands me another cupcake. “So,” she says, “You wanna tell me about the pro hockey goalie you happened to bring to my house unannounced?”
I look up, suddenly worried she’s offended I didn’t mention my plans. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” I quickly say. “I was just thinking about how much Maddox would love the surprise. But I should have—”
“Girl. Breathe,” she says, cutting me off. “It’s fine. You know I don’t care like that. I’m asking aboutyou.How did you meet him? Are you dating? He’s ahockey player, Gracie. We both know that’s worth a conversation.” Her voice drops low. “And spill the tea quick before your mama comes in here and takes over the conversation.”
