Page 60 of Call My Bluff
He tugged a little harder, and she laughed and clung to the branch over her head. “Come on, I’ll catch you,” he insisted.
“Umm, I think not.”
“Don’t you trust me?”
“Jury is still out.”
The thing that had started growing in Noah’s chest last weekend got a little bit bigger. He liked that she was having fun with him—fun that wasn’t tied to earning points in some stupid game of emotional chicken.
Maybe we could have this all the time, he thought.Maybe we could be... more.
The thought made his whole body tense.
What does that mean?he asked himself.
It means what you think it means, idiot.
Yeah, but I’ve never . . .
Times change.
But I don’t know how to . . .
Figure it out.
But she doesn’t want me!
Then change her mind.
The finality of that thought rocked Noah’s whole world. Just change her mind. It sounded easy, but was it possible? He looked up into Olivia’s eyes, still wild with adrenaline, and tried to imagine never seeing her again—tried to imagine leaving her behind one day.
And he couldn’t do it.
“Jump, Liv,” he heard himself say, and her gaze locked onto his, almost as if she could hear the shift he felt inside. “Trust me,” he went on. “I’ll catch you.”
Olivia took what seemed like a long, slow breath, and then, almost without warning, she let go of the tree. Noah dropped his water gun as she plummeted toward the earth, and then he caught her in both arms, just as he’d said he would.
She snaked her arms around his neck and kicked her feet like a child. “Alright, now put me down.”
He put her feet on the ground but didn’t fully release her. “What are you doing on Monday after work?” he asked.
She scanned his face, clearly caught off guard by the change of subject. “I don’t think anything,” she said. “Why?”
“I have a surprise for you.”
Her nose scrunched up, and a wrinkle formed in the middle of her forehead. “Is it more water guns?”
Noah laughed and tried to soak in the feel of her standing in his arms. “No, no water guns. You’ll like it, I promise.”
She chuckled. “Well, then, no, I’m not doing anything.”
“Good. Now you have plans.”
“Now I have plans,” she repeated, and he could hear a note of confusion that made him think she was still trying to figure out his angle.
But there was no angle—not this time.
He just had to figure out how to prove it.
