Page 48 of Summer Ever After
“It’s my day off.” I feel his grin on me. “Want to hang out?”
I immediately shake my head. “Nope.”
“Oh, come on. We could go to the beach. We can even invite Capri to come too.”
The last thing I need is for the three of us to hang out together. I’m good at hiding my feelings for Walker, but I’m notthatgood at hiding them, especially given how much he’s upped his flirt game since coming to town.
“Since when do youwantto hang out with Capri?”
“Since it’s the only way I can hang out with you.”
Every alarm goes off in my brain—it’s like a four-alarm fire up there. Part of our BFF Code of Conduct was never to use each other to get close to our cool family members. I’m sure the opposite is true as well. Never let Walker use Capri to get close to me.
“How about you just hang out with Capri all by yourself?”
His teasing charm fades into something more serious. “I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”
If last night is any indicator, Walker is telling the truth, but I act like I didn’t notice how painful the whole evening was for him.
“Oh, come on. You hung out with Capri last night and did just fine.”
“No, I was present while the rest of you hung out. Everybody was kind enough to tolerate me showing up.”
“No one was tolerating you. You’re part of the Collins family. You just need to act like it.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve been close to your family for years, so I feel like I have a pretty good insight into the inner workings. From my point of view, you distance yourself from everyone for no reason. It doesn’t make sense.”
At least, that’s the conclusion I came up with last night.
“I’m notdistancingmyself.” One pointed stare from mehas him reconsidering his answer. “Okay, fine. Maybe I do put space between me and my family. I’m not trying to. It’s just been that way for so long it’s hard to reverse.”
The sidewalk ends, causing us to walk along the shoulder of the road.
“It’s not hard to reverse. Your mom and your sisters want to have a closer relationship with you, so just put forth a little effort, and voila`! They’ll reciprocate your effort, and you guys can all be close again.”
“Voila`?”
“Yeah.”
Loud music plays behind us, and we both look over our shoulders. Two golf carts speed down the road in our same direction, riding close to the edge where we’re at. Walker grabs my shirt, forcibly tugging me away from the line, switching places with me so he’s the one closest to the road.
I stare up at him, blinking.
Why is that the most romantic thing any guy has ever done for me?
It falls under the category of a protective male character. He’d rather be the one to get hit by a car than me, and I’m here for it. Not because I don’t want to die—there’sthat—but also because it’s comparative to all the 1,820 fictional gentlemen I’ve read about in books.
Walker Collins is a gentleman.
I don’t think I’ve ever swooned this hard in real life.
The speeding carts zoom by, but Walker doesn’t seem to notice them or my swooning. “Of course someone like you thinks family relationships are easy and will all work out.”
I need to get my head back in the game and remind myself what we’re even talking about right now.
“Someone like me?”
