Page 105 of Summer Ever After
“Eh, she and Phoenix just got in a big fight and left.”
“Oh, boy.”
“There’s Tristan.” Capri stands, looking at us guiltily. “Do you care if I go to him?”
“Why are you still here?” I push her toward him. “Go to him already!”
“Thanks.” Capri dives back for a hug. “Love you. I’ll call you later.”
Both Cat and I watch as they hug, walking off together.
“I hate people who are in love,” Cat mutters.
“Me too.”
“I don’t believe it.” She laughs. “Not coming from the girl who openly claims to love love.”
“I know. I normally love it—just not when it’s not working out for me.” Or when the man I’ve been looking for all day has disappeared.
“I have a feeling there’s more going on between you and Walker than you want Capri to know.” I glare at her, but it does nothing to stop Cat’s sly smile. “I also have a feeling that Walker is the reason none of your other dates are working out.”
I lean forward, giving Cat a taste of her own medicine. “And I have a feeling the reason Noah Belacourt wanted nothing to do with me on our date is because of you.”
“That may have been true then, but it doesn’t matter now.” She leans back in her chair, seemingly disgusted with life. “We’ve been avoiding each other all day.”
“Then I guess you and I will have to band together in our singleness.”
“Nah, I’m getting out of here soon.”
“No, you can’t leave me,” I whine. “The fireworks are almost starting.”
“You get paid to stay. I don’t.”
“I guess I’ll just walk around, picking up garbage or something stupid like that.”
“Jane?”
I stiffen, eyeing Cat before slowly moving my gaze to Walker’s outstretched hand and up to his glorious face standing above me. He’s no longer wearing his baseball cap, and he’s changed into a new T-shirt and shorts. Everything about him is fresh and attractive.
“Dance with me,” he says with a grittiness that I feel all the way in my spine.
My body goes into overdrive, rendering me speechless.
“She would love to.” Cat grabs my hand, putting it in Walker’s.
I let him pull me up, glancing back at her. “I…uh…” But she just waves me away, wagging her brows.
“I thought you left,” I say as Walker weaves me through the crowd of people.
There’s an urgency to his movements, like he can’t get me in his arms fast enough.
He leans closer, talking over the music. “I did. I went home to shower because I smelled like twenty pounds of hamburger grease.”
And now he smells like twenty pounds of fresh heaven I want to bury my nose into. I glance down at my hand in his.
This is unreal.
We’re holding hands—a simple action I haven’t even allowed myself to dream about. It’s as monumental as the kiss we shared a week and a half ago.
