Page 21 of Just Our Secret

Wade shrugged at Liam, bringing me back to the moment. “I like the playground.”

“But you’re not a kid.”

“Do I have to be a kid to like coming to the playground?”

“Yes. You don’t even fit on the swings.”

Wade gasped, putting his hand over his heart. “Rude. I do too.”

“Prove it!” Liam retorted with a smug smile.

“Fine.” Wade walked over to the swing, lowering himself onto the thin strip of rubber that was clearly made for a child’s butt, not a man of at least six foot two. His knees were crunched up toward his chest, thanks to the low height of the swing, and he looked incredibly uncomfortable. “See? Perfect fit.”

Liam shook his head. “You donotfit, Uncle Wade.”

Wade hung his head in defeat. “You’re right. Can you help me get up? I think I’m stuck.”

My goofy child started to step forward to take Wade’s extended hand, but then he stopped. “You know what? I think I’m gonna leave you there! See ya!”

With a triumphant laugh, Liam took off across the playground, bounding up the stairs of the castle-like structure without looking back.

I turned back to Wade. “Are you really stuck over there?”

“If I said yes, would you come over here and help me?”

“If I did, would it be a trap?”

He narrowed his eyes at me, angling his chin up with a quirk to his lips. “Maybe.”

I started to step forward, but then faked him out just like my son had, stopping just out of his reach. “You know what? I’d better not, then. Can’t have you getting handsy in front of Liam.”

His eyes scanned me from head to toe, causing a little shiver to go up my spine. “Yeah. Wouldn’t want that. I should probably stay stuck then.”

He finally rose from the swing, and we walked toward the play structure where Liam was playing. Bumping Wade’s arm, I grinned up at him. “Thanks for meeting us.”

“Thanks for the invite. I like hanging out with you guys like this.”

Hope that I had no business feeling bloomed inside me. “Remember when you guys used to drink on the swing set in the backyard after our parents went to bed?”

“Yeah, and you used to come outside and threaten to tell on us if we didn’t let you hang out too,” he teased.

Even though I knew he was only kidding around, it was a bummer that the first thing he’d thought to mention was the annoying little sister stuff that I used to do. But I guess I deserved it.

“Yeah, well, I couldn’t let you guys have all the fun.”

His eyes met mine and a no-shit blush colored his cheeks. “I was always really happy when you hung around us, you know.”

“You were?”

“Yeah. I used to suggest we go to Connor’s place because I hoped I’d see you. That probably makes me sound like a freak.”

“No, it doesn’t,” I said, letting out a shaky laugh. “Do you really mean that?”

“Yeah. Why? Did I seem like I wasn’t happy to see you?”

I thought back to those days. We were teenagers. Young teenagers. Long before I’d slept with Chad and ruined the dynamic between the three of them. My crush on Wade—making him my first and only crush that wasn’t a celebrity—in full force. And yes, he’d totally acted like he wasn’t happy to see me.

“You used to do this thing,” I started, nervous about saying it out loud unless it was totally crazy of me to notice this. “Whenever I crashed your party, you used to look up at the sky and just… sigh. It was like ‘Ugh, here we go again,’ or something.”

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