Page 44 of She's the Star

NOLAN

After spending the morning and early afternoon cleaning and packing at my house, the first thing I see when I come around the last curve in Amber’s driveway is Teddy’s Bentley sitting directly in front of the house.

I park in my usual spot, climb out of my Honda, and try to ignore the jealousy that is unexpectedly racing through me. It isn’t easy for me to overlook the fact that Amber used to love Teddy. It irritates me more than it should. A single kiss and an admission that she enjoyed kissing me doesn’t give me any sort of claim over her.

Especially since we won’t be doing it again.

I stalk up to the house and try to put a leash on my emotions. Our fake dating scheme isn’t about me. It would be useful if I could remember that.

As soon as I’m through the front door, I hear sounds coming from the backyard and when I step through the open slider, I find Teddy and Maddy splashing in the pool. I nod at Teddy and raise my hand, but he either doesn’t see me or is ignoring me because he turns and pulls Maddy through the water toward the opposite side.

A glance to my right reveals Amber. She’s propped against the heavy wood table that sits in the shade at one end of the pool. My feet almost get tangled together as I move toward her because holy crap, she’s beautiful. Her platinum hair is loose and wavy, her plain white shirt shows a hint of her toned abs, and her legs look impossibly long in ripped jeans. It isn’t like I’ve been unaware of how attractive she is, but after the past week, it hits me in an entirely different way and it’s hard to ignore my reaction.

She spots me, and her expression brightens and then falters. “Nolan.”

“Amber.” I try to act casual as I cross the pool deck, but it isn’t easy. If she were my real girlfriend, I’d cup her face in my hands, and kiss her softly, but since she isn’t and kissing is off the table, I awkwardly pat her shoulder when I reach her side.

She tips her head back and whispers, “Hey.”

“Why are you whispering?” I ask softly.

“Um…so Teddy can’t hear us.”

Our forearms brush as I turn to judge whether he’s listening. It seems pretty clear that he isn’t. He’s keeping his distance, and his attention is trained on Maddy as he zooms through the water.

Amber shifts until we’re no longer touching and then starts to ramble, her voice still quiet. “I wasn’t sure what time you’d be back. We didn’t really…I told Teddy he could stay for dinner. He doesn’t usually, but with us leaving this week, I felt like I should offer. He wasn’t sure he wanted to join us after I told him you were going to be here, but I think I convinced him.”

I can feel the tension coiling between us.

Why is faking so hard?

“Relax,” I tell her as much as myself. “Teddy should stay as long as you want him to.” I hesitate and then add, “I don’t think we’re very good at this. I feel like I’m going to jump out of my skin, and you moved away when our arms brushed each other.” I slide closer to her so we’re touching again and try to ignore the way my skin tingles. “It’s very lucky that Teddy is ignoring us, otherwise the gig would be up.”

“Ugh.” She laughs softly and shakes her head. “I promised myself I’d be calm, cool, and collected when you arrived.”

Neither of us are hitting those objectives. “What if we stop trying so hard? Teddy witnessed the kiss, and he already thinks we’re together, so maybe we don’t have to second guess ourselves so much.”

“Ha. That’ll be the day.” As she says it, her pinkie reaches out and links with mine against the table. We’re barely touching, but it somehow anchors me.

We lapse into an almost comfortable silence as Teddy continues to steadfastly ignore us. He might not have seen me when I first arrived, but it could not be more obvious by the way he keeps his head turned away that he knows I’m here now.

When Maddy starts fussing, he gets flustered. He tears out of the pool, starts in our direction, and then halts abruptly.

Maddy isn’t pleased by the hasty stop. She starts crying in earnest, and for a second, I think he’s going to set her on the ground and dash away. Amber must be worried about the same thing because she straightens and heads for them. Teddy takes a halting breath and resolutely continues toward her. When they meet about ten feet away from me, he deposits a sopping wet Maddy in her arms.

“Gah, you couldn’t dry her off a bit?” she asks.

He winces. “I…uh…yes.”

He turns, scanning the lounge chairs and still pointedly ignoring me.

Unfortunately for him the only towels in sight are in a stack on the table behind me. The urge to wait for him to find them himself beckons, but I’m not an asshole, so instead of waiting, I reach back, grab a towel, walk over, and hand it to him.

“Thanks,” he says with more than a hint of annoyance.

“No problem,” I respond evenly.

He attempts to dry Maddy but mostly he’s just patting her back with it. Amber sighs, grabs the towel, and wraps it around Maddy, shifting her from arm to arm, and then using one end to gently dry her face. Maddy abruptly stops crying and waves at me. I return the wave as Amber laughs.

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