Page 82 of Riding the High

Cole grunts as he stands and makes his way to the outdoor counter for more bourbon. My eyes flit over to him. So do everyone else’s.

“It’s a family event,” he barks defensively as he pops the plug out of the glass decanter.

CeCe looks at him as if to sayare you fucking kidding me?He pours himself a hefty measure and makes his way back to his seat as CeCe chews her bottom lip.

It’s her thinking face.

I grin.

“Obviously … Wecoulddo something fun, though. What about a kissing booth?” She turns to me, her eyes wide. “You and Liv would bring in a fortune!”

I laugh and shake my head, about to protest. But, before I have the chance to say anything, Cole’s chair scrapes against the concrete as he slides closer to the table. I flinch.

“Absolutely fucking not,” he says.

“Fucking Apollo Creed over there. Settle down,” Nash says with a chuckle.

“Well …” Cole scrambles. “It’s not appropriate. It’s a family event and … germs and shit.”

He swallows a sip of his drink. I swallow down a smile.

Nash’s laughter grows louder at Cole’s outburst. “Germs? Really? That’s what you’re bringing to the table?”

CeCe swats at him and turns to Cole. “Itwillbe a family event. I was thinking a kiss on the cheek, you perv.”

Cole shakes his head. “I just don’t think it’s right. I’m trying to save the girls from kissing a bunch of horny old men.”

He wipes the condensation off the side of his near-empty glass as he sets it on the tabletop.

“Kissing booth … Christ,” he mumbles, scrubbing his jaw as Mabel comes bounding up behind him.

“Dollar, Daddy.” She pats him on the arm.

I grin at her. Then at Cole. She really is the best.

“Okay, Captain Valiant. I’ll take that into consideration.” CeCe looks between me and Cole and I don’t miss the pointedness of it; the way her mouth falls open as if, somewhere in that pretty head of hers, a lightbulb just went off.

Sure as shit, forty-five minutes later—“So … things are going well over there at the Ashby-Danforth house then?” CeCe asks after dinner as the boys play ladder golf with Mabel. Jo has headed to her unfinished projects club with Glenda, and Papa Dean is snoozing in the den.

I look into CeCe’s questioning eyes. In some ways I know this woman like I know myself. She nods her head toward Cole and waits patiently, as though it’s been killing her to hold this question in all through dinner. I turn and note how close the boys are to us, eyeing Cole up as he takes his shot. I don’t know how it’s possible, but he’s even more gorgeous now than ever:casual and in full dad mode. He’s wearing sage-colored shorts, a white t-shirt that clings to his muscular chest and arms, and his damned backward hat that does me in every single time. He’s tanned after our day in the sun and, right now, he’s got his game face on. He takes his bottom lip between his straight white teeth and tosses the two golf balls attached with a piece of rope toward the ladder. It lands on the “5” rung. The highest point he can score. He high-fives Mabes, who jumps up and down, elated at the fact they’ve taken the lead against Wade and Nash. Cole grins down at her; he looks relaxed, and his jaw is scruffy with a five o’clock shadow. He’s fucking perfect really, not too—

“Um … Hello!” CeCe says, waving her hand in front of my face. “You’re completely zoned out staring at my brother. Stop making sexy eyes at him.”

She crumples her pretty face in disgust. I look from her to Ivy.

Ivy backs her up. “You totally are.”

I put my head in my hands. “I just …”

“Oh my God,” CeCe says, gasping so no one will hear. “Something isactuallygoing on between you two!”

I pull my head out of my hands and eye her over my fingers. I can’t lie to her anymore. She’s my best friend. I’m sure Liv already knows, although she’s been MIA lately with inventory and staff shortages at her boutique.

“Wow. Ginger Danforth takes her own advice,” Ivy quips, already an integral part of our friend group after less than a year. I look over at her.

“What?” I ask.

“You know,” she giggles. “Save a horse ride a—”

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