Page 34 of Lakesides and Longing

“It’s no problem. Really. I have enjoyed the space to think about what I want to do with the rest of my life. I like it up there. I might find a quiet place like that and open up my own botany lab.”

“You should talk to Adam. I imagine he’d want to invest in it.”

Blake chuckled. “I imagine he would. I’ve made him a lot of money.” Anytime he had an idea, Adam always fronted the money. Blake had millions, but it was still never enough to front the kinds of research needed to create new pharmaceuticals.

Lukas smacked him on the shoulder. “Second thought, maybe you should let us invest this time instead of him.”

The buggy pulled up, and Paige waved him over.

“Duty calls. We’ll drop off our things and make nice with your parents for a few.”

She grinned at him as he climbed up into the buggy. “Looks like I’ll be sleeping through the night here as well. I really didn’t want to wake up screaming in the middle of the night at my parents’ house.”

Blake tugged at his collar. “I’m not sleeping with you at your parents’ house.”

Her face fell. “Why not?”

“Can you imagine the fallout if they saw me sneaking out in the morning?”

She gave him a sidelong glance. “That won’t be a problem.”

“Why not?”

“Because the guest room shares a bathroom with my room. It’s a jack n jill.”

Blake nodded. That was better, but he still wasn’t sure he’d be getting any sleep. He would worry all night about whether or not the door to the room was actually locked.

They chatted with her parents for a bit, but Paige made an excuse to leave and then suggested riding bikes back.

They headed out into the garage, and Paige flicked on a light. There was a snowmobile and a handful of bikes. Most of them had flat tires.

“Your parents don’t bike much, huh?” He thought everyone biked on the island.

“Nah. They have a buggy driver that they use. I don’t see a pump either. Oh wait, this bike is good.” She hauled out a tandem bike.

Blake frowned. “You know, everyone will assume we’re together.” He couldn’t let anyone think that.

She rolled her eyes. “So let them.”

She seemed a lot more comfortable with Lukas thinking things than he did. “I thought we were moving past the awkwardness.”

“I’m just saying. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. We’ll reassure Lukas that nothing is going on, and we’ll be fine.”

They wheeled the bike out onto the drive, and Paige climbed on the back seat. He waved to her parents and climbed on the front. He was certain that all of his friends were about to give him massive crap about this.

Tandem bikes were beyond cheezy.

He just hoped that Lukas wouldn’t read too much into it.

CHAPTER25

Paige and Blake caught a buggy to the Pink Pony together with Tess and Lukas. No one but Lukas saw them on the tandem bike and if Paige was being honest with herself, she wanted Lukas to think that.

Their group filled the restaurant’s entire patio. Tables were pushed together, and all the guys sat at one and the women at another.

Paige followed a waddling Tess to the group of women. Nerves danced in her belly. She wasn’t good with groups of women even before Emery died. She wanted to follow Blake to his table, but that would not only be weird, but also look suspicious to Lukas. Maybe she should. Then again that might just make things weird again.

For some reason Blake had become her security blanket, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

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