Page 45 of From Nowhere

I click off my phone screen, and we gaze at each other. Actually, we focus on each other’s mouths until our attraction pulls us into another kiss.

His hand gently cups the side of my neck, his fingers grazing my nape, sending a shiver along my spine. The kiss ends too soon. I’m not sure what would constitute a long-enough kiss, but it wasn’t that.

Ozzy gets out of the car, leaving me wanting more.

After a final wave, he puts on his helmet, and I pull out of the empty parking lot a little before one in the morning.

Dear god, I’m falling for this guy.

Chapter Twelve

Ozzy

“What are you so happy about?” Tia asks, refilling her coffee mug while Lola eats breakfast.

I slide my sandwich into a brown bag and glance to my right, unsure who she’s talking to.

“You’ve had a smirk from the moment you came upstairs. And you had one all day yesterday, even when Lola’s team lost their softball game.”

I point to myself, eyes wide.

She frowns before nodding—the happiness police.

Yawning, I shake my head. “You’ve mistaken my grimace for a smirk. I didn’t sleep well.”

“Why not?”

“Were you up late watching TV with Pa?” Lola asks, milk dripping down her chin after taking a bite of cereal.That’sa smirk.

“Amos doesn’t stay up late watching TV. He’s snoring on the sofa by nine,” Tia says, eyeing Amos sitting across from Lola at the kitchen table.

Amos keeps his head bowed to his phone. Maybe he’s intentionally ignoring us, or perhaps he’s not wearing his hearing aids.

“That’s not true,” Lola says. “One night I—”

“Yes. One night, you thought he was up late, but he was actually asleep,” I say, cutting her off before she rats him out.

Lola looks at Amos and then at me.

I give her a tight-lipped grin and jerk my head toward the door. “Brush your teeth, and let’s go.”

With her signature eye roll, she heads toward the stairs, and I put her bowl and spoon in the dishwasher.

“Are you taking Lola to her shrink appointment, or am I?” Tia asks.

I slide Lola’s lunch into her backpack. “I’m taking her to hertherapist.”

“You should get an update. See how close we are to revisiting the car situation.”

“Yes. I’ll see how closeweare to that,” I mumble.

“Ozzy, you need to—”

“Ready.” Lola saves me from a lecture with her perfect timing. There’s no way she brushed her teeth for more than five seconds.

“Later,” I say without another glance in Tia’s direction.

After we get our bikes from the garage and pedal onto the sidewalk, I ride beside Lola. “I really need you to forget about that night you saw Pa watching TV late.”

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