Page 16 of Her Surprise Vacation Date

CHAPTER 9

Hope

“I hope you know CPR,’cause you take my breath away.” ~Unknown

I am so guilty of eavesdropping. In my defense, I’m doing my best friend a favor. As soon as I heard Shane mention Ryder’s name while he was on the phone, my “watch out for Ames” radar went off.

I’m not the only gal with her share of dating problems. Except that in Amelia’s case, her issue wasn’t meeting the right man. She’d found him, all right, but her ex-fiancé kept putting the wedding off. He’d wanted to wait until he’d finished medical residency, then for his thirty-fifth birthday, and finally, for the next solar eclipse—don’t even get me started on the reasoning behind that last one. In the end, Ames got tired of waiting and called off their engagement.

So why is Shane talking to the man who broke his sister’s heart?

“You understand women,” he says into his phone as hepaces back and forth in front of the sock store. “What do you think I should do?”

Tiptoeing behind him, I try to stay close enough to hear him, yet far away enough that I don’t appear too obvious. It’s a tough balance of keeping my pace quick, slow, then quick again. Just when I’ve found a good rhythm and have a routine down that vaguely resembles a two-step shuffle, Shane stops in his tracks. My own feet keep going, pushing me straight into his firm back.

Shane spins around and steadies me with both hands on my shoulders. “Whoa! Are you okay, Hope?”

“I’m fine, totally fine!” We’re standing so close to each other like we were in the store when it had looked like he was leaning. My mind must be playing tricks on me and making it seem like he enjoys being close to me. It’s all those romance books I’ve been reading. Shane’s just being his helpful self. And I’m on a dating sabbatical, I so helpfully remind myself. But even if I wasn’t, he’s the last guy I should be considering.

We live in different states. I’m older and ready to settle down. He’s still young and probably wants to live a little first. And there’s the small, little fact that he’s Amelia’s brother, someone I’ve known since he was in his single digits.

Speaking of Amelia…

“Are you talking to Ryder?” I demand to know. Arching an eyebrow, I pin Shane in place with a disappointed glare. “How can you associate with your sister’s enemy behind her back?”

“I was.” Shane raises his hands in a show of surrender, with his phone clutched in one of them. He must have finished the call because the screen is dark. “Hey, relax. I come in peace.”

“Uh-huh,” I reply, thoroughly unconvinced. With my arms crossed, I stand my ground—literally. Pretty soon, we’re stopping traffic on the sidewalk as the other tourists are forced togo around us. We receive a couple of glares ourselves, which I return with sheepish smiles.

“I think it’s safer if we sit.” He points to an empty bench a couple of feet away, then gestures for me to follow. “Who said anything about being enemies? I thought my sister and Ry parted on good terms.”

“Not according to the collection of empty ice cream cartons and boxes of chocolate that Ames went through after the breakup.” I take a seat beside him and both of us angle our bodies to face each other. It’s a strange show of synchronization that I’d be more impressed about if I wasn’t being so cautious. “What did Ryder want?”

“He’s been trying to reach Amelia and got worried when she didn’t answer his calls or texts.”

I’m digesting this piece of information like a detective. If he’s worried about her not replying, does that mean she had been?

“Yes, they’ve been talking,” Shane answers my question before I can even ask it.

“How did you know I was thinking that?”

“It was the first question I asked Ry about, too.”

It’s oddly disconcerting how Shane and I are on the same wavelength. And that he still calls his sister’s ex by his nickname. “Ames didn’t mention that to me. I wonder how long they’ve been talking. And about what?”

Shane shrugs. “Who knows? Maybe Ry needed medical advice?”

“But he’s a doctor.”

“Like I said, who knows? It’s really none of our business.”

“None of our business? This is my best friend we’re talking about. And your flesh and blood.”

He scoffs softly. “If there’s anything Amelia has taught me, it’s to keep my nose out of anything and everything that’shers. She made it real clear when she found me peeking in her middle school diary.”

“You read her diary?! That’s a total invasion of privacy!” I exclaim, wincing inwardly at the fact that I had invaded his a moment ago. My conscience really has the worst—I mean, the best—timing.

“I did.” Shane nods. “It wasn’t one of my proudest moments, I’ll admit. Nor Amelia’s. The number of crushes she had in eighth grade alone…” He puts his fingertips on his temples and forms an O with his mouth. “It’s a miracle she almost settled down with Ry.”

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