Page 50 of Now or Never

Adam nodded. “Just give me a minute.”

Max followed him inside. “You missed a good party last night. Why did you cancel on us?”

Adam’s step faltered. “I just wasn’t up for it.”

“You weren’t up for dinner and drinks with pretty girls from out of town?”

Adam bent into the closet and grabbed a pair of running shoes, then started pulling them on, wishing he were a better liar. “That’s right,” he said. “I’ve been busy. Tired.”

“What did you do this morning?”

Adam looked up at Max. “Why all the questions?”

Max cocked a brow. “You’re so into Chelsea you can’t even see straight. You can’t lie to me.”

Adam stared Max in the eye. “She’s my friend. She’s cool and fun. I really like her as a friend.”

Max nodded. “I know. That wasn’t a lie. Sheisyour friend. But you want more.”

Adam tied his laces. “No. I don’t.”

“Lie.”

Adam stood, grabbed his keys off the console table. “I just need time to push her further into the friend zone.”

“Have you considered—”

“Fucking her out of my system? Yes.”

Max laughed. “That’s not what I was going to say. Although, she is beautiful. And she would probably be an amazing lay . . .”

Adam felt his body go still. He could see an alternate universe where Max hit on her at the baseball diamonds instead of him. Could see how she’d be into him like most other women were. Could see how a relationship with Max would be far better for her and Ben.

It made him a little sad, but mostly pissed off. Now he was ready to bashMax’sface in. “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t . . . anything.”

Max cocked a brow. “I would never. I just wanted to see how jealous you’d get.”

Adam shook it off. Hewasjealous, and he hated it. But there it was, all the same.

“Let’s go,” he said, walking past Max to the truck.

Max followed but didn’t let it go. “Have you considered telling her why you feel the way you do about kids? Maybe she’d be okay with it.”

Adam shook his head as he started the truck. “It’s not how she would feel about it.Ican’t do that to her. Or to Ben. We’ve been through this.”

Max nodded and looked out the window. “Sorry, man,” he said.

Adam swallowed. “It is what it is,” he said, then pulled out of the driveway.

fifteen

Chelsea was sitting on a wicker loveseat on her huge front porch, with her computer in her lap and headphones covering one ear. They’d wrapped up filming a little early that day, and she had already finished her work that morning, so while waiting for Ben’s bus to arrive, she caught up on editing the videos she’d taken of Ben biking and of Float Fest.

It took her no time at all to put together Ben’s biking video from the GoPro footage she’d collected, and she thought it turned out pretty good. She kept Adam in it and beeped out all his swear words. But when she turned her attention to the Float Fest pictures and short videos she’d taken, she had a harder time. She paused certain frames to make Adam look directly at her with his easy, sunny smile.

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