Page 72 of Class Act

I grinned and replied:

Me: I know a great chimpanzee

Ford: I think I’d rather go with you, if that’s okay

My face felt warm, and my smile grew. Ford was admitting he wanted to spend time with me. I could hardly believe it.

Me: Okay

Ford: We’ll meet you at the big pumpkin on Saturday at 5

Not only was he asking me out, but he was asking me to spend time with his family in a very public setting. This was a big move. While a tiny part of me hoped for some alone time with him in the future, this was . . . easier, somehow. So I was happy.

So happy, in fact, that I forgot to play it cool and simply blurted it all out at the Recap and Recoup session the next day.

“I went with Ford to dinner at The Amaryllis. We danced and had the best food, and at the end of the night, he kissed me breathless. Now I’m going to the Halloween Fair with Ford and his kids this weekend.” I said the words so quickly it seemed to take them a minute to catch my meaning.

“Come again?” Meredith asked as they all looked at me with varying degrees of surprise. “Because last time we talked about Ford, he’d kissed you very lightly at the pool. There have obviously been some developments since then.”

I shook my head and waved my hands. “I’ve been a little distracted.”

“This is kind of a big deal,” Lizzie said while clapping her hands together. “The fair is a big event. Everyone goes.”

“I know,” I grinned.

“Seems like you’re excited about it,” Aryn said.

I bit my lips and nodded. “Yeah.”

“Can we get back to the kissing-your-face-off part?” Ruby cried, looking at us like we were nuts for skipping over that.

Sound exploded from all my friends as they dropped the façade of calm support and went ballistic. I could hardly separate out their words, but the general consensus was that they assumed Ford knew his way around a pair of lips and that I had a serious issue with keeping things to myself. I was laughing breathlessly by the time I got them settled down enough to tell the whole story. By the time I finished, they were unusually quiet, processing.

“Okay, take us back a bit. How hot was he in that swimming pool?” Ruby asked into the stillness. I closed my eyes and blushed enough that they all whistled. “That’s pretty hot,” Ruby stated.

“Seriously, he comes off as this total businessman, stiff suit,” Meredith said, but not rudely.

“When you first met me, I hardly strung two sentences together,” I reminded her. “Now I’m a regular blabbermouth.”

Aryn arched an eyebrow. “You’re far from a blabbermouth, but I get what you’re saying. First impressions aren’t everything.”

“And people warm up,” Lizzie supplied.

“Do you really like him?” Aryn asked.

“I’m starting to,” I replied. Which was a total lie because I’d been starting to like him for quite a while now, but I hadn’t allowed myself to admit it.

“Tell us about the kissing again,” Ruby wiggled her eyebrows.

“I had to take my coat off,” I dimpled, and they brought the walls down with their cheers.

*****

I was lounging on my bed, flipping through my e-reader trying to settle on a book the next night when my phone rang. I glanced at the clock, wondering who would be calling at nine p.m. When I picked up my phone and saw Ford’s name, I smiled.

How was this happening? I wasn’t the girl who got wishes granted this way.

I’d assumed there would be no contact until the fair on Saturday, even though I had been feeling bummed about it. I wanted him to set the pace since he had so much more skin in this game, but being patient wasn’t as easy in this situation as it had always been in the past. I set down my e-reader, tugged my covers up, and slipped down into my bed, looking at the ceiling.

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