Page 77 of Class Act

I shook my head and blushed, which was basically asking to be teased by these two. “What brings you here?” I asked them.

“We always come to the fair.” Aryn shrugged innocently.

“We love seeing what kinds of things are up for grabs.” Ruby winked her other eye, and I had to laugh.

“Stop that,” I said. “You’re scary.”

She pouted her lips out. “I was going for provocative with a hint of innuendo.”

“Yeah, that’s obvious,” Aryn teased. Then she looked to me and dropped her voice, watching Ford who had called his kids over to the garbage area to clean them up. “How’s it going with Mr. Yummy?”

I shook my head. “Please do not call him that.”

“Mr. Delicious?” she offered.

“Mr. Scrumptious,” Ruby stated.

“Mr. Mouthwatering,” Aryn raised her eyebrows.

“Mr. Get in my belly,” Ruby tapped her stomach.

“Line crossed,” I rolled my eyes with a giggle and covered my face with my hands.

Aryn patted my shoulder and wiped her face clean of her teasing expression. “He’s coming,” she hissed.

I dropped my hands from my face and went slightly rigid with discomfort. The last time some of my friends had interacted with him it had been at the ax throwing facility, and he’d been cool with it, but today they were clearly in top form and I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was partially grateful that it wasn’t Meredith but also worried about what would come out of Ruby’s mouth.

“Ford, you remember Aryn Murphy.” I pointed. “And Ruby Jenkins. You met them at ax throwing. They both work with me.”

“And we’re her very best friends,” Ruby added.

“Nice to see you both again,” he said, reaching out to shake their hands, flashing that handsome smile he wore so perfectly. “Hailey has told me a lot about you.”

If I wasn’t mistaken, both of them got slightly glazed-over eyes before they snapped out of it. Yeah, he was definitely yummy.

“We had pie,” I said, awkwardly.

“Pie is good,” Aryn mumbled, blinking.

“Pie seems pretty serious,” Ruby’s eyes slitted. “What are your intentions with our friend? Are you going to feed her and leave her?”

I was absolutely frozen in place by an acidic mix of shock and horror boiling in my stomach. I couldn’t have spoken if I wanted to.

Ford, however, was cool and confident, as always. I was amazed as I watched him laugh, taking Ruby in and seeming to enjoy the challenge she offered.

“I can promise you I’m not eating pie with anyone else,” he said.

Ruby nodded. “That’s good. I guess I just have two questions for you, then.”

“People seem to be really into questions lately,” Ford said, giving me a look that had me smiling back at him.

Ruby’s face, however, was intense when we looked back to her. Ford nodded and tucked his hands into his pockets, one leg bent, smiling down at her, giving her the green light. I, however, was going home with a massive crick in my neck from worrying over what was about to pop out of her brain.

“What’s the weirdest way you’ve gotten hurt?” she asked.

I blinked at Aryn, and her expression told me I wasn’t the only one wondering what that question had to do with anything.

“In the shower I sneezed really hard and slammed my head against the glass shower door. It shattered, and I had to get stitches on my face.” He pointed to a spot on his left cheek.

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