Page 82 of A Class of Her Own

“Was it hot?” This last one from Ruby.

Aryn held up a hand, and they closed their mouths. “How dare you not tell us?”

“I told Hailey.” I pointed a finger at her.

She placed a well-manicured hand against her chest. “I figured that was a secret, and you’d tell everyone on your own time.”

Aryn waved a hand. “What on Earth is happening?”

I leaned back in my seat and folded my hands in my lap. “We’ve been kind of hanging out and sort of aren’t enemies anymore.”

“So, he called a truce by kissing your face off?” Ruby asked. “This must mean he’s your boyfriend now. Right?”

I sighed. “As you can see, my face is still intact, and I have no idea what we are.”

“Did your toes curl?” Ruby wiggled her own toes. “I love it when the toes curl.”

I shrugged. “Maybe?”Yes, yes, yes.

“It’s nice of you to admit that rather than shooting me down.” Ruby grinned, and I grinned back.

“I’m going to need a lot more information than that.” Aryn slapped my knee.

So, I told them all the things that had shifted and changed, and while Hailey knew some of it, all three of them sat with their mouths open and eyes big as I shared the transformation I’d gone through recently and the things that had happened with Brooks.

“I’m sorry I kept it to myself,” I said at the end of the whole story.

Aryn waved that off. “You’ve always been this way. You tell us nothing and then suddenly, bam, a year’s worth of information gets dumped in our laps. Only usually it doesn’t end with your mortal enemy kissing your face off.”

“Once again, my face is . . .”

“We get it,” Ruby and Hailey said in unison, prompting them both to laugh.

“So, help me make sense of this. I’ve never felt this way before,” I moaned.

“Brooks is a smart, good-looking guy with a job who finds you interesting. You jump on this,” Aryn said.

“Do you realize that at our age it’s really hard to find a guy that doesn’t have serious baggage? Or leprosy?” Ruby added.

“I . . . haven’t been that concerned about leprosy,” I replied.

“But the baggage concern is real,” Aryn stated. “And Brooks probably has some, but he’s really coming across like a prince.”

“His ex-fiancée dumped him because he was too boring,” I offered. “That’s kind of a red flag.”

The three of them looked at me with identical expressions of disbelief before Ruby said, “Didn’t we recently talk about how you find boring really attractive?”

“Well, yes, but what if all he wants to do on a Saturday night is separate his lights from darks and reorganize the pantry?” I held up my hands. “Can I live that way?”

Hailey nodded. “Only if he doesn’t take you away from your own pantry reorganization on the weekends.”

I threw a pillow at her, and she laughed. “I’m not that boring.”

“We all are,” Aryn replied. “Seriously. The days of partying are far behind us. We’re exhausted after teaching all week. Honestly, if I came home on a Friday night and there was a guy here sorting laundry and cleaning out the kitchen, I’d jump on that so fast his head would spin.”

“Oh and maybe he’d want to watch a movie afterward and then get to bed nice and early,” Hailey sighed and smiled. “It’s my favorite when Ford isn’t busy, and we can hunker down at one of our houses.”

“I think this is great news. You two are going to be fun to watch,” Aryn teased.

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