Page 139 of Give & Take

The way he’s looking at me now.

“Okay girls,” Mom says slowly. “What about if you and I walk home together? I think your Mom needs a turn on this bike.”

“What?” I say, finally clicking back into reality. “No, I don’t—that’s fine. We can all go home.”

“No, really,” Mom says. “It seems you two have a few things to talk about.”

“I want a ride on the bike!” Nova says.

“No,” All three adults say at once. Four, actually. I turn to see Miles, standing behind Dolly, a grim look on his face. Dolly’s expression is pale.

Guilt jumps into the fray in my stomach. “I’m sorry,” I say. I must have scared the crap out of the coffee shop owners.

“We good here?” Miles asks. His voice is steely, but not unkind. It’s just the way he is.

When I apologize again, he just shakes his head. Then, to my surprise, he rests his hands on Dolly’s shoulders and guides her away with shocking gentleness.

“Come on, sweethearts,” Mom tells my kids. “I want to hear all about your summer.”

Before I really understand what’s happening, I’m alone with Raph. He’s got two helmets in his hands.

I want to shove him. To tell him he scared the shit out of me.

I want to fall into his arms.

I want to scream and cry and fall apart just so he can put me together again.

Instead, I reach out for a helmet, and say, “Well? Let’s go.”

Chapter 38

Raphael

Isuggest a ride up the coast as we affix our helmets to our heads. Guilt roils in my stomach that I scared her. But more than that, a hot kernel of hurt burns inside of me. At least some part of her—a part that nearly lost her shit on me—thinks I’d be the person she once assumed I was. A charmer. A flirt.

A man not completely upside down in love with her.

But through the microphone, Lana says, “I’d rather you take me to the old candy store, on Second Street.”

“Candy store?” I’m confused. There’s no candy store downtown that I know of. I’m sure the girls would have dragged me there on multiple occasions this summer if there was.

“You might know it as the empty storefront just off Main Street,” she says.

I freeze. “You know, you’re very good at ruining birthday surprises.”

“What?”

She sounds upset. “Don’t worry, I didn’t lease theplace. I just got you a prospectus. It’s not your actual present.”

Just part of it.

“So why were you there with Ida?”

“To arrange a viewing with you. If you wanted to see it. There’s no commitment, Lana. The place has been empty for over a year.”

“Nice to know it’s such an in-demand spot.”

“Does that mean you’d consider leasing it?”

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