Page 84 of Maid of Dishonor

“I will.” Maya’s smile is horribly sad, and it makes me want to fix everything in her life until she’s happy again.

But I can’t, I guess. And that sucks.

“Well,” Sam says as we close the front door behind us and start back to the car. “That conversation went about as well as I expected it would.”

“Yeah,” I say, Maya’s sad little smile still playing in my head. I reach over and grab Sam’s hand, lacing her fingers with mine as we walk.

“Oh,” she says, looking down between us. Then she looks up at me. “You’re holding my hand.”

I smile. “I am. Is that okay?”

“Yes,” she says immediately. “Yeah, it is. Definitely. I just—it’s going to take me a little time to get used to this.”

“I don’t blame you,” I say, feeling a little twinge of guilt. I rub the back of my neck with my free hand. “I know I was sending out some mixed messages.”

Sam laughs tentatively. “Yeah, you could say that. Want to explain?”

I sigh. “Yeah, I guess.” I think for a second, then say, “Can we go somewhere first, though?”

Sam shrugs. “Sure.”

A giddy sort of excitement starts to brew inside, but I tamp it down so I don’t give anything away. Instead I simply tell her, “Great. We need to stop by my apartment for some stuff and then we’ll go.”

We take our own cars back to my apartment, where I run inside and grab a few blankets (which are really just heavy-duty sleeping bags, because unlike Sam I’m not a blanket hoarder), a bag of apples, and two bottles of water. Then I dash back outside and join Sam in her car.

It takes me a second after buckling in to realize Sam is just smirking at me, one eyebrow raised.

“What?” I ask, feeling strangely vulnerable.

She nods at the large bag of apples in my lap. “What’s with the orchard?”

“I thought we might get hungry, and it was the first thing I saw,” I mumble. “I wanted to hurry.” Because I’m apparently pathetically excited to spend time with this woman now that we’ve cleared the air, so to speak.

Sam’s smirk turns into a warm smile, and before I realize what’s happening, she leans over the center console and plants a kiss right on my cheek. Then she feels around the plastic bag until she finds the opening, grabs an apple, and takes a bite.

“Good call,” she says, talking with her mouth full—like a barbarian. “You know I love apples.”

“Yeah,” I say vaguely, because I’m still stuck on the way she kissed my cheek. “You—kissed me.” I reach up to touch the spot. “Right here.”

“I—yeah,” she says, and now she’s the one who’s looking vulnerable. Her cheeks turn a delicate pink as she eyes me before turning her gaze back to the road. “Is that okay? I just thought—but I shouldn’t—but you held my hand,” she adds defensively.

“No, no,” I say quickly, because I don’t want one single thing to make her think she can’t kiss me any time she wants. “It’s fine. It’s good. I was just surprised. And like you said, it will take some getting used to.”

The next thirty seconds is full of heavy silence, torture of the worst kind. A familiar anxiety starts to rise within me; are things already changing? Are we already losing what we have? We can’t—

“This is stupid,” Sam bursts out, interrupting my thoughts. “This isn’t us. We’re being weird. So, yes, Carter Ellis, I kissed you on the cheek.” She clears her throat. “If you must know, Ididhave a thing for you in high school, but…it sort of—well, it kind of never went away. And I’m still having a hard time believing any of this is real or that it’s happening, so I’m inclined to just live every moment to the fullest extent, should this turn out to all be some wonderful dream. Gotta get in those kisses, you know? In case I’m going to wake up in thirty minutes.”

Wow. Just…wow. That’s a lot to unpack.

“Sincehigh school?” I say, swiveling toward her, my eyes wide.

She rolls her eyes. “Of course that’s what you’d start with. Yes, Mr. Ego. Since high school. You were adorable. I don’t take it back.”

“I’m still adorable,” I say, grinning.

“You have your moments,” she agrees with a little smile, “when your head isn’t too big to fit through the door. Now pay attention and tell me where we’re going.”

“Castlewood,” I say. “To see the sunset. We’re moving up our first date.”

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