Page 60 of Chasing After You
“Trust me, Cass. He will. He adores you. He’s going to be beside himself with joy when he finds out he just helped make another one of you.”
She laughs. “I like that perspective. Mind if I use it when I tell him? You know, since your lines have worked so successfully for me in the past.”
I roll my eyes. “God, I still can’t believe we both went with spider bite. We’re ridiculous.”
“Hey, we both got kissed, so...”
“We got lucky.” I nod, starting to giggle as well.
“Maybe.” Cass smirks. “I think I’m going to go see if I can get lucky again.”
“He’s the lucky one, Cass,” I tell her as she starts to leave.
She turns back before she reaches the first step. “No luckier than I am.”
Then she starts her descent. Only in her case, it looks a lot like floating on cloud nine.
I watch until she’s out of sight, smiling to myself. Cass and Jason are having a baby. Holy shit, things are going to be insane on that tour bus for a while.
Giggling all over again, this time at the mental images a baby on tour with Knox and the Wilds conjures, I open the door and finally enter my room.
As expected, Oliver is already getting ready for our night out.
“So, are you bringing Renee tonight?” I ask when he comes strolling out of the bathroom, buttoning up a short-sleeved shirt with an over-the-top tropical pattern.
“Yep.” He smiles. It’s a new smile, one he definitely hasn’t used when interacting with me. “Matti coming?”
“Uh-huh.” I turn away from the open closet and smile back, holding the dress I decided on for tonight.
He waggles his eyebrows in a silly way. “I like our going-with-the-flow plan. It’s working out well.”
“Indeed, it is.” So well, part of me still can’t really wrap my head around it. Matti and I are back together. For real.
Though, despite the fact we’ve announced it to everyone here, we’ve yet to tell the kids. Or even talk about telling the kids. And I have an icky feeling I’m the one holding us back from doing it.
But I don’t want to dwell on that now.
Not when I’m about to put on a dress I bought over a year ago, hoping I would have a date like the one I’m about to have, to wear it to. I saved it all this time, just waiting, sure that one day I’d have the perfect night out to put it on. At the time, I was trying to force myself into believing someone new was still out there for me, a second love. But this, a second chance with my first love, is infinitely better.
Oliver pulls his shaving kit from his suitcase and heads for the adjoining bathroom again. “I take it your sisters have recovered from their plans for your love life going up in smoke?” He asks, pulling the door shut to a crack so we can still talk.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up claiming this was their plan all along by the time we get home.”
I can hear him laugh even over the water running.
Since the door is pretty much closed, I take the opportunity to change out of my horse clothes and into my dress. If we had more time, I’d definitely have opted to shower, but as we’re justgoing to wind up covered in salt and sand before the night is over, trying to rush a splash of water just seems like a waste of time.
But now that I’m thinking about the end of the night, “Hey, how fast would you say things are progressing between you and Renee?” I pull the dress over my head before I go on, “Like, will you be heading to her place after the luau?” I step out from behind the closet to catch his expression in the bathroom mirror. He looks almost embarrassed. “I’m sorry, was that a weird question?”
“Probably not.” He fumbles with his razor. “Do you think it was a weird question? Or do you think it’s the sort of thing she’s going to ask me too?”
I bite my lip uncomfortably. “To be honest, I don’t really know. I’m not exactly hip to the current dating scene. All of my relationship references are based on primetime television.”
He lets out a nervous laugh. “Fuck. You and me both.”
I take a few steps toward the bathroom. “Tell you what, how about we forget I even asked. I’ll just stay with Matti tonight. That way you’re free to keep going with the flow. Whatever happens, whateveryou wantto have happen, happens.”
He nods. “Okay.” His head keeps bobbing up and down like he’s still convincing himself. “Yeah, that works.”
