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“What’d you do with him anyway?” Chris asks.
“I made sure he didn’t come back inside and waited with him until Jared could come pick him up. He didn’t seem pleased to hear who Duncan almost got in a fight with, by the way,” Luke says, eyeing me to gauge my reaction.
I shrug and say, “He can be mad, then. Summer and I aren’t a secret, and I’m not going to let some drunk idiot talk badly about her.” I clench my jaw and glare into my beer.
I see Luke’s wide smile out of the corner of my eye. “So. You and Summer are a thing then, huh? I guess you caught her eye,” he says, punching me playfully on the shoulder.
I can’t help the dopey grin that spreads across my own face. “Yeah. Guess so.”
CHAPTER 22
Summer
“Bye, Mommy!” Emma gives me a hug around the middle, and then sprints towards Jared’s truck.
“Bye, Em!” I call as she throws her bag into the backseat.
I awkwardly turn toward Jared. Things haven’t been great the last week. He’s still angry at me and I don’t know what to do about it. He’s been civil in front of Emma, but otherwise he’s been abrasive at best and downright mean at worst. He still hasn’t apologized for what he said last Sunday, and the words still sting like a papercut doused in lemon juice. I decide to rip the bandaid off and ask, “So, are we ever going to talk about it?”
He huffs out a breath and chews his cheek. “I don’t know what to say, Summer.” He looks away from me and watches the bees flit busily from flower to flower in my window boxes.
“You can start with an apology for what you said on Sunday,” I say, crossing my arms.
“I’m not apologizing for being angry at finding out you’re with another man.” A muscle in his jaw ticks.
“You’re allowed to be angry, but you can’t talk to me like that. We’re going to be in each other’s lives forever. We have a childtogether. That means we have to have a baseline of respect and tolerance around each other. I am not going to force Emma to have separate birthdays and holidays just because you can’t be civil,” I lean against the open door to prevent myself from stepping in his space the way I want to. I would love nothing more than to give in to the urge to get in his face and yell at him. But I have to be the adult. Again.
He sighs, scrubbing a hand over his short hair. After a painful beat, he says, “You’re right. I lost my temper. I’m sorry. I’m not okay with Ryan though. Did you know that he tried to start a fight with Duncan last night at The Taproom?”
I shake my head side to side. “What? Why would he do that? They don’t even know each other,” I say, confused.
“According to Duncan, he said that you were still with me and Ryan didn’t like that very much. Tried to punch him right after.” Jared raises his eyebrows at me.
“Okay, well, first of all, we aren’t still together,” I say. He blows an annoyed breath out. “Anyway,” I continue, “that doesn’t sound like Ryan. He’s not the violent type at all. He definitely wouldn’t try to punch someone just because they said we were together.”
Jared scoffs, “You hardly know him! This is why he can’t be around Emma. I can’t trust that he’s not some violent asshole.” His lips tighten into a grim line.
“I know him well enough to know he wouldn’t try to punch someone just because they lied, Jared. I don’t think we’re getting the full story. You know how drunk Duncan gets when he goes out. You’ve had to go pick him up a thousand times! Ryan wouldneverhurt Emma. I understand you want to wait a while to introduce them. I’ll respect that. I think you need to meet him first anyway, and we can go from there.” I’m trying to be reasonable, but it feels like he’s looking for any reason to roadblock me.
“I still don’t like it, but fine.” He spins on his heel and stalksback to the truck. All in all, that went better than I expected. At least he didn’t call me “sloppy seconds” again.
A few hours later, I’m stepping out of the shower when I hear my phone ding. It’s a text from Ryan, letting me know he’s heading over. I wiggle in excitement and bite my lip. We’re planning on having a date night in tonight.
I slip on a matching lilac boy shorts and bralette set, and throw some black lounge pants over top. The loose-fitting lounge pants hug me at the waist while the bralette goes down my rib cage. It leaves an inch of skin exposed at the waist and it feels scandalous even though I’m mostly covered up. My lips spread in a smile when I think about Ryan seeing me like this.
I use a towel to scrunch the extra water out of my hair and exit the bathroom. I head to the living room where I’ve stashed the necessities for our date night. Ryan is supposed to bring dinner and we’re going to eat on the floor like kids at a sleepover. I spread my comforter and pillows on the floor in front of the TV so we can watch a movie and cuddle. On the coffee table, I’ve placed an array of snacks from salty to sweet.
Ryan knocks on the front door and pops his head in, stopping in his tracks when he sees me. I smile at him self-consciously, wishing I’d thrown a cardigan or something over my shoulders. He shakes his head as if to clear it and comes inside. He toes off his shoes, closes the door, and walks towards me with purpose.
He tosses the Chinese takeout on the coffee table and yanks me toward him so quickly I yelp in surprise. His hands trace up my arms before he slides his thumbs under the straps of the bralette, making my breath catch at the possessive touch and look in his eyes.
He cups my jaw with both hands and brings my lips to his in a crushing kiss. I’m suddenly very glad I didn’t wear the cardigan. Islide my hands up his back under his navy colored t-shirt as the kiss deepens. Ryan pulls away first, keeping us close with the press of his forehead to mine. “Hi,” he says, a grin in his voice.
I laugh out a breathless, “Hi.” I lick my kiss-swollen lower lip as I pull back from him.
He takes a breath and says, “So. We should eat first or that’s going to get cold.” He gestures to the bag full of takeout containers. “If we keep going I won’t want to stop and I know you’ve been craving Chinese.” He sits on the blanket and pats the spot next to him.
“Good idea. I’m starved.” I grab the bag and spread the containers between us. I hand him his chopsticks and a cold beer that I pulled out of the fridge before he got here.
