Page 27 of One Summer Weekend
“Not necessarily. After two or three weeks, you tell them we’ve fallen back into our old friendship and then life goes on, without the lies.”
“They’d never believe that. Friends who end up in a sexual relationship can never go back to their pre-sex friendship.” Carly stared at him until he replayed the words in his head, and then he shook his head. “We don’t count because it was fake. The relationship, I mean.”
“The sex wasn’t fake.”
“So noWhen Harry Met Sallysituation?” He grinned at her before turning his attention back to the traffic getting more congested by the mile. It was going to be a long drive.
“You know me better than that.” She leaned forward and changed the radio station, effectively changing the subject away from sex and to bickering about music.
It took almost five hours to make the three-hour drive home, and they spent most of it singing along with the radio, chatting about stupid crap and cussing at idiots who shouldn’t have driver’s licenses, and it was so normal for them that Noah had relaxed by the time they hit Boston. Navigating the city was enough of a mental distraction so they were easy with each other again by the time they hit the New Hampshire border.
But when he pulled into her driveway and put the truck in park, Noah’s stomach tied itself into knots all over again. As soon as she got out of his truck, the weekend was officially over and so was the best fake-relationship he’d ever had.
Unless she invited him in. Part of him was hoping desperately she’d do just that, but he also knew that if he went in that house and they had sex, there was no going back. Not that it was going to be easy as it was, but at least they’d defined the parameters.What happens on the Cape stays on the Cape.
They weren’t on Cape Cod anymore.
“That was a great wedding,” Carly said. “Thanks for inviting me to be your plus-one.”
“Thanks forbeingmy plus-one.” He wanted to say more, but she was already getting out of the truck.
She grabbed her bag out of the backseat and then stopped, standing outside the truck with her door open. Looking into her eyes, he knew she wanted to say something, but then she straightened her shoulders and gave him analmostCarly-like grin. “See you soon.”
Then she closed the door, cutting off anything he might have said, and walked down her driveway to the kitchen door without looking back. No wave. No kiss goodnight. Nohey, we should talk about how not-fake this weekend felt.
Noah backed out of his driveway and headed for his place. He knew he should be happy. He’d avoided having to tell Jim and Emily he’d been lying to them for six months. He’d eaten great food on a gorgeous beach. And he’d had the best sex of his life.
But he didn’t make the short drive home basking in satisfaction. He was confused and inexplicably lonely, and afraid he’d made an irreversible mistake.
And he couldn’t talk to the only person he wanted to talk to about it.
It wasn’t easy for Carly to get out of bed and drag herself to work the next morning. Since opening Cedar Street Books, going to work had become a lot more fun, but a restless night of tossing and turning because every time she closed her eyes she saw Noah naked had put a serious damper on her usual enthusiasm.
She stopped herself from texting him what felt like a thousand times throughout the night, and the fact she would usually text him whenever something she wanted to talk about crossed her mind illustrated to her just how much everything had changed.
Once she’d let herself into the bookstore and locked the door behind her, she went right into her usual morning routine, dreading the moment when Zoe asked her how the weekend went. Her plan was to flood the conversation with details about the building and the food and the view, but it was damn hard to lie to her cousin—even by omission—and she knew she wouldn’t be able to hold out for long.
“Holy crap, Carly. You had sex with Noah.”
She jerked her head up, silently cursing the heat flooding her face. “I haven’t even said hello yet. Why would you think I had sex withanybody?”
It wasn’t an admission of guilt, but it wasn’t a lie, either. And, dammit, she’d hoped to have another cup of coffee before talking about her weekend.
“Every morning you move the piles of books off the desk so you can put your coffee there.”
“So maybe you should stop putting books there.”
“Or you should put your coffee somewhere else.” Zoe shrugged and Carly rolled her eyes, as they always did at this point in their weekly argument. “But you’re missing the point.”
“The point is that on the desk, next to my computer, is the most logical place for my coffee.”
“You always sigh and carry on like a teenage girl while you’re moving them so I know you’re annoyed—”
“Not that you care.”
“—but just now you weren’t annoyed and when you picked up the one that’s going in theRecommended by Zoesection and saw the couple making out on the cover, you stared at it for a few seconds with a really goofy smile on your face. Ergo, you had sex.”
Carly gave her a sideways look. “Ergo? Really?”
