Chapter 24
CHAPTER 24
T he last week had been pure torture for Blake. Ever since their conversation in the kitchen where he nearly kissed her, he’d successfully avoided her. They still slept in the same bed, but he waited until she fell asleep and slipped away before she woke, going on long drives and walks.
He’d found her entangled with him a few times, but she always slept through the unentangling.
And now they were heading to Mackinac, and he could face Lukas with a clean conscience.
The drive felt longer than it should’ve. Blake kept the music up loud so he didn’t have to talk to her. Part of him felt guilty for keeping her at arm’s length, but his friendship with Lukas wasn’t worth this. Though he had missed her. She’d become a good friend.
About a half-hour before they arrived, Paige turned down the music. “Can we go back to the way things were before I came on to you?” she asked.
He swallowed. Paige was nothing if not blunt, which was one of the things he loved about her. “I guess. Why?”
She threw up her hands. “Why? Because I liked being your friend. I was enjoying the summer, and then I had to go and make it all awkward. I’m sorry. I just want things to be easy between us again. She dropped her hands into her lap and stared at them. Blake reached over and grabbed one, giving it a squeeze.
“Sure. I missed hanging out with you too.”
The touch was too much though, and so he let go. She visibly relaxed and started to chatter. This was what he’d missed.
* * *
“The apartment I was going to put you in had plumbing issues yesterday, and my plumber has the flu. I’ve checked around, and every single room on the island is booked.” Lukas ground his teeth, frustration marring his features.
Blake clapped him on the shoulder. There were worse problems they could have. “Dude, don’t worry about it. I’ll just crash on your couch.”
Paige stood between them. “Don’t be stupid, Lukas. Mom and Dad have an extra guest room. Blake can sleep there.”
“You know Mom’s not been feeling well. I don’t want to put this on her.” He chewed on his lip as if he were contemplating the solution.
“And you know she loves company. I’ll make sure Blake behaves.”
She nudged Blake and winked at him. Lukas gave him a questioning look, but didn’t say anything. “If you’re sure. I’m still not certain mom needs the company.”
“Of course I’m sure. Call us a buggy, and we’ll drop our bags and come back to your place for the party.”
Blake absolutely did not want Lukas thinking there was anything going on.
“Maybe I should just crash on your couch.” Blake rubbed at his eyes. This was exhausting.
Paige shook her head. “No way. If Mom finds out that she had a perfectly good bed and we made you sleep on the couch, both Lukas and I will be in the doghouse.”
Paige pulled out a cell phone and stepped away.
“How are things going?” Lukas asked, eyes trained on Paige.
Blake shrugged. “It’s a little boring out there, but that’s just what I needed this summer.” He didn’t want Lukas to think he’d been enjoying his time with Paige.
“And Paige?”
“What about her?” He averted his eyes and landed right on Paige’s backside and he flicked his eyes up and met Tess’s cheeky grin. Lukas would see right through him.
“She’s not driving you nuts?” Lukas asked with a chuckle.
“No, she’s great actually.” He tried to hide his grin, but he couldn’t.
Lukas crossed his arms and glared at him. “Just how great exactly?”
“Relax. I’m just saying she’s easy to live with. She does her thing, and I do mine. I make sure the house is locked up at night, and we go into town a few times a week.”
Lukas relaxed. “Okay. I really do appreciate you doing this.”
“It’s no problem. Really. I have enjoyed the space to think about what I want to do with the rest of my life. I like it up there. I might find a quiet place like that and open up my own botany lab.”
“You should talk to Adam. I imagine he’d want to invest in it.”
Blake chuckled. “I imagine he would. I’ve made him a lot of money.” Anytime he had an idea, Adam always fronted the money. Blake had millions, but it was still never enough to front the kinds of research needed to create new pharmaceuticals.
Lukas smacked him on the shoulder. “Second thought, maybe you should let us invest this time instead of him.”
The buggy pulled up, and Paige waved him over.
“Duty calls. We’ll drop off our things and make nice with your parents for a few.”
She grinned at him as he climbed up into the buggy. “Looks like I’ll be sleeping through the night here as well. I really didn’t want to wake up screaming in the middle of the night at my parents’ house.”
Blake tugged at his collar. “I’m not sleeping with you at your parents’ house.”
Her face fell. “Why not?”
“Can you imagine the fallout if they saw me sneaking out in the morning?”
She gave him a sidelong glance. “That won’t be a problem.”
“Why not?”
“Because the guest room shares a bathroom with my room. It’s a jack n jill.”
Blake nodded. That was better, but he still wasn’t sure he’d be getting any sleep. He would worry all night about whether or not the door to the room was actually locked.
They chatted with her parents for a bit, but Paige made an excuse to leave and then suggested riding bikes back.
They headed out into the garage, and Paige flicked on a light. There was a snowmobile and a handful of bikes. Most of them had flat tires.
“Your parents don’t bike much, huh?” He thought everyone biked on the island.
“Nah. They have a buggy driver that they use. I don’t see a pump either. Oh wait, this bike is good.” She hauled out a tandem bike.
Blake frowned. “You know, everyone will assume we’re together.” He couldn’t let anyone think that.
She rolled her eyes. “So let them.”
She seemed a lot more comfortable with Lukas thinking things than he did. “I thought we were moving past the awkwardness.”
“I’m just saying. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. We’ll reassure Lukas that nothing is going on, and we’ll be fine.”
They wheeled the bike out onto the drive, and Paige climbed on the back seat. He waved to her parents and climbed on the front. He was certain that all of his friends were about to give him massive crap about this.
Tandem bikes were beyond cheezy.
He just hoped that Lukas wouldn’t read too much into it.