Chapter 23
Ari
Despite not hanging out with Reese and Liv in person for over a year, we have no problem jumping right back into normal hangout cadence.
This lunch is already off to a great start with Reese telling us about living with her mom.
“I’m serious,” she says, banging the table. “I love my mom, but she’s driving me crazy, and I’m not even talking about how messy she is or how she snores at night. I’m talking about her. Alvina Lucinda Berkeley is driving me insane.”
“Tell me about it.” I laugh. “I don’t know how much longer I can take my own mother and her meddling disguised as love.”
“At least your mom is the adult in the relationship,” Reese huffs. “I’m the one having to be the parent in our situation.”
I grin as I tear off a piece of bread. It feels good having the three of us together again. For years, we’ve been scattered across different states, different lives, different problems.
Now, somehow, we’re all back in Autumn Ridge.
Which is either comforting or deeply concerning.
Possibly both. But I’m starting to like how Autumn Ridge is a safe place for all of us to return to.
“Have you seen Dom yet?” Liv asks Reese.
“I’ve only lived here for forty-eight hours, but thankfully no.”
I shrug. “Small-town odds aren’t in your favor.”
“I know.” The look on her face says she’s already spent considerable time thinking about it.
Dom and Reese avoiding each other in Autumn Ridge feels about as realistic as me avoiding the Ednas. Eventually, the town wins.
The waitress appears, carrying three salads.
She sets a grilled chicken Caesar in front of Reese.
A strawberry-walnut salad in front of Liv.
Then, she places mine down. Roasted beets. Goat cheese. Candied pecans. Arugula. I have no idea what possessed me to order it, other than lately I’ve been trying new things, like beets and fake-dating principals with mustaches.
At a nearby table, another plate lands in front of Tate Walker. His BLT is approximately the size of a small mountain.
Liv glances over, and Reese and I exchange a look.
“Who’s watching who?” I ask with a smile. “Is Tate your bodyguard, or are you his?”
“Very funny.” Liv gives me her best pointed look. “It’s just kind of embarrassing having a babysitter everywhere I go.”
“I mean,” Reese says in between bites of lettuce, “the bodyguard situation is ridiculous, but the stalker situation is terrifying. So don’t be embarrassed about your cover.”
“Remember how we used to think Tate had a crush on you,” I say. “He always showed you so much attention when we were in high school.”
“He was a cop,” Liv defends. “And we were doing illegal things.”
“Semi-illegal things,” I correct.
“But”—Reese leans forward just to be sure he can’t hear—“Tate Walker was specifically your cop.”
“Not true.”
“Tate!” I call over my shoulder.
He slowly lifts his head. “Did you or did you not only call my and Reese’s moms—and not Liv’s—the night we tried to unscrew the ‘Welcome to Autumn Ridge’ sign?”
His expression remains completely blank, but there’s a small glimmer in his eyes. “I don’t remember.”
“Well, he told my brother, and that was probably worse,” Liv says.
“I specifically remember that you got away with just a little reprimand from Tate.”
Reese nods. “Same here.”
“Ari”—Liv points her fork at me, changing the subject—“how was the mayor’s party last night? I saw you across the room, and it looked like you were having fun, but you left before I could talk to you.”
The truth is, it was fun. Sparring with Wade—although embarrassing if I stop to think about my behavior—was the best time I’ve had in a long time.
“It was fine.” The smile starts before I can stop it, which is unfortunate because now they’re both watching me even closer, so I glance down, stabbing a beet. “Things got a little out of hand, but all in all, I’d say it was a fake-dating success.”
Reese takes a bite of salad. “So who’s winning the bet so far?”
That answer is easy. “Me.”
Liv’s brows rise. “Confident.”
“I’m serious. Wade hasn’t made any progress with my mom. And honestly, I don’t think there’s anything he can do to change her opinion of him.” I feel bad about that until my competitive spirit kicks in.
“So, is Wade’s aggressive student out of the picture?” Reese asks.
“Not entirely. She was there at the mayor’s party last night, but I definitely think I’ve contained the situation.”
“So I guess you are winning.”
“By a mile.” The words come out easily.
Too easily.
Because the second I say them, another image sneaks into my brain.
Moonlight.
Wade draping his jacket around my shoulders.
A bridge.
His fingers in my hair.
Brown eyes filled with sparks.
The way he listened about Andy and didn’t judge. Or if he was judging, he was smart enough not to say it out loud.
I immediately shove the memory away. The whole point of this arrangement is that it’s temporary. Strategic.
That’s all.
“And after I win,” I say, reaching for my water, “things between us will go back to normal.”
Liv uses her fork to push a tomato aside in her salad. “When are you going to see him again?”
“Uh…” I try to come off as nonchalant. “We’re going to Burlington later this afternoon to pick up some pallets for Landrie’s wedding.”
Reese pauses. “I need more details.”
“Landrie saw a picture on Pinterest about making a table out of pallets for her wedding book to sit on.”
“No, no, no.” Reese shakes her head. “I mean, how did you and Wade get roped into this? It doesn’t really seem like a good fake-dating activity since you won’t be around anyone you know.”
“Yeah, well, he has a truck to transport the pallets, and he thought it might earn him some bonus points with my mom if he did this errand for her.”
“So it’ll just be like you’re hanging out as friends?”
“Yeah, just one friend helping out another.” But even as I say the words, I don’t believe them.
Wade could be doing anything else on his weekend off. Instead, he chose to spend it helping me.
I’m not sure why that feels significant, but my heart says it does.