Rory
to raise his right leg up in a downward dog split.
“That’s what she said,” he replied, then grunted and came down to both knees.
someone’s legs could actually be that tight was almost inconceivable to her. Even more inconceivable was the fact that she and Jacob Reilly were doing yoga together
on side-by-side mats at her house while listening to acoustic rock on her dad’s Bluetooth speakers. How the heck had they
gotten here?
“This is hopeless,” Jacob said, sitting up and bringing his feet together in butterfly pose.
He wore loose sweatpants and a light gray T-shirt and smelled of cedar and sweat, in a very pleasant way.
She sat next to him and hit a butterfly on her own mat, facing him.
It had started raining right when Jacob arrived about thirty minutes earlier.
Behind him, the sky had gone dark beyond the windows—it was getting darker earlier and earlier—and leaves and rain swirled by.
Rory felt very cozy, all things considered.
“No, it’s not. I mean, I’m not going to tell you you’re going to be the next Simone Biles, but you can definitely loosen up
a bit.” Jacob laughed at her joke, and it made her grin. “You just really need to stretch for at least ten minutes after any
physical activity. We’ll improve your kicks in no time.”
“Do you give a lot of private coaching lessons?” he asked wryly, gripping his ankles and trying to lean forward.
She shrugged. “Might as well get some use out of the roughly twelve years of gymnastics and ballet I’ve done.” She looked
at his form and narrowed her eyes. “Try rolling your shoulders back and sitting up straighter. Think of putting space between
your lowest rib and your hips.”
Jacob hesitated a second, as if trying to decide whether to crack a joke or do as she said. He decided on the latter. And
just like that, he was able to lean forward another inch. He looked up at her, surprised. “That worked!”
“I should raise my private coaching rates,” she said.
Jacob flopped down onto his back, arms flung out to his sides.
Rory couldn’t help noticing the way his T-shirt clung to his chest, accentuating his muscles.
She cleared her throat and looked away, performing a couple of seated side stretches to distract herself.
He looked up at the ceiling, and then his brow knit.
“It is so quiet here,” he said.
She tilted her head. “Yeah, I guess.”
“Your brother is actually home?” he asked her.
“He’s upstairs playing online chess with some kid in Russia.” She stretched one leg out and leaned over her knee. “His chess
coach hooked them up with an international gaming program. He’s obsessed.”
“Chess? That’s what he does for fun? Chess? Like with Kirk Conway.”
Rory bristled. “He loves Kirk Conway. And what’s wrong with chess?”
“Nothing.” He wondered if Tucker knew Rory’s brother was on Kirk’s chess team. There was no one Tucker loved to mock more
than Kirk. “It just, none of my siblings have hobbies that aren’t super loud.” He pushed up on his elbows, arms flexing. Not that she was noticing.
“Chad just started playing tuba, and Lindsay is into tae kwon do. I would kill for one of them to take up something like chess.”
Rory laughed. “I know Willow, and I think I know Chad. Who’s Lindsay?”
“She’s the baby. Six years old. Her favorite hobby is screaming for no reason.”
“Hang on . . . how many siblings do you have?” Rory asked. She knew Ford, of course, and she was pretty sure he had an older
sister, too.
Jacob sat up straight. “I have two little sisters, one little brother, one older brother, and two older sisters.”
“Wait, wait, wait. There are seven of you?” she asked.
“Well, not seven of me,” he replied, tugging his shirt away from his chest like he was too cool. “It’s not possible to replicate me.”
She shoved his shoulder, and they both laughed. Rory blushed over making contact with him. What was she doing? Was she flirting?
This was insane. The music clicked over to a ballad, and she couldn’t believe the timing.
“What’s it like, having that many people around all the time?” she asked.
“It’s very loud, as we’ve established.” He tilted his neck to one side, then the other. “Also chaotic, messy, smelly, fun,
annoying. I don’t think we’re ever all asleep or awake at the same time, so someone’s always waking someone else up, and people
are constantly irritated.” He paused to shrug. “I guess it’s a little better now that my two oldest sisters are in college,
and it will definitely be better once Ford goes away.”
“What’s wrong with Ford?” Rory asked. “He’s, like, the most popular guy in school.”
“He’s an asshole,” Jacob replied flatly. “I mean, I love him, sure, but he’s an asshole.”
“Okay then.” Rory laughed. “I could never imagine calling Owen an asshole.”
“I mean, he’s clearly not all up in your grill all the time, so I don’t see why you would,” Jacob agreed. He looked around at her tidy, modern living room and sighed. “I could get used to this, though.”
Rory felt her heart squeeze. “I wouldn’t mind a little bit more company around here, to be honest.”
“Yeah?”
She lifted one shoulder and picked at a loose string on her leggings. “My parents are practically never around. I’m the one
who watches Owen after school and makes dinner most nights. We both do all the chores. It’s like we’re the parents and they’re
the kids.”
“Wow. That sucks.”
“No, I mean, they love us.” She paused, then shrugged again. “But if I’m honest, sometimes I think they forget we exist.”
“I feel that,” Jacob said.
“Really?” Rory looked at him, dubious. “Your parents have, like, regular jobs, don’t they? Regular hours, Monday through Friday?”
Rory leaned back on her elbows and fixed her gaze on him. Part of her couldn’t believe she was sharing this stuff at all,
let alone with Jacob, of all people. But for some reason it felt safe. Maybe because she figured that after cheer season was
over, they’d go back to being out of one another’s lives. Or maybe he was just easy to talk to.
One thing was for sure: She never would have told Tucker any of this. He would have teased her and said she was lucky to have the house to herself all the time—to have so much freedom. It certainly allowed them endless, uninterrupted make-out sessions, which she knew he appreciated.
But she would have preferred to have parents who were able to come to her games more often. They hadn’t made it to one yet
this year. Meanwhile, Jacob’s mom and dad had both come to his first game as a cheerleader—though she supposed they’d also
been there to cheer for Ford. Jacob’s mom was the one who had taken the photo that he’d texted to Rory yesterday.
It was Jacob’s turn to shrug. “Oh, they’re around, but with seven kids, it’s like . . . you have to always be working an angle
to get their attention.” Jacob put both his legs out like he was going to do a split, but he could barely get them into a
right angle. He reached forward with both hands and was almost able to bend at the waist. “One time, I told them I exploded a science experiment in my room, just to get them away from everyone
else so I could ask them to sign a permission slip.”
Rory laughed. She put her legs out to mimic his stretch, facing him. “You’re kidding.”
“Dead serious. That’s what I mean. Sometimes I think they forget I exist, too.”
Their eyes met across their yoga mats, and Rory felt something shift in the air between them. Everything felt a little more
charged, suddenly. She wondered if he felt it, too. She reached for his hands, and he eyed hers suspiciously.
“What? What’re we doing here?”
“Just hold on to my wrists,” she said. “I’ll tug you forward a little.”
“That sounds painful,” he said.
“You can tell me when to stop,” she replied. “Sometimes it’s just good to have a little extra help.”
“Okay. But if you tear something, you’re the one who’s going to have to answer to the squad.”
Jacob reached out, and electricity shot up Rory’s arms as his fingers closed around her wrists. She pretended everything was
normal as she gripped his wrists back. But then he looked her in the eye again, and her heart went ballistic. Who knew stretching
could feel so . . . intimate?
She gave him a little tug, and his mouth twisted up in a wince.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Yup. Fine,” he wheezed. “Just don’t go crazy here, Graham.”
She gently pulled on his wrists again, and she could tell he was getting a little bit deeper into the stretch. Upstairs, she
heard her brother’s bedroom door open and close, then his footsteps as he jogged down the stairs and into the living room.
“When’s dinner?” he asked. “Do you want me to preheat the oven?”
Rory and Jacob both looked up, but didn’t separate.
“Would you?” Rory said. “Four hundred.”
“On it!” He was just turning around when the doorbell rang, and he went right over to get it. He glanced out the window, then unlocked and opened the door.
“What’s up, little man?” Tucker asked, striding into the house.
Instantly, Jacob dropped Rory’s hands and her arms fell into her lap. Tucker walked into the living room and froze in his
tracks.
“What the hell is this?” Tucker said.
Rory could only imagine what this looked like, she and Jacob with romantic music on, facing each other with their legs spread.
She opened her mouth to explain, but Jacob spoke first.
“It’s exactly what it looks like.” He scrambled to his feet. “I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, man, but Rory and
I are running off to join a traveling circus together. We’ll be sure to write.”
There was half a beat of silence before Tucker cracked up laughing. And then another beat before Rory and Jacob were laughing,
too.
Rory wasn’t sure what would have happened if Jacob hadn’t been so quick with that joke, and she really didn’t know why she felt annoyed at being interrupted. There was nothing to interrupt!
Her boyfriend crossed the room to give her a quick kiss hello, and Rory forced herself to smile up at him.