Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
MILES
Someone slap me if I ever squeeze Quinn’s hand like that again.
I did it as a reflex, but my mind—yeah, mind—said those two little words, and I bolted into the shop before she could sense I was about to start acting weird. I’ve never done that to anyone. Ever. The worry in her voice triggered it somehow. Like I felt her words more than heard them.
Was that what happened to my mom when she’d do it to me?
I obsessed over it the entire afternoon to the point that I finally decided to go say something to Quinn. But she wasn’t in the office. I stepped out of the shop to see if she was outside, and that’s when I saw her running off.
The glance over her shoulder was all I needed. She was about to do something I wouldn't approve of.
Finding her in that bookstore proved just that.
I scan my key card at the gym and wave at the kid working. I’ve seen him around, but his family must be new because I can’t put a name to his face.
He nods and goes back to whatever he was doing.
I need this workout today something fierce because as if the whole deal with Quinn weren’t enough, now my brother and Sadie know. I’m not even working out yet, and I’m already sweating over how this whole thing will play out. The boyfriend part, I mean. I don’t date much, so if I were someone’s boyfriend, I’d struggle at it, and now I’m a fake boyfriend.
What the hell do they even do?
I head straight for the locker room and spot Luca stuffing his bag into one of the lockers.
I set my gym bag down next to him.
“Hey,” I say, and Luca slams his locker.
“No.” He points in my face. “I’m mad at you.”
“Why?” I pull out my pre-workout and change into my gym shoes.
Did Hudson tell him?
“Because at lunch yesterday, you drop this bomb on me that you're doing whatever with Quinn, and you have not called or texted me once to clarify. I’m at a loss here. Hanging on for dear life and waiting for answers.”
It’s a good thing he’s not dramatic or anything.
“It sort of just happened,” I tell him. Which, to be fair, is not a lie.
“I don’t accept that as an answer,” Luca says.
We leave the locker room and walk down the hallway that leads to the cardio section. We usually run a mile before we lift weights, and then we run another mile after. We started this routine in high school, and it stuck.
We claim two treadmills side by side and get going at a slight jog.
Do I tell him the truth? It would be weird for Hudson to know and not Luca, but Luca talks a lot. Too much sometimes, and this isn’t something I want to accidentally slip.
“Who approached who?” he asks .
I turn up the speed. “She came to the shop and asked to rent out the apartment.”
“And you just looked at her, fell in love, and said yes?”
I chuckle. “No. I told her to get lost.”
As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I regret them. Those aren’t the words of a man who suddenly fell for this girl.
“Sooo, then you felt bad and went to find her?” he asks. The confusion is clear as he says each word slowly.
“No. She returned, but this time she offered to help in the office. So then I said yes.”
Technically, it’s all true. Give or take a few details.
“Okay, and then you … spent the night together.”
Okay, this needs to be the end of this conversation. Lying to my brother is wrong, so I need to choose my words carefully.
“Luca, I’ll put it this way. You will be seeing a lot of Quinn this summer, and a lot of that time she will be with me. Things just happened with us, and this is where we are now. You’ll have to accept it.”
He nods. “Sure. I’ll accept it … as soon as you beat me to a mile.”
And then he sprints like he’s never sprinted before.
I catch up quickly, and even though it burns and all I can focus on is not tripping or hitting the front of the treadmill with my foot and slipping, one thought occurs to me.
I’m pretty sure my brother knows I’m not telling him the truth.
Maybe it’s a brother thing or maybe it’s just twin intuition, but either way, he gives me weird looks throughout our entire workout. Or maybe it’s because I hit a mile first by three seconds so he held back on asking more questions.
I follow him into the locker room, and as we both fill our water bottles and pour our protein power inside of them, he finally says, “Does she still plan on leaving at the end of the summer?”
“I think so, why?”
“Then why start anything with her?”
He holds my gaze for a moment, and that’s when it hits me.
He’s not snooping. He’s worried.
My whole thing is to not date a tourist, but here I am, dating Quinn.
I shrug. “Sometimes … things just don’t make sense.” Which is true. “But what Quinn and I have going on right now, it feels right.” Which is also true, despite the mental war I have over what to do and what not to do.
For now, this is our plan.
He nods, but I can see it on his face that he’s not fully convinced.
We pack our bags and walk out the door.
We bump knuckles as a goodbye, then go our separate ways back to work.
I should tell him the truth and reassure him that he doesn’t need to worry, but I don’t.
Hell, if only he knew that Quinn leaving at the end of summer is the easiest part of this deal.
I sit up and stretch my arms over my head, glancing at the clock on the wall behind me.
Shit.
It’s almost ten at night.
I need to call it a day and get some sleep.
I stand up and stretch again. I’ve been in the same position for too long, but the issue I was having is fixed, so I can’t really complain .
I wash my hands and then turn all the lights out and close the only shop door still open. Then I make my way out the back.
The office is all closed up, and the cleanest it’s ever been.
A good boss would check on her work. I mean, hell, it’s clean, but that doesn’t mean anything.
I sit down at the computer, and as soon it comes to life, my email pops up. There are about twenty new replies unread.
The first one is a quick thank-you for sending the invoice. They want to know our banking information so they can transfer the payment.
Sweet.
The second one is the same, but they included check details of their payment in the mail today and are asking for my openings next year.
The next couple of emails are similar.
I lean back and let out a breath.
Fuck.
This is awesome.
I would have made time eventually because money does run out, so I’d need to get it somehow, but this is a relief. And I get this kind of help all summer.
I grin.
I’m going to sleep great tonight.
As I’m leaving, I spot something on the corner of the desk. It's a draft of an ad for help in the shop. Part-time mechanic. I scan it quickly; there is a question mark by the pay and the hours. She’s written how much next to experience. She also wrote ask him next to job details.
I know she will ask me first thing, but I sit back down, grab a pen and answer her notes.
She’s done so much for me already, it’s my turn to do a little for her. Which is still helping me, but it’s progress.
She’ll get it .
I lock up and cross the small yard to my house. The porch light is on at the apartment and Quinn is rocking on the porch swing with a book. I spot her legs first, one crossed over the other.
Just once, I’d like to know if they are as soft as I imagine they are.
She looks up when I come fully into view, so I stop.
“Are you just now done working?” she asks, sitting up and setting her book down. She grabs her phone. “It’s after ten.”
I shrug. “I like my job.”
She hums. Then she leans back again and grabs her book.
It’s late and dark, but the end of spring air is warm, and tonight we are blessed without wind. It’s the perfect night to hint that summer is almost here. Per the calendar, it’ll be here in three days. Which also means Lovers will be having its annual first day of the summer festival.
One of many that happen during the year.
It’s also an opportunity for Quinn and me to rip off the Band-Aid to the town and tourists.
“Do you need something?” she asks.
I nod, pointing to one of the chairs at the small table. “May I?”
She nods.
I take in her bare legs as she shifts. Of course I do. They’re now tucked under her body to the side. She’s wearing a matching short and top set, all white with yellow and pink flowers. The top covers everything and reminds me of a dress shirt the way it buttons up the front. Her hair is down, and her face is makeup-free.
It occurs to me that the Quinn online is very similar to the one right in front of me, and a little bit of guilt sets in. I assumed they were two different people, but it turns out, she doesn’t pretend to be anyone else .
Shit. I don’t know why I thought she did.
It actually reminds me of the first time I saw her.
It was the summer before my sophomore year of high school. She was in line at the ice cream shop with her grandma, Betty. Betty was talking to my dad, and Quinn was gazing through the glass at all the flavors. Not a care in the world about what was happening around her. When the woman working asked what she wanted, she said pistachio with cookie dough bites and crushed Reese’s.
It didn’t make any sense, but she didn’t care. She wanted what she wanted, and that was that.
I remember thinking that I’d finally found another kid in Lovers who was as sure of themselves as I was.
Over an ice cream order.
Then I found out she wasn’t here to stay. So I never tried to befriend her. What was the point? At that time in my life, I was tired of people leaving.
I formed my opinion of her that day and never let it go.
“Are you going to sit there in silence or tell me what’s on your mind?”
I shake the memory away.
That was a long time ago.
“I think we should use the summer kickoff festival to make our relationship … official.”
“That’s very public,” she says quietly.
“Yeah, well, it beats having all these people ask me about us separately. This way, we can get it all out of the way and no more questions.”
She smiles. “Are people asking you questions about us?”
“So far just Luca, but gossip spreads fast in a small town. I have no doubts that our lunch yesterday will have raised questions.”
She nods .
“Maybe. No one in my family asked me about it.”
“Have you seen them since we had lunch?”
“No, but I’ve texted with my grandmother and I’ve dropped coffee off for my brother and his wife. Not one word about me hanging out with you.”
I sigh. “Fine, so this will be for me.”
“Okay,” she says as if it’s that easy.
I stand quickly and plop myself right next to her. She leans away from me.
“That. Right there. You can’t do that when we are together,” I tell her. “Not in public anyway.”
She scoffs. “I know I can’t. You didn’t see me pulling away at the bar, did you?”
“No.”
She’s right. She didn’t. In fact, it sort of felt natural with her.
“You need to stop overthinking this. I get the vibe that you’ve been obsessing over this plan of ours since we agreed to it. Which reminds me, thank you. I know you were seconds away from calling the whole thing off before … well, you were there.”
I nod.
“I am obsessing. It’s just weird. This was not how I imagined my summer.”
“Nor did I, but it’s going to be fine. It’s not forever, and the time is going to pass quickly. It always does.”
Her voice softens at her last few words, which makes me think she has a double meaning, but right now, her feelings are not my concern. My concern is how we pull this off without anyone ever finding out that we lied.
And in my mind, there is only one way to do this.
“Okay. We don’t go anywhere in town without the other,” I say. “If your family needs you, I’m there. If my family needs me, you’re there. We attend every single event together. We make plans with other couples together. We eat together. Whatever it is, we do it together.”
“That seems excessive. What if I want to go have coffee or lunch with the girls?”
“Are you here often enough to have people you can call 'the girls’?”
“Yes.” She swats my arm. “Believe it or not, most of the people in this town have accepted me.”
“Most, not all.”
“Well, technically, now they all have. The last one decided he would just date me instead.”
Her eyebrows dance.
I just stare at her.
“Sadie, Brooke, and Natalie are who I consider the girls, if you wanted to know. If you don’t let me go anywhere without you, they will be suspicious.”
“Brooke and Natalie might, but Sadie will get it for obvious reasons,” I say as I stand.
“What does that mean?”
I take a couple of steps off the porch toward my house before I turn around.
“Because, even if she didn’t know this was fake, the Asher men love nothing more than to spend time with the ones they care about. That now includes you, Quinn.”
The smile she gives me is a soft one.
“We really should make more rules than what you just told me.”
I cross my arms and grin. “I told you mine. You tell me yours.”
She stands up and comes down the steps until she’s practically toe to toe with me.
“We hold hands, we always sit by each other, and you kiss me on the cheek or the forehead. No lips. ”
“Cheeks and forehead?”
She nods. “It’s a gesture that shows how much you care without showing too much affection in public. Women love forehead kisses. It’ll work. Trust me.”
I nod. “Okay. Deal.”
Quinn reaches her hand out for me to shake.
I slip my hand in hers, and she says, “Deal.”
We have a plan, we have rules, and we seem to be getting along a lot easier than I expected.
Looks like we might be able to pull this off after all.