Chapter 7 The Bounce House Rub #2
“To bounce!” A grin spreads across her face as she grabs my hand and pulls me inside.
“Shoes off!” She yanks them from my feet and tosses them in opposite directions before I can protest. The next second, she jumps, dragging me with her.
“I haven’t done this since I was a kid,” she laughs, bouncing again.
“I forgot how fun these are!” Her braid flops wildly as she smiles, and I find myself smiling right back.
She reaches for my hand, lacing her fingers through mine just as her balance tilts. Her bounce sends her straight into me.
“Oof—sorry!” she laughs, hands flying up to grab my biceps for stability.
“It’s okay.” I wobble, knees bending with the uneven surface. “I think the bounce house has strong opinions about my coordination.”
She grins. “You’re doing great. Very… upright.”
Another bounce launches her directly into me.
Instinct overrides logic, and my hands land on her waist to steady us.
Her body presses against mine, sliding with the motion of the bounce.
This is a bad idea. A very bad idea. “Okay,” I manage, already a little breathless. “New rule. No full-contact bouncing.”
“I didn’t mean to!” Her laughter spills out between bounces.
We mistime the next one. Badly. I go down first, arms flailing, and Nora tumbles after me, landing squarely on top of me. “Oomph.”
Silence. Well—silence except for the distant shrieks of kids and the steady hum of the blower motor keeping the bounce house inflated.
Nora freezes, palms pressed flat against my chest, her braid slipping over her shoulder. “I—oh my god—sorry—”
“It’s okay.” The words come out too fast.
A breathless laugh escapes her. “We should probably—”
“Yeah.”
But we don’t move. My chest rises under her hands, and I’m suddenly hyperaware of how fast my heart is pounding, and it’s definitely not from the bouncing.
“Okay.” She tries to push herself up, but the uneven surface shifts beneath us. She tips forward instead, her thigh sliding over my crotch, and a sharp breath punches out of me. My grip tightens instinctively at her waist.
“Oh no,” she whispers. “That was worse.”
“Much worse.”
Her gaze flicks to my mouth, and mine drops to hers. For one electric, terrifying second, everything goes very still. The curtain rustles.
“UNCLE MILES, YOU FELL!” Colton’s head pops inside, eyes wide with delight.
Nora immediately rolls off me and scrambles to her feet, wobbling slightly. I sit up and discreetly adjust myself, staring anywhere but at her.
“Alright.” She exhales, brushing at her hair. “I think that’s enough bounce house for me. Actually… I should probably head out.” She slips through the opening, glancing back. “If that’s okay. I know your party isn’t over.”
I follow behind her. “No, that’s fine.” I collect my shoes before crouching to untie the laces, slide my feet into my shoes, and retie them. When I glance up, her socks catch my attention—one pink, one purple. “So that’s what you meant about the socks.”
She wiggles her toes before stepping into her shoes.
I straighten. “Thanks for coming. Even though you didn’t have to.”
“It’s no problem. I actually had fun. I can’t remember the last time I said that about a date.” She nudges my side with her elbow.
We stroll back toward the pavilion when I spot my mom and Mallory near a table. “I’m going to walk Nora to her car.”
My mom’s head snaps up. “You’re leaving already?”
“I have to stop by my mom’s house,” Nora says.
Mom’s face softens immediately. “Do you want to take a plate of food for her? We have plenty of leftovers.”
“No thanks. She’s on a strict diet.”
“What kind of diet?” The question slips out before I can stop it, because apparently my brain only operates in two modes: facts or follow-up questions that make me sound like an overly curious golden retriever.
“Lots of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, salmon, and nuts.”
“Is that the Mediterranean diet?”
“Yeah. Maybe. That sounds familiar.”
I nod as if this is critically important information I’ll be tested on later.
We cross the grass side by side. Our arms brush, just once, barely, and my entire nervous system jolts awake.
I pull my arm away on instinct, but not before she glances up at me.
Not quite a smile. Just… a look. Like she felt it too.
When we reach the blacktop, I start kicking at a few loose rocks, because I’m a grown man and, apparently, the appropriate response to emotional tension is to assault gravel. “I just want to say thank you again. For coming as my date.”
“It was fun.” Her gaze flicks back toward the pavilion, the balloons, and the noise. “I haven’t been to a big family get-together like that in a really long time.”
“That’s pretty normal for my family.”
“I will say,” she adds, turning back to me, “you did an excellent job showing me off as your date.” She lifts her fingers in loose air quotes on the last two words. “And making me feel welcome.”
“It’s… easier when it’s my family. And you.” I clear my throat, attempting to keep the conversation going. “It helped my nerves settle a little.”
Her head tilts, her expression softening. “If you can do that in other settings, you’ll have girls swooning. Including Maggie.”
My heart dips at the sound of her name. “Yeah.” The response comes too fast. “Definitely.”
“I think she’d ask for several more dates after that,” Nora continues, casually lobbing the emotional equivalent of a grenade at my feet.
“Great.” I clear my throat again. “That’s… the goal. But the real test will be doing it without the safety net of my own family.”
“You’ve got this. Just pretend you’re an actor on stage and picture everyone in their underwear.”
My eyes widen in immediate horror.
A laugh spills out of her. “Or don’t,” she adds quickly.
“I don’t think that would help.”
“Probably not.” She smiles. “But you’re heading in the right direction.”
I swallow. “I still think I need more practice. Two dates are not enough for sufficient experimentation and data collection.”
She snorts. “Of course you’d phrase it like that. This is me.” She points to a black SUV. It chirps when she clicks the key fob.
As she reaches for the handle, I’m already there, catching the door and pulling it open wider. The motion is so automatic I don’t even register it until Nora pauses, one foot halfway inside, and looks back at me.
“Oh.” The word comes out soft with a hint of surprise tucked into it. “Look at you.”
Heat crawls up my neck. I shrug, brushing it off, even though my hand is still on the door. “What?”
She smiles—small, surprised, almost pleased—and slides into the driver’s seat. “Nothing. Just… thanks.” Once she’s settled, she turns toward me. “You did really good today.”
“Thanks.” I hesitate, then admit the truth. “I owe that to you. You made it easy.”
Her lips press together and her gaze drops to the ground, as if my words land somewhere she wasn’t expecting. Then it smooths over. “Alright,” she says, voice lighter again. “I’m heading out. See you later.”
“Bye, Nora.”
“Bye, Miles.”
I close the door. The engine starts, and I stand on the edge of the blacktop while she backs out. I don’t stop watching until her SUV disappears out of the lot. And only then do I exhale.
As the party winds down, I help my sisters clean up. I’m stacking paper plates when Mallory sidles up, wearing a conspiratorial grin.
“Nora is absolutely lovely.”
Melanie appears beside her. “You should invite her to dinner next month.”
“Yes!” Mallory says, pointing a plastic fork at me.
I rub the back of my neck. “Yeah… I don’t know—”
Melanie squints at me. “She’s your girlfriend, right?”
My mouth opens. I want to say she’s not my girlfriend. She’s my fake date’s replacement fake date. A woman who rescued me from humiliation, and now I’m apparently repaying her by digging us both into a deeper hole.
“Um. Dating. Casually.”
“Either way, you have to invite her,” Mallory declares.
I nod slowly, like a man signing his own death warrant. “Okay. I’ll ask her.”
“Great!” Mallory claps once. “My house.”
Nora’s going to kill me. She’s going to wrap her delicate fingers around my neck and squeeze. I’ll have to get on my knees so she can do it, since she’s shorter than me. But yes. That’s an accurate prediction of my immediate future.