Her eyes narrow. “Oliver?”
He brings his beer to his lips and takes a sip, then clears his throat and says, “Huh? What?”
She stares at us for a moment longer, then rolls her eyes and turns back to Ryan. I exchange a look with Oliver, and we both start laughing.
Tina looks back over her shoulder and elbows me, but I can see in her eyes that she’s amused. “Whatever you guys are up to, it’s not funny,” she says.
When she turns away again, I lean closer to Oliver and whisper. “You’re going to let her be seen on the jumbotron with her nails like that?”
“I doubt anyone is going to be paying attention to her fingernails,” he says.
I know that this proposal is out of my hands now. This is my last-ditch effort to stop it, and it’s weak. “You don’t know that. Someone might take photos or a video and scrutinize them later. Social media is a cruel place.”
He looks past me at Tina, and then his gaze travels to Ryan. “Hey, Ryan.”
Ryan turns his attention away from the game to look at us. “Yeah?”
“Tina has sperm on her hands.”
Ryan frowns, while Tina jumps to her own defense: “What? No, I don’t!” She exchanges a look with Ryan, and then says, “I washed my hands this morning!”
Ryan elbows her. “Tina!”
They both start laughing, and then Ryan scowls at Oliver. “What the hell is the matter with you?”
“Look at her fingernails,” Oliver says. “Her manicure.”
Ryan picks up Tina’s hand and examines it. “These are ghosts, they’re not—” He stops midsentence, his eyes wide. “Oh, dear God. Tina, you have sperm on your nails.”
Tina shrieks. She looks at me. “Did you know?”
I shrug. “Oliver told me this morning. I swear I didn’t know any earlier than that.”
Tina looks at her hands for a moment, and then she snorts out a laugh. “That’s it,” she says. “I’m getting my nails redone first thing tomorrow morning.”
I watch as the two of them giggle together for a moment. Ryan wraps his arm around Tina as she settles in against him. They turn their attention back to the game, neither of them seeming the least bit concerned anymore about Tina’s manicure. So much for her inappropriate manicure being my secret weapon.
ChapterNine
The Ex Factor
Iknow I should be watching the game, but I can’t take my eyes off the jumbotron. I’m sure Ryan is doing the same. I wonder if he’s nervous about what he’s about to do. If he is, he hides it well.
My arm bumps Oliver’s as I reach for my drink. I look at him, but he’s not looking at me. His eyes seem to be on the jumbotron, too. His arm takes up the whole armrest between us. I want to push it off so that I can use it for myself. Just when I’m thinking about doing it, he sucks in a breath, his eyes still glued to the screen.
I look up. This is it. This is the moment.
I read the screen:Will you marry me, Bailey?
My first thought is that they got Ryan’s message wrong. How the hell did they get Bailey from Tina? But then the message switches to a live recording of a man in the middle of the crowded stadium, down on one knee in front of a woman. They certainly aren’t Tina and Ryan.
“Uh, Ryan?” Oliver says. “Are you seeing this?”
I look at Oliver, curious about why he’s drawing attention to this, and then I follow his gaze to Ryan. Ryan’s eyes are glued to the screen. He nods, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down as he does so.
“Bailey?” Tina says to Ryan. “Wait. Isn’t that your ex-girlfriend?”
“That’s her,” he confirms.
