Ireland inspected her stained fingers again, and I focused on that—something that could be fixed.
“Come on, Indigo Girl.”
I opened the Locc’s back door, and she huffed playfully as I directed her inside. When we made it halfway down the hallway, I spotted the open door of the classroom and directed her into it. There were a couple sinks built into a long row of counters along one wall, with a few glasses of paint-stained water lined up behind them.
Taking my knee off the scooter, I grasped Ireland by the hips and boosted her onto the counter.
We shared a soft smile, remembering last night, as I wet a napkin with warm water and soap. She pulled her phone out, looking like she was sending a text, then put it back down.
She looked at me intently for a suspended beat of time when I reached for her hand, but then she gave it to me.
I swirled the wet napkin on her ring finger, feeling like I had a secret.
Maybe I did.
Her thumb came last, and the moment I finished, she took a deep, shuddering breath. I gave her a questioning look, wondering what was going through her mind, but she just shook her head.
Maybe we both had things we weren’t ready to reveal today.
I tossed the napkins into the trash and bracketed her legs with my arms, bracing my hands on the counter.Leaning in, I nuzzled my cheek against hers, then pressed a kiss to it.
A knock came at the classroom door, then another one, louder this time, and I looked over my shoulder as Cole sauntered inside, a gym bag slung over his shoulder and his hair tied up.
He grinned at us, looking like he’d gotten a full night’s rest instead of what had to have been thirty minutes at most.
“It’s lift o’clock, Addy babe!”
I raised my eyebrows at him, then turned back to Ireland with an expression that said,“You texted him?”
Her slender shoulder rose just a fraction that said,“I’m not sorry either.”
I pressed my forehead against hers.
“Thank you.”
45
IRELAND
“It won’t matter,” Adair mumbled to himself with another pull of the bathroom doorknob. “He could still unlock it from the inside.”
“Do you already regret telling him he could have your bed tonight?” I asked, propping my head on my fist.
“No,” he said, sighing as he turned to me. “I just can’t forget the kicked puppy look he had when I told him he’d be in it by himself.”
“Hmm. Well, it’s not too late to change your mind.”
Adair’s eyes raked down my body as if he could see it through the covers. “It’s my birthday, not Cole’s. I sat beside him at dinner and gave him the last hushpuppy. And I let him win the last round ofGo Fishso he would finally let it go.” He pushed his hair off his hair and smirked. “I’ll just give him a snuggle for his birthday next month.”
I laughed. “So thoughtful.”
When Adair and Cole returned from their workout, sweating and panting as they goofed around, I’d been so relieved to see Adair’s carefree smile that I’d almost thrown my arms around both of them, but I’d held myself back, grabbing my phone and taking a quick photo of them instead.
I was pretty sure Cole had set it as his phone’s wallpaper.
Their good mood continued as I chauffeured them back to Camellia Lane on the Live Oak golf cart I’d arranged as part of Adair’s birthday present. After they showered at the house, I gave Cole my longboard, and he smiled knowingly before hurrying out the front door with it tucked under his arm.
Then it’d been hours of just me and Adair existing outside these gates and learning each other like two regular people would.
