Page 177 of The Single Dad

“I hope we can be friends again. It would be nice, since we’re probably going to end up in the same places together a lot.”

I’m about to respond, but I’m interrupted by the arrival of my ridiculously huge giraffe. The carny passes him over the counter, and I’m immediately overwhelmed as I try to figure out how to carry him.

“Oh, god,” I mutter, struggling to keep his tail off the ground. “He’s taller than I am.”

“Here, let me help,” Reed says. He steps closer to me and shifts the giraffe up, leaning its neck against my shoulder. His fingers brush my hair as he does so, and suddenly, my heart is racing again, just as it was when I first heard his voice beside me.

Reed pauses, meeting my gaze, and it takes all of my strength to make eye contact with him. Then he steps back with a nod.

“Good game,” he says.

“You, too,” I reply. Quickly, I turn and leave, making my way through the crowd with my giraffe. To my relief, he doesn’t try to follow me.

As I walk back toward the Ferris wheel, looking for Riley, I think about what Reed said. We’ll definitely see each other a lot more often now, that’s for sure. I’m not sure how I feel about that.

I’d never admit it out loud, especially not to him, but back in the days when my mother worked for the Eastwoods, I always used to have a crush on him. That old crush is still kicking around in my chest, giving me the unpleasant sensation of butterflies in my stomach whenever he’s around.

He got under my skin all the way back then, and, as much as I hate to acknowledge it, he gets under my skin now.

And that’s bound to end in trouble.

Especially since he’s a notorious player.