Page 115 of Run
She puts her hands on her hips and huffs, looking off to the side.
I groan and run a hand down my face. “What, now?”
She huffs again.
“Oh, for the love of God, Ari—spit it out.”
“Well …” She waves a hand at me. “Now you’re being all, you know … great, and stuff. And I kinda feel like an ass.”
Taking in her words, I pull my lips between my teeth to try and hide my grin. Ari finally looks at me, crossing her arms over her chest. I slide my hands into my pockets and rock back on my heels, and we enter a standoff. She’s trying to suppress a chuckle, and that makes me have to fight that much harder to hold off my smile.
Finally, she breaks and throws her hands up in the air. “I’m sorry, OK? You win.” I look down at the floor and bite my lip to swallow my laugh. When I glance back up at her, she looks resigned. “Can we start over?” she asks.
I shrug.
Ari takes the few steps to close the distance between us, arms outstretched, but I tip my chin up and turn my body away from her.
Her arms fall. “Wh— What are you doing?”
I look up at the ceiling. “Maybe I don’t want a hug anymore.”
Ari scowls when she sees my smile break through. “Ethan James!” She jabs a finger in my ribs.
“Owwww!”
“You will hug me right now!” The feisty redhead jumps and grabs my neck in a near chokehold. “Hug me. Hug me back, right now!”
We both break out in laughter as I relent and wrap my arms around her, then fall back onto the stool and situate her on my lap. “For someone who couldn’t walk not long ago you sure are pretty spry.”
“Sorry,” she says, and I wave it off. “No, I mean I’m sorry for snapping at you.”
“It’s OK.” I reach around her to pick up my glass of orange juice and take a sip. “As long as we’re better now.” I hold up a piece of toast for Ari to bite, which she does.
“Speaking of better, how’s your hand?” Gingerly taking her wrist to look at the burn, I see the bandage is off so I can get a better look at it. “How did you say this happened?”
“I was in Meg’s kitchen.” She picks up her plate and scrapes her leftover eggs onto mine.
“Right.”
It’s quiet a moment before Ari speaks again. “What have you got going on today since you don’t have to work?”
“Not a thing. I’m all yours,” I say around a mouthful of food.
“Goody!” Ari claps her hands in front of her. “Because I was thinking there’s something I want to do today, but I need you to help me with it.”
I bite into another piece of toast. “Anything.”
“I want to see if I can drive your Jeep.”
“Anything but that.” I pop the remainder of the bread in my mouth.
“Youjustsaid you would help me with anything.”
“That was before I knew you wanted to drive my Jeep.” I wipe my hands on a napkin.
“What’s the big deal?”
“I love my Jeep.”
