Page 65 of Draft Pick
Most people would have checked out amidst my long-winded ramble, but not Crew. He’s locked in on a smile, simply listening. Watching me devour the ten-plus desserts littered across the kitchen countertop. “Pretty sure we’re also breaking a million health rules by sitting up here,” I say, mind on a spinner reel.
Crew pats the metal table beneath us, not a care in the world about anything but right now. “I won’t tell if you don’t.” He winks, and I think I’m in trouble. Actually, I don’t think.I knowI’m in trouble.
Somewhere between moving here two months ago and today, I gained a really good friend. A reallygreatfriend, actually. And it’s come to my attention that I want my great friend to kiss me. To be more than just my friend.
I hate myself for not being more careful and guarding my heart.
I should have listened to the warning signs going off in my brain the first day I met him. How stupid of me to think dating other men and still hanging out with Crew would establish the no-go line clearly.
If my brain had it her way, I’d be legs spread on this table right now, giving the health inspector something far dirtier to worry about.
“So, I can’t believe Wynonna is your grandmother. That’s still so bizarre to me,” I tell him, my mind unable to get over the shock I felt at that moment in the diner.
“I’m pretty lucky, huh?” Crew smiles, and just like with the hot chocolate, whipped cream coats his mustache. But I don’t hold back from helping. I am a giver, after all.
“Wait. Here,” I mutter softly, reaching toward him. “You’ve got some whipped cream in your mustache.” My thumb glides across the coarseness of his scruff, not missing the connection with his skin all the while. The air in the room evaporates, and I think this is the closest we’ve been to intimately touching. All it would take is drifting an inch to the left, and my thumb would meet his lips.
“Thanks.” Crew’s voice is hoarse, and the delivery of the one-syllable word is choppy. I quickly retreat, eyeing the remainder of the desserts along the table.
“I think…” I contemplate my choice, deciding on the molten lava cake. “You are the luckiest. Wynonna has been more of a mother to me since I moved here than my own. I can’t believe I didn’t figure it out. When you left the diner, I searched the walls for photos of you. Lo and behold, there you were. In random places with all your photo ops, interview articles, and player cards. I don’t know how I missed it.”
“Maybe you weren’t looking hard enough.”
Maybe so.“It’s pretty remarkable. She’s proud of you.”
A look of compassion crosses his face, but it’s mixed with an edge of sorrow. “Her and Gramps are the only living grandparents I have left. They’ve been good to me. For a while, I’d go a long time without seeing them. Addie, too. Not for any particular reason, but because life, I guess. This past year, though, they’ve gotten really close with Addie and even me. It’s been nice.”
“It must be hard to balance everything in your life, Crew. It seems like there’s always someone who needs you for something. That’s a lot of pressure.”
He nods, spinning his spoon between his fingers and glancing at the floor. “It’s exhausting. But if I’m being truthful, I feel the weight of it less and less now. Maybe because I know I’m working on it. I don’t know. It could really just be some twisted reality I tell myself so I can make it through the season with a clear head. But I’ve got people in my corner, and that’s more than most can say.”
Me.I know he’s thinking about me.
I’m not bothered by his admission. Not when I agree wholeheartedly.
“I think the fact that you acknowledge that is what’s important. Everything will fall into place. And coming from someone who moved here having only one person in her corner, I can now confirm that it gets better.” I reach for his hand,needing him to see how grateful I am for his friendship. “New people come into your life when you least expect it and prove that all that loneliness from before was really just temporary. I’m one of the lucky ones who met her people later on in life, and I’m okay with that. It brought me here.”
I’m not really sure what Crew’s thinking, his eyes resting with mine so sincerely. I say resting because there’s a calmness to his disposition that makes me soften even more. It almost feels like relief. I can feel it when his hand grips mine, only to unclench the closer our fingers join. When his thumb crests the web of my hand, I know he’s finally steadied.
“Will you do something for me?”
A breath that feels like it’s been bottled up inside me for decades leaves my lips. “I can try.”
“Will you pretend with me for a moment? Pretend we’re not Juniper and Crew. Pretend we’re not us.”
Something stirs in my chest, accompanied by a flutter of butterflies. I’m not sure where he’s going with this, but I’m desperate to find out. “Okay. I can pretend with you. Who should we be then?”
Relieved to hear my answer, he thinks about my question. “How about I be Hugh?”
“Sticking to the same rhyming family. Got it.” I nod my understanding. “Then, you can call me Lavender.” He raises a brow, and I clarify. “It’s all I could think of, okay? Not much rhymes with Juniper.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Lavender,” Crew holds out his hand to shake.
I return the gesture, but unlike a normal meet-cute, he doesn’t let go. “Nice to meet you, Hugh.”
Tug.
The softest, most gentle tug inches me closer.
