Page 236 of The Romance Adventure

I gawk, mouth open, not used to “living large.”

“Sorry. Was that⁠—?”

“No, I’m just surprised you remembered that I liked the citrus ginger crush drink in a coconut cup and was a sucker for the bada bing coconut shrimp appetizer.” If I hadn’t trained myself to find the cheapest things on the menu, that’s what I would’ve ordered.

“You were also voted most unforgettable, Harley. Couldn’t forget you. It’s in print.”

I frown, not quite remembering that superlative. “I wonder if I still have my high school yearbook somewhere.”

In the next few minutes, we travel so far down memory lane with easy conversation, laughter, and a few debates about the accuracy of certain information, we hardly notice when the food comes. Our shared laughter fills the patio and wafts into the night like puffs of smoke from a chimney.

“You were one of us island grunions until high school,” Ryan says.

“I was only here during the summer before that, so how do you know what I was like the rest of the year? Maybe from June to Labor Day, I let my hair down.”

“Then you moved to Coco Key freshman year and joined the cheerleading team.”

“I did gymnastics growing up. If you didn’t notice, there isn’t a gym nearby, so cheerleading made sense.”

“And so did asking you out.”

“Ryan McGregor, you never asked me out.”

“Three days before school started. I saw you, Darcy, Talia, and Tallulah by the lifeguard tower at Quiet Cannon Beach.”

Gazing at the stained-glass panels of a ship with cannons, I think back to that day.

“We waved at each other.”

I nod slowly, the memory tiptoeing back to me. “You were with your brothers.” Surprisingly, Brando wasn’t there.

“I said, ‘Want to dominate high school together?’”

The space between my eyebrows pinches. “Hopefully, you’ve improved your pickup line game since then because nothing about that suggests you wanted me to go out with you.”

“Out, in, up, down. All of it, Harley.”

I splay my fingers on the table, exasperated. “How was I supposed to know?”

“I asked if you wanted to dominate high school together.” He emphasizes the last word.

Instead, we just tried to dominate each other—it was a constant tug-of-war between us.

“You went from being one of us to a pageant princess. I had a crush on you. Asked you out. Then you sidelined me.”

“I wasn’t rejecting you, because how was I supposed to know you were asking me out?”

His eyes sparkle. “Can I try again?” Without enough time for me to wrap my head around two trains colliding, Ryan asks, “Harley, would you like to dominate life together?”

I tip my head to the side and let out a sigh of hopelessness.

His lips quirk with a smile. “Harley, would you like to go out with me?”

“Ryan,” I hiss, afraid people in the restaurant might hear us. He’s relatively anonymous in Coco Key, but you never know when a rabid fan might spot him. It happens occasionally at the Gastrodome when a pro athlete will come in and get mobbed.

“But will you?” he presses.

I suppose we do have an agreement and now we have a story for how we “officially” got together.