Page 107 of Sit, Stay, Love
They walked slowly through the park, Ethan calmly saying heel and gently pulling Fleur into line whenever she began to race ahead.
Sera couldn’t help but be impressed. ‘You’re pretty good at this,’ she said. ‘I think you’re a natural.’
‘I’ve got a great teacher.’ He flashed her a dazzling, dimple-popping smile.
And then golf ball-sized pieces of hail began to drop from the sky.
‘Run!’ Ethan pointed towards a bus shelter.
They took off across the grass, laughing as Fleur gracefully loped between them, ducking into the shelter and huddling in the corner as they watched the hail bounce on the road.
‘Whose idea was it to come out in this weather?’ Sera yelled over the clanging of the hail on the tin roof.
‘Yours, Teach,’ Ethan said as he dropped onto the bench and shook the water from his hair.
She wiggled in next to him. ‘We’ll head back when we can get to the car without being conked out. I think this storm’s going to get worse.’
As if on cue, a flash of lightning lit up the sky, followed by a clap of thunder that made the dog jump. Ethan rested his hand on Fleur’s head and cooed to her.
Sera’s tummy went warm and gooey, and before she could censor herself, she blurted out, ‘Am I your girlfriend?’
He looked at her, one eyebrow cocked. ‘I don’t know. Are you?’
She sighed and slumped beside him, leaning against his arm. ‘I have no idea. That’s why I’m asking.’
A grin flickered at the corners of his mouth. ‘Do you need me to ask you to go steady?’
She whacked his thigh and he laughed.
They sat in silence for a moment as thunder rumbled around them.
‘That’s what my mum and dad were asking last night,’ she eventually said. ‘If I went to LA, would it be as someone who works with you or…’
‘As my girlfriend.’
‘Yes. And I didn’t know what to say. I told them it was just business, but I don’t think they believe that. And I don’t know if I do either.’ She shook her head. ‘And once again, I’ll be being paid to be with you, and I know we’ve talked about it, but it still makes me a little uncomfortable. And if I did come with you, I wouldn’t want people to think you got your girlfriend a job. You know?’
He nodded. ‘So youdon’twant me to ask you to go steady?’
‘Ethan, I’m serious. It’s keeping me awake at night. You’re keeping me awake at night.’
‘I am?’ He smirked.
‘Not like that. Well, not always like that.’ She nudged his shoulder. ‘I think, us… whatever us happens to be right now… is going to make it harder to decide if Los Angeles is a good move for me or not. What if we broke up? God. I’ve read the gossip magazines about people breaking up on movie sets having to go on working together. I don’t want that awkwardness.’
‘If that happened, you wouldn’t have to stay.’
‘But I would have made a commitment.’
He nodded. ‘Okay. I get it. I do. And I can’t believe I’m suggesting this, but… do you want to cool it? Pump the brakes until you’ve had time to figure out what you want to do?’
‘Cool what? What are we cooling? I still don’t know.’ She glanced at her feet, shuffling them as she thought. ‘The other night, at my place, I thought we might…’
‘Yeah, me too.’
‘But we didn’t. And then it was like nothing ever happened. We just ate raw fish and watched that shitty movie, when only an hour earlier, you practically had your hand on my boob.’
‘Oh, I remember. And that was a good movie!’
