Page 68 of For the Record
“I’ll be here for it. Two days before the race is when I should be back.”
Should be. Because there was never any guarantee with him. He was trying to set low expectations now, when he should have done that months ago before picking up the role of world’s best husband. I nodded and settled back into his warmth. He continued rubbing my back, and my heart rate came back down to a somewhat normal pace.
“I’ll do my best to be there, honey. If I have to fly a plane there myself, I will be there,” he gruffly whispered in my ear. “With a sign in my hand, and even if you wanted me to shout your name, I would.”
I smiled at the thought. A loud Adam—which was an oxymoron itself—screaming for me at the finish line with a giant poster. He wouldn’t, and I wouldn’t make him. I knew where his comfort zone was, and I didn’t like pushing him outside of it, but the thought was incredibly sweet.
“So.” I sighed into his chest.
“So,” he repeated.
“What do we do now?”
His hands froze at my back and then squeezed me closer, if that was even possible. “Let me hold you like this a little longer.” His fingers flexed against my skin. “Just a little longer.”
Currently playing: Be My Baby by The Ronettes
***
Adam’s mom texted me this morning, asking if I could attend dinner tonight. I wasn’t sure whether it was meant to be a compliment or not, but I was taking it as one. It made me initially wonder if she was asking on behalf of Layla or Adam. If anyone was going to find out about us being friends in that family, it would be her. She had this creepy, stealthy instinct that let her look into your brain directly. That or she could predict the future entirely. I hadn’t figured out which yet. It shouldn’t have mattered, really. Since we were just friends, but still, Adam and I had this unspoken agreement that whatever we had going on stayed between us. Neither of us strictly said it, but also, neither of us mentioned knowing each other previously to his family. Felt like it would…burst our friendship bubble I guess? The risk that Layla was an important shared connection to us both and if anything were to go south for us, the results would be unbearable.
Either way, pulling into the driveway full of cars and seeing Adam’s bike to the side lit a spark in me, my pulse racing and fingers itching to turn off the car and run inside.
Stepping inside, I was greeted with a variety of hellos, the loudest being from Crew, who had two Star Wars–themed oven mitts on and was pulling something that smelled delicious out of the oven. I said a quick hello back as my eyes immediately searched for Adam. Maybe I should have texted him that I was coming here. At least to give some form of a heads-up. But we hadn’t truly talked much since he’d come over after the store sold. I think we were both a little anxious about not knowing what exactly was happening here.
I locked eyes with Adam across the room, where he was sitting at the dining table with his dad, Calla, and Nathan. He glanced down at my overalls and back up. By the hint of heat in his eyes, you would think I was wearing something more provocative and not denim on top of my dad’s old Jimi Hendrix tee.
“Hey, Rach. Come sit next to me.” Calla patted the chair beside her, and I slipped into it.
“We were just talking about one of the guys at my work. He’s a new player.”
I nodded along, though I had no interest in baseball players in the slightest as long as Adam was staring at me across the table. Calla went on, telling the table about the guy, but my eyes were locked on Adam’s. The slight curve of his dimple began to dip in as he smirked at me. I wondered if he was thinking the same thing I was. That no one here had any clue how close we were. How much he meant to me. How we’d kissed behind closed doors and how, in the grand scheme of life, a few tiny—okay, not-so-tiny—kisses shouldn’t be that impactful, but they were.
“Rachel?” Calla elbowed my side, and I looked over.
“Huh?”
“So, are you single?” She raised her brows.
Everyone at the table was staring back at me, waiting for a reply I didn’t have. Was I single? Truly? Adam’s jaw clenched across from me. No. I wasn’t, right? But then again, we weren’t together either. Things felt…open, I guessed. The thought of Adam going on any sort of date had me wanting to stab an imaginary woman, so I could only imagine he must have felt the same back.
“Um.” I kept my eyes on him, waiting for any kind of direction. If I said I wasn’t single, questions were bound to arise. Questions like who and when and why had I never heard of this before? But if I said I was indeed available, where did that leave Adam and me?
“I’m not looking for anything” is what I settled on.
Calla’s shoulders slumped. “That’s a shame. He’s a great guy. He takes his golden retriever to work sometimes. A real cutie.” She leaned into me, talking through the side of her mouth. “Not just the dog, you know.”
Nathan crossed his arms beside her and then shrugged. “You know, I can’t even be jealous of that one. He is a cutie.”
I looked back to Adam, but this time, he wasn’t looking at me. His hands were typing away at his phone, a harsh line forming between his brows.
Layla walked into the room, carrying multiple glasses of water, with her husband trailing behind her. “My Rachel doesn’t date. Not really.” She plopped into the seat next to me, handing out glasses to each of us. “Not seriously. She’s got a lot going on.”
It was true. My life was chaotic. The store, my dad, my familial history, financial struggles, you name it. But somehow that didn’t deter me or Adam from each other.
The conversation continued around us as my phone buzzed in my lap. I dipped my chin to read the incoming text.
Adam: You could have said yes.