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Chapter Twenty One

"Cole, I don't want to just kiss you because you've never had a kiss," I said quietly. "I can't do that."

"So I'm rejected," he said flatly.

"No! I mean, yes. For now." I sat down on the floor in front of him. "I want to get to know you more. You can understand that, can't you?"

"Maybe," he said. I thought it was the answer to my question, but I was mistaken. "Maybe today wasn't such a good day for a visit."

"Cole..."

"It's not you, it's me," he said. "Isn't that another line everyone uses?"

I may have been the mild McLean, but that didn't prevent me from getting mad. Even I had my moments. "I'm not giving you lines. I'm being honest," I snapped.

My anger only increased when he whistled. "Wow, so she does get mad."

I scrambled to my feet. "Yes, I do. And obviously I was wrong about you. I thought you were better than the others."

I headed towards his door, my hands balled into fists.

"What do you mean?" he asked. I didn't answer. I made my departure known loud and clear with the slam of the door.

I was still in a suppressed state of steam by the time I got back out to the courtyard. Joe looked up. The smile fell from his face.

"What the hell happened?" he asked.

"Nothing," I said shortly.

"I should have warned you," Krista said. "Cole bites more than he barks."

"This isn't about Cole," I said, even though I was sure my face gave it away. I made a show of glancing at my watch. "It's just that our ride will be here in just a couple minutes."

"Already?" Krista asked. Her disappointment was clear.

"I'll come back," Joe said quickly. They both smiled.

I was caught off guard. From what I had seen, those two had done nothing more than talk for a couple hours and yet Joe was nicer than I had seen him in...well, ever. He scrambled to his feet, but leaned back down to give her a hug. She wrapped her arm around him.

"You made my day," she said honestly.

When Joe straightened back up, his face was a deep red. He tugged at his shirt and ran his hand through his hair.

The scene was sweet, but after my afternoon, it was a little too much. I grabbed at his sleeve.

"See you later Krista!" I called, reminding myself it wasn't her fault I was feeling angry, wounded, and guarded.

"Bye!" she called back. Joe waved his hand in a wave. He only turned when we got back into the building.

"What's wrong?" he hissed under his breath.

"Nothing," I said.

"Did someone mess with you?" he asked, his voice taking on a hard edge.

"Calm down, Romeo," I said sullenly. "I can take care of myself."

I walked ahead, leaving him behind.

"Romeo?!" I heard him say in horror as I rounded the corner. My mouth twitched.

Sometimes he could still make me smile.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


"So how was your afternoon?" Shelby asked.

We were sitting at a noisy booth at Johnny Rocket's. Brenna's chin was on the table and her eyes, her big green eyes, were staring up, up, up at the gigantic chocolate milkshake she had talked Mason into buying for her.

I pretended to busy myself with my own thick shake, much smaller than the one Brenna had. Joe swallowed quickly and started to nod.

"Good," he said happily. Shelby looked surprised.

"Really?"

Joe seemed to catch himself. "Well it was...y'know, okay."

"You're awfully quiet, Ally cat," Mason remarked. I almost choked in the little bit of shake I did suck up. I both hated and loved when he called me Ally cat.

"It was okay," I said, mimicking Joe, but knowing I sounded less enthusiastic.

"Just okay?" Shelby pressed. I sat back. A waitress passed by with a huge platter of burgers and fries. For a moment, I prayed she would stop at the table and distract everyone. Unfortunately, she just passed by.

"I think I made a mistake visiting today," I said. "I mean, technically it's one of my places of business and I know you shouldn't mix business with pleasure," I finished. I knew it sounded corny, but I hoped my explanation would suffice. But of course, it didn't.

"That's silly!" Brenna announced. "This shake-shake is business and pweasure!"

Mason had decided to take a sip of shake at the precise moment his daughter made her incredible statement. He pulled back, covering his nose. Shel, leaned over and patted his back; he just shook his head. Brenna looked at him and burst into precious crinkled-eyed laughter.

"The shakey went up your NOSE!" she declared for the whole restaurant to hear. Joe slid down beside me. I propped my chin in my hand and listened as Brenna began to ramble a mile a minute.

"Al, that's a mature way to look at things," Shel said over Brenna's happy chatter. "But you said yourself that those kids appreciate visits."

"Krista appreciated our visit," Joe said. Shel must have kicked him under the table because he sat back up.

"I know," I said, stupid tears stinging my eyes. "It's just that there was a misunderstanding."

"What kind of misunderstanding?" Joe said suspiciously. I glanced at him.

"Don't get all 'brotherly' on me," I said. He scowled.

"What happened?" Shel asked.

I sighed, but again my genes prevented me from keeping a secret. I replayed the day with Cole, finishing with the awkward discussion about a kiss.

"Dude, that's just sad and desperate," Joe remarked. His eyes widened as the waitress finally stopped at our table with our food.

"It is not," I said. "It was just..."

"You did the right thing," Shel said. "I know it was hard, but the thing about you is you actually use common sense. I envy you for that."

"You envy me?" I asked in surprise. Shel nodded and smiled.

"It makes me happy to know that at least one person in our family sticks to their principles. The rest of us are just lost causes."

"But a gorgeous lost cause," Mason added. She took her shake straw out of her drink and flicked some of the shake liquid out towards him. He ducked, grabbed a fry as a fake shield, and laughed. Brenna clapped excitedly.

While the craziness increased around me, I thought about what Shelby said.

I finally decided that maybe she was right.

I had to be true to myself even if it didn't make everyone happy.

It was the latter part that was still a work in progress.