Page 79 of The Challenge

She laughed.

My daughter ran over, thankfully saving me from any further taunting from her grandmother.

“Daddy, I came in second in the potato sack race!”

“That’s amazing, baby. What did you win?”

“Twenty dollars! Now I have extra money for the book fair!”

“Nice!” I glanced over at Lydia, who was still smirking. “I have more good news.”

“What?”

“How would you like to spend the night at Grandma’s?”

She jumped for joy. “Really?”

Effie loved sleepovers at Lydia’s. She didn’t get to have them all that often since Lydia lived half of the year down in Florida. But she happened to be home in the colder months now because of a couple of weddings she needed to attend.

Lydia smiled. “I’ll make you those apple muffins you love for breakfast. How does that sound?”

“Yum!” Effie turned to me. “Do we have to go home and get my pajamas?”

“I have everything you need, honey,” Lydia said. “You can sleep in one of Grandma’s T-shirts, and your dad can bring you some clothes to change into when he comes to get you tomorrow.”

“Yay!” Effie squealed.

Sleepovers, in general, were rare for my daughter. I didn’t trust any of her friends’ parents, so I never allowed her to stay overnight at anyone else’s house. Home, Drew’s house, or Lydia’s were the only places she ever slept. This was a win-win, since she’d have the chance to bond with her grandmother, and I’d be alone with Chloe at night for the first time since she’d arrived.

It was a rare opportunity. The only question: what was I going to do with it?

Chapter 30

CHLOE

Evan stalked over, interrupting my conversation with Brendan. “Ready to go?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Already?”

He placed his hands on his hips. “Yeah. I’ve had my fill here. Haven’t you?”

This whole scene was pretty hilarious, particularly Evan in his cowboy hat acting all possessive, like he was ready to wrangle me away from Thor and put me on his horse. Little did he know that I’d spent the majority of this conversation with Brendan confessing the complexity of my relationship with the crazy cowboy. Brendan had insisted that Evan had it bad for me. I’d told Brendan I wasn’t sure whether Evan’s behavior was a power trip or if he had intentions for me at this point. But it seemed Brendan had pretty much concluded that I was a lost cause, the mutual obsession with my grumpy roommate all too obvious.

I turned to Brendan. “It was nice seeing you again.”

“Call me,” he said, looking over at Evan, probably just to get a rise out of him.

But I couldn’t even respond, because for the second time tonight, Evan pulled me away. Despite the fact that it was rude, I secretly loved it. I loved his jealousy. It wasn’t something I’d ever experienced. It was always the other way around—me jealous of him dating other girls when I’d thought he’d viewed me like a sister.

“That was rude,” I told him.

“You think I give a shit?”

As he led me toward his truck, I said, “Did you forget something?”

“Nope.”

“Effie?” I glared.