Page 87 of Bloom

“No. But I’m worried that Ginny’s going to make the next few weeks a living hell for both of us.”

“On the bright side, we now have two weeks to look forward to with no sneaking around.”

“I want you to move your stuff to my room,” he says. “I don’t want to miss a second of the time we have left.”

“Okay,” I smile at him, a little dazed by how much can change in a week. And then he rolls me on my back and reminds me just how good some of those changes are.

**

When we eventually make our way to the kitchen, Max is waiting with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Alright, asshole,” says James. “So how much of this was your doing?”

“Hmmm,” Max says, tapping a finger to his chin. “Oh yeah, all of it. And my friends? I had to beg them to come visit in the first place, and they were dying to head home by Sunday but I made them stay. God, you should have seen your faces.”

“So you weren’t fired?” James asks.

“Of course not,” scoffs Max. “I’m the bartending version of a first-round draft pick. No one’s firing me.”

“And you convinced Nick to kiss me?” I ask.

“No,” laughs Max. “But it was fucking brilliant, wasn’t it? The coup de grace, if you will. All I told him was that you were trying to keep your dirty little relationship secret, and if James cared enough, he’d probably get fed up with Nick flirting with you all night. And if he didn’t, then Nick could take his shot.”

James’s eyes narrow. I squeeze his hand, and he relaxes, just a little.

“I can’t believe you took five days off work solely to catch us.”

“Oh,” dismisses Max. “I had a huge pool going with the guys at work. I made like two grand on this thing. That’s why Rob showed up last night.”

“You’re such a dick,” I say, rolling my eyes, but trying to hide my smile.

“That’s why you love me,” he replies, reaching out to smack my ass. He finds his wrist in James’s death grip before it lands.

“How did you know about us?” James asks.

“How did anyone not know is my question,” Max says. “The two of you can barely keep your hands off each other. And we share a bedroom wall. It didn’t take long to figure out James wasn’t making all that noise on his own.”

Argh. That’s not embarrassing at all.

“So have you talked to Dan or Ginny?”

Max’s face loses some of its glee. “You’re okay with Dan. But Ginny stormed upstairs and no one’s seen her since.”

“Shit,” says James.

“I should go talk to her,” I sigh. I head up the stairs without a shred of optimism. She’s acted like she dislikes me most of the summer anyway. I have a feeling this will be the last straw.

She’s sitting in her bed with the phone in her hand when I walk in. She whispers, “I’ll call you back,” and hangs up. I’d like to believe it was Alex, but I’ve got no doubt it was actually Allison.

“Are you mad?” I ask.

“Yes.”

“About which part?”

“About all of it,” she says without emotion. “That you’ve been lying to me. That you’ve messed up things for James and Allison.”

“How many times do we have to go over this? I’m not responsible for James and Allison.”