Even if there was, that wouldn’t be enough to make me stop seeing her.
Instead of going for a ride when my parents took Declan out a little later, I went over to Allie’s house.
“I was just thinking about you,” she said when she saw me. “Come on in. Where’s Declan?”
“He’s with my parents,” I said as I followed her into the house.
“Cool,” she said. “That means I can do this.” And she stepped right over to me and put her arms around my neck, pulling me in for a long kiss.
“So, I happened to mention to my parents that I was seeing you,” I said when we finally pulled apart.
“Seeing me?”
“Yeah. Is that...okay?”
“I guess we are seeing each other. I mean, I was hoping that it wouldn’t be a one-time thing. Though I’d understand if it was,” she added quickly.
“No,” I said. “I don’t want it to be. I’m not saying we should be talking about moving in together and what sort of seating arrangement we want at the wedding or anything like that, but...I’ll be completely honest with you, Allie—I really enjoy spending time with you.”
She smiled—coyly, it seemed—and raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?” she said.
“Absolutely.”
“It’s not, say, because of a bet you might have wagered with a certain friend of yours?”
I winced. There was no point in denying it, because she’d obviously knew what was going on. “Errrr... how’d you hear about that? Did Ben tell you?”
“Declan did.”
“What? Declan? Seriously?”
She started to laugh. “Yeah, he must’ve overheard you guys talking about it whenever it was you were setting it up. Now, I know that some people in my position would be... oh, I don’t know, offended by such a thing, and I was at first, but...”
“That bet has nothing to do with the way I feel about you,” I said. “It was a stupid thing to agree to in the first place.”
“I guess you won, though, huh? What’s the prize?”
“Just getting to be with you is good enough for me.”
“Aw, that’s sweet of you. But really, though, what was the wager? I’m curious.”
“Well, after he talked to you that day, he seemed to think that you had no interest in being with anyone at all, so he bet me that I wouldn’t be able to sleep with you. And if he won, I was going to have to take him to a playoff game of his choice.”
“And if you won?”
I thought back, trying to remember. It took me a second. “He was going to hang out with Declan a couple times a month so I could go riding. Or just have that time to myself.”
“So I guess you get that now.”
“I don’t even care if I do. Other than it’d be nice because you and I would have that time to be able to go out and do something, sans children.”
“How’d your parents react?”
“They were happy. Well, my dad started asking about how it was going to look since you’re Declan’s teacher and all, but I didn’t think it would be an issue. Are there rules against that?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “That wasn’t one of the things I asked during my interview.”
“Because I don’t want to get you in trouble or anything like that.”