To soften his blow, he gave me a sad smile before giving my knee two taps. Our conversation was over before it began. Eventually, he turned the TV back on, and ever so slowly, the tension between us eased as we relived the nostalgia of our favorite movie. Though, my own thoughts were far away.
A while later, when he was walking me to the front door, I stopped suddenly.
“It’s my turn.”
His brow furrowed as he reached past me for the door handle to let me out. “Huh?”
The smell of hay and grass wafted inside the open doorway. Instead of leaving like he desperately wanted me to, I pushed my luck and took a step toward him.
“I’m going to teach you a lesson.”
Jake gave me a look, a playful arrogance in his eyes. “Be serious.”
I pushed his chest, and when he didn’t move, I swallowed. We were so close, but I refused to step back.
“You’re good at flirting. You’re good at knowing when somebody’s flirting. You’re good at?—“
“Not smashing my date’s face in with a basketball?”
I raised my eyebrows. “Now you’re just being cocky.”
He smiled, his hand on my arm nudging me toward the doorway. “Sounds like I’m good, then. Goodni?—”
I pushed backward against his nudging, refusing to leave. Refusing to fall for his act. “Hugging. I’m going to teach you how to hug.”
He paused and raised two doubtful eyebrows. “I thought we determined I’ve got the touching thing down already.”
“You do. Flirty touches, very much so. But when’s the last time anybody’s given you a hug? A real hug. None of that sidearm crap you're famous for.”
A shadow moved across his face before it was gone as quickly as it arrived. He swallowed. I could see his mind was racing. Calculating.
He tilted his head sideways. “Maybe you should turn that finger around. You’re the one who doesn’t touch people.”
“I hug people just fine. Other touches I do need to work on. But hugs…as long as it’s a friend or somebody I’m comfortable with…I’m a hugger. I’m willing to bet that with the exception of your daughter, you don’t hug anybody.”
“Little do you know, the boys and me start our mornings out with a big, long group hug. Every day.” He folded his arms and regarded me with some amusement.
“Liar.” I reached behind me and pushed the door closed. “You need a hug. So get ready. It’s coming.”
Jake looked terrified, though it wasn’t in the careful grin across his mouth. It wasn’t in his words or even his body language, though he was stiff underneath that relaxed pose. It was in his eyes, if you made it past the layer of teasing. Inside, he was a terrified, scared little girl.
He reached around me once more and yanked open the door, his smile back in place. “I always knew deep down you wanted a piece of this. But I’m good, Tuck. I promise.”
“You don’t want to hug me?”
That made him hesitate, and my heart lifted. He always had a soft spot for my feelings. He rolled an annoyed eye my way while I grinned at him. He flung the door shut.
“Alright, Shelby May. Have at me.” He opened his arms wide, in a mocking sort of way.
“You can’t say, ‘have at me.’ It’s not that kind of hug.”
“What do you mean,thatkind of hug?”
“The special kind of hug,” I countered before my brain could tell my mouth to STOP TALKING.
He looked delighted. “Special hug? Like the kind we learned about in fifth grade? I wasn’t sure you knew about that. Could you tell me more?”
“Stop.” I pushed at him, laughing while my face heated.