The Off Limits Rule (It Happened in Nashville 1)

I stay in the hallway for a moment longer, watching Lucy and Levi walk out together and feeling something snap into place in my head: I will do anything to be in their life. And another thought directly follows that one: I’m so glad Janie refused me.

…and also: Lucy’s butt looks so good in those jeans.

I jog to catch them, run up behind Levi, and pick him up by the armpits so I can make a rawr sound and swing him up onto my shoulders. I didn’t even know I knew how to make that noise and definitely didn’t plan to. It just sort of came naturally, which is surprising. Once he’s laughing and settled on my shoulders, I nudge Lucy with my hip, pushing her out of the way so I can steer the cart. She wraps her arm around my bicep, and now we’re one happy family. It’s odd how you can know someone for such a short period of time and yet feel like you’ve always been there with them. That’s how being with Lucy and Levi makes me feel.

Lucy lets go of me briefly to grab a bag of apples off a produce shelf, then Levi suddenly shouts, “UNCLE DREW!”

Lucy and I both freeze, slowly make eye contact, then look up to find Drew holding a shopping basket a ways down the aisle and staring blankly at us.

Okay, so maybe the grocery store wasn’t the best meeting place, and I’m definitely the worst friend in the world.

“Drew,” I say, resisting the urge to shove Cooper as far away from me as possible. “You’re home early.”

“Yeah. A guy from our team had a family emergency, so the trip got cut short, and we had to fly back early. Then, one of my bags was lost at the airport, so I stopped in to buy more deodorant and toothpaste before going home.” I know that look on his face. He’s processing—unhappily. His eyes shift from me to Levi up on Cooper’s shoulders and then fall down to Cooper, where they land with an angry scowl.

Feeling this surge of protection for Cooper, I hurry to say, “Oh bummer! About your bags, not you coming home early. That’s a good thing! We’ve missed you. Uncle Drew is back, YAY!” From the corner of my eye, I see Cooper mouthing “STOP” and realize I’m rambling. Shoot. Drew will see right through that. “So anyway, Levi and I were just doing some shopping and bumped into Cooper. Funny, right?” Is he buying my fake calm smile? Probably not, but I’m trying to sell it like I’m on QVC. And here we have a lovely new lie in the intriguing shade of blushing! Order now before the truth comes out and everyone’s lives are miserable!

I look up at Cooper, who is also frowning now. Super. We’re the Frowny Bunch.

“Looks a lot like you’re shopping together,” Drew says, only mildly less uncomfortable than he was a moment ago. “Where’s Cooper’s cart?” Who asks a question like that? A skeptical person, that’s who.

Cooper opens his mouth, and I can see honesty all over his sweet face. It’s killing him to lie to Drew about us, and he probably thinks I want him to come clean and put us first. He’d be wrong. I know how much Drew means to Cooper, and I won’t be the reason their relationship is severed. We had a plan to ease Drew into the idea of this relationship, and we’re going to stick to it.

I step forward and pull on my no-big-deal face, giving a lazy wave of my hand. “Oh, he had one at some point, but then Levi wanted to ride on his shoulders, so he ditched it, and we combined our carts. Want to join us? There’s totally room for your stuff to pile in here too!” Okay, take it down a notch, Lucy. No one is this excited about grocery shopping. Someone from this store franchise should be filming me right now and turning it into a commercial, because apparently, I love shopping for groceries more than anything in the world and want everyone to join me.

It works, though, because Drew buys it. He finally closes the gap and steps into our space, and Levi leans forward to jump into his arms. “Hey, buddy! I missed you!”

“I went into the bathroom by myself!” Levi announces at the top of his lungs.

Drew laughs and high-fives him, and while they are distracted, Cooper and I take that moment to give each other a look. My expression says Be cool. His seems to be trying to convey an entire conversation in one intensely lifted eyebrow as his head twitches toward Drew. I think he’s telling me we should come clean.

“NO,” I mouth back. “Not yet.”

He can’t read lips, though. He gives a squinty frown while looking at my lips then shakes his head. “What?”

“So,” Drew says, setting Levi down, making Cooper and me snap our expressions back into easy-breezy-nothing-to-see-here mode. “Are you guys almost done here? Let’s grab a pizza or something to bake when we get home. Coop, you want to come back to the house and hang out for a bit?” Is it just me or does he seem suspicious? Have his eyes always slanted like that?

This feels like a trap.

One Cooper will see from a mile away. No way will he take the bait.

“Sure, sounds good.”

Or maybe he will.

Dinner was not ideal.

Cooper and I stayed on far ends of any room we were occupying at the same time and barely made eye contact. Eight times I had to interrupt Levi so he didn’t accidentally spill the beans about me and Cooper, and no sooner did he finish his last bite than I whisked him out of the kitchen and into the bathroom for a bath. I think I left half of my pizza abandoned, but who cares? (I care. It was delicious, and I will definitely sneak out to the kitchen in the middle of the night to eat the leftovers from the fridge.)

I’m in the middle of pulling Levi’s jammies down over his head when Cooper speaks from the doorway, making me jump six miles in the air. “I’m headed out.”

I clutch my heart and expel a heavy breath like you do when you’ve just narrowly escaped death. “Geez, you scared me.”

His smile is soft as his muscular shoulder leans against the doorframe. He’s wearing his baseball cap facing forward, and it drops shadows on his face, only adding to the romantic vibes he’s putting out.

“Where’s Drew?” I ask.

“In the shower.”