Page 10 of Redeem My Heart

“What’s that face for?” my sister, Luna, asks.

“Just a random text from an unknown number. Probably a wrong number.”

UNKNOWN: I should apologize.

UNKNOWN: For earlier today.

“There’s that face again. Why don’t you ask them who it is?” Luna suggests.

ME: Who is this?

UNKNOWN: Dane.

“Oh shit,” I whisper.

My sister leans over me to glance at my phone. “Dane Whitmore? What happened earlier today?”

“He kissed me. At the coffee shop. In front of Miranda Dillard, Amanda Stone and Brittany Collins.”

“Uh, Dane Whitmore kissed you and you didn’t tell me immediately? What is wrong with you? How was it?”

“Not the point, Luna.”

“Totally the point, Shelby,” she over-enunciates my name.

I blow out a breath. “Fast, but amazing.”

She smiles her big sister ‘I told you so’ smile. “Now, why is this a problem? Haven’t you crushed on him for like ever?”

“I barely know him.”

She rolls her eyes. “So! I’ve been half in love with Mason Bell since I was a teenager, and I don’t know him at all.”

I laugh. “When is your big concert.”

She stands and shakes her bootie while squealing. “In just two weeks. I cannot wait to see Soul Obsession live.” She falls back on the couch with another little wiggle.

My sister was obsessed with the boy band for years and legitimately cried when they broke up. When the reunion tour was announced, she was so excited, she went and got a tattoo to commemorate the occasion.

“Stop trying to distract me with my favorite subject,” Luna says. “Why did Dane kiss you and why is it a problem?”

“He did it because he heard them giving me a hard time and he thought he’d swoop in and rescue me.”

“Sounds pretty gallant, if you ask me.”

“But now those women are going to spread rumors all over town that Dane and I are a couple. When the truth comes out, they’ll laugh all the more. I haven’t let women like that bother me in a long time and I was content to let them spew their vitriol at me and then calmly leave The Coffee Cup. This will just give them more fodder.”

Luna sighs and squeezes my hand. “Want me to shiv them for you?”

I snort-laugh because my sister is about the least violent person in the world. She catches and releases spiders because she’s a lunatic. “No, that’s okay. I appreciate it though.”

UNKNOWN: Are you just going to ignore me?

ME: What exactly are you apologizing for?

UKNOWN: For pissing you off.

“Typical man. He’s just covering all his bases,” Luna says. “But really what are you mad about?”