“What?” I ask innocently. “Nothing going on here.” I don’t even know if I want to tell Frankie about Julian. Not yet. It feels too new.

“How’s things with Julian? Is he still acting like you’ve got the plague?” she asks.

“Oh, things have definitely gotten better in the past couple of days,” I say, my heart skipping.

I do tell her all about our game on Saturday and the campout that I already texted her about. I tell her more about the potluck at Camille’s house and how Julian has finally decided that pulling a prank on Taylor is probably not going to get him a black mark on his permanent record.

“How’s my Coley?” I ask her.

“She misses her Uncalijah, but she’s doing okay. She did the cutest thing the other day. She stood up on one of the moving boxes and started shouting ‘Ladies and gentlemen’ over and over again like she was a circus ringmaster. I think I got a video of it. I’ll text it to you tonight,” she says.

I hear the front door opening, so I tell Frankie I need to get going and that I’ll call her soon. She promises to text me the video of Coley and hangs up. I’m washing my dishes at the sink when Julian comes into the kitchen. He leans against the counter next to me, sweaty and smelling like freshly cut grass.

“I am beat,” he says. “I got tossed on the ground in practice today more than I used to when we played peewee ball.”

“How are you feeling?” I ask him.

He winces a little bit. “Honestly? The bruise is going away, but my ribs are burning again.”

“Do you need an ice pack? Or how about I get you some more parsley?” I turn to him and let my fingers gently touch his arm.

His eyes meet mine and he gives me a crooked smile. “Parsley sounds good,” he says. “Let me get cleaned up first, okay?”

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll get it ready,” I say, drying my dishes and putting them away.

Julian walks toward the shower, and I have to take a deep breath. Being that close to him in an empty house stirred something in my gut, and now all I want to do is grab him and kiss him right here in the kitchen. I’m going to need to calm myself down a little bit. Grinding the parsley will help.

I hear the shower turn on and I get to work, using the back of a spoon this time instead of the end of my toothbrush. Once I have a good paste, I bring the bowl down the hall with me. The shower has already stopped, and I hear Julian shuffling around in his room. I knock on the door, the bowl of parsley paste in my hand. “You ready for me yet?”