I tried not to think about meeting Jack’s family.
“What’s up with you?” Chris asked. “You look like you just swallowed something nasty.”
“What? Oh. I’m…” I let out a little nervous laugh. “I’m meeting Jack’s family tomorrow night. I’m a little freaked-out I guess.”
“That’s awfully fast, don’t you think?” Chris asked. “Is this thing serious between you two? I thought…”
Say it.
“I thought,” he said again.
C’mon. Admit you thought it was supposed to be the two of us.
“Anyway, that’s great. You’ll do fine.” Chris cleared his throat and took a sip of his beer. “And just think. It doesn’t really matter anyway.”
“What do you mean?”
“I thought you wanted to be with me long term,” he said softly. His smile was affectionate and knowing. It pulled me in, the way it always did, but for the first time, I was reminded of that cheap-ass wooden paddle toy. The one with the hard rubber ball attached to it by the flimsiest elastic string ever. You had to yank back with all your might to get the ball to bounce against the paddle, but then it was off again, shooting out who-knew-how-far until it inevitably slammed you in the face and left a red mark smelling of nasty hard rubber.
“Well,” I began, poking through the collection of hot dogs with the serving tongs. “I waited long enough, I think. So now I’m going to move on.”
It wasn’t the truth, of course. I didn’t really want to move on. I still wanted him. I’d always wanted him. Wanting him was like brushing my teeth in the morning—it just was because it always had been. I didn’t even need to think about it anymore. But I thought maybe a part of me wanted to try on the alternative to see how it would feel to begin the process of walking away.
Before Chris could answer, the crowd cheered suddenly, and we both turned to see what had happened. After that, the moment had passed, and I had to content myself with serving up a hot dog and covering it in all my favorite toppings. It didn’t occur to me until after I took the first bite that a boyfriend might have made one for his significant other.
I walked over to stand behind Jack’s chair before leaning down and murmuring, “You want a hot dog or something that looks like a chicken quesadilla?”
Jack reached his hand back and threaded his fingers through the back of my hair. “Hot dog with mustard and relish if they have it. Thanks, babe.”
He pulled me closer to peck a kiss on my cheek before continuing whatever it was he’d been saying to Logan. I floated back over to the food to make my boyfriend a hot dog.
I could get used to this.
“He’s goddamned adorable,” Jay said in a hushed squeal. “Tell me everything. I can’t stand it. Where’d you scoop him up, and if you say a hookup app, I’m going to have to punch you in the face.”
I blinked at him. “A hookup app.”
“No!” he said with a bold laugh. “What the hell? Why am I never that lucky? I mean, there’s hot, and then there’s that guy. He’s like…” Jay looked back over at him. Jack was grinning from ear to ear at something Tara was saying. His one overly pointy canine tooth made me suck in a breath. I knew exactly how that tooth felt against my tongue and caught on my lip. And gently raking across the skin of my hip.
I shivered. “Yeah.”
Jay wolf whistled and shook his head. “If you ever decide to toss that catch back, you let your friend Jay know, m’kay?”
“Mpfh.” As if that was ever going to happen. Jay went through men like nurses went through sterile gloves.
I fixed up the relish dog and brought it to Jack. Just when Logan started to stand up to give me the seat next to Jack, Chris pulled me forward to the next row to sit next to him. Since Logan and Jack had been in the middle of a conversation, I didn’t think much of it.
It took me about ten seconds to suspect that Chris had strategically placed me close enough to run interference between him and Chelsea.
She would not stop talking. She talked about anything and everything.
“So then I said I wouldn’t work another hour even if they paid me triple time. I mean, not that I work hourly, because, Christ. Can you even imagine? But the point is the same. They’re taking advantage.” She took another swig of her beer before continuing. “I think I’m going to look for something else. My friend Lauren said she could get me in with one of the firms downtown, but I don’t know. I told her I’d think about it, but what do you think?”
She looked at Chris expectantly. I knew for a fact he hadn’t been paying attention to a word she’d said.