I chuckle and inch closer to her. “Yeah. Didn’t you get my note I passed you in science? I like you. Check yes or no if you like me, too.”
She scrunches her nose and dares to step closer to me. She reaches up and wraps her arms around my neck. “I check yes.”
“So, does that mean you’ll come?”
“You said you’re cooking?”
I nod.
“Count me in.”
She raises up on her tiptoes and kisses my cheek before breaking away and darting back out toward the pool.
Chapter Twenty
EVIE
“Where do you want to go dress shopping this weekend?” Jo asks me around a bite of salad.
“Doesn’t matter to me.”
“Just prepare to get something skimpy to show off those legs for Jake.”
I give Jo a flat look. “First of all, a man should like me for more than my body. And second, shouldn’t you be the one telling me this? You’re in your sixties. How am I the mature one here?”
Jo shrugs and steals a fry from my plate. “Now, why would I tell you something you already know? I’m pretty sure all you ever think about is how to be upstandin’. Think of me as your fairy godmother.” She waves the fry like a wand over my head. “Bibbidi-bobbidi, do yourself a favor and live a little.”
I shake my head at my fairy godmother and take a bite of my burger.
My phone buzzes on the table with a new text, and I see the name Jake written across my screen. Jo sees it, too, and wags her eyebrows suggestively while reaching for my phone. I snatch it off the table and clutch it close to my chest before she gets a chance to swipe it open. “No one likes a Nosey Nelly.”
“Even less people like a Boring Bessy.” She steals another fry, and I smack her hand playfully.
I angle myself away from Jo, and I swipe open my phone.
JAKE: Only two more days until our date. It’s been way too long since I’ve seen you.
I smile because it has felt like a long time. Jake and I haven’t seen each other since the pool party last Saturday. It’s Wednesday now, and I’ve never felt like a week has gone by slower. It’s not that I haven’t been busy. In fact, I’ve been crazy busy training a new group of volunteers who signed up to be puppy raisers. Our newest litter of pups will be ready to leave their mama and go into a volunteer’s home to start learning their basic training techniques: potty training, don’t chew the rug, sit, and lots and lots of socialization.
Our company literally wouldn’t survive without these volunteers and the time they sacrifice in helping train our dogs. But these weeks of breaking everyone in and teaching them the rules is always exhausting for me.
Not only have I been teaching classes for the volunteers, but I’ve taken three dogs to the vet, had two match meetings with potential recipients, reviewed five new applications, and ignored three texts from my mama reminding me that I need to quit fooling around and do something useful with my life. Something like join the Powder Society of Revolutionary Ladies and drink martinis in the afternoon.
But, in the meantime, Jake and I have been texting every day and have even talked on the phone a few of those nights. Remember how I felt like he was out of my league? Ha ha ha, oh how wrong I was. Jake is out of my universe.
The more I get to know him, the more I like him. He’s thoughtful, and funny, and tender, and truly and completely ripped. You thought I was going to say something sentimental there, didn’t you? Well, sorry, but thoughts of Jake’s ridiculous body make my brain turn into mush, and all intelligent thoughts melt into steamy nonsense.
This morning I got lost in a fantasy of what a real kiss with him would be like, and I accidentally overflowed my coffee all over the counter. If this date on Friday goes well, I’m afraid my brain will be permanently fried.
EVIE: Oh. Is our date in two days? I totally forgot.
JAKE: You’re not funny.
EVIE: *Screenshot of countdown timer, titled: Days until date with Jake.*
JAKE: Better. What time should I call you tonight?
EVIE: I’ll be home by 7.
JAKE: I’ll call you at 7:01. I mean…I’ll call you at some vague time after that so you don’t realize how much I like you.
“Oh, he’s good,” says Jo from over my shoulder.
“Hey!” I lock my phone screen again and give her the stink eye. “Mind your own beeswax.”
“My beeswax is boring today. So, tell me, are things going good with you two?”
I can’t hide my smile. “Really good. Too good, actually.”
She rolls her eyes. “Only you would say that when a hot man is being attentive and flirting with you.”
“I know! I don’t want to feel this way, but…I have too much experience that’s taught me it won’t last long. Every guy I’ve ever dated has either moved on to easier and perkier pastures, or they see one of my episodes and it scares them right out of my life.”
“Yes, and do you know what you outta say to those types of guys? Don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya! Because if you don’t know it already, honey, you’ve been known to date duds.”
My mouth falls open. “What?”
“It’s true. The few guys you’ve dated in the past have all been a few eggs short of a dozen, and waayy below your level. It’s like you're so desperate to not end up with anyone like your parents that you swing completely the opposite way. Jake is the first man you’ve ever been interested in that even comes close to being on the same tier as you.”
“Ha! You think Jake and I are on the same level?”
“No.” Her eyes slide to mine, and I see a twinkle. “I don’t think anyone will ever measure up to you. But I get the feeling that Jake will actually try.”
I don’t know what to say. The fact that Jo thinks so highly of me makes me feel weepy. There’s nothing else to do but lean over and wrap her up in a hug and then slide my phone onto the table in front of her.
“Just for that, you get unlimited access to my texts for the next five minutes.”
She wastes no time in picking up my phone and scrolling through every text Jake and I have ever exchanged. While she continues giggling like a teenager, I decide to occupy myself by refilling my water.
I stand up, and Charlie does, too, but with a big yawn. Poor guy has been bored to death the past few days. Or maybe exhausted from all the running around and meetings we’ve been to. Either way, I need to devote some special time to take him to the park and throw the ball.
I’m filling up my water at the drink station and mentally planning on taking Charlie to the park on Friday morning so that he won’t feel slighted during my date with Jake—don’t worry, Charlie, you’ll always be my first love—when I feel the presence of someone else beside me.
I cut my eyes to the side to get a look at whatever weirdo is entering my personal space, when I find an attractive man smirking down at me. He’s not Jacob-Broaden attractive, but I’m still woman enough to admit he’s good looking.
“Hi,” he says.
“Hi,” I reply back, and I’m a little embarrassed to say it sounded more like a mouse squeak.