Page 22

“That’s amazing,” I say.

Tyler works as an architect at one of those fancy firms. He says he’s going to stay there for another year or two and then start his own firm.

He leans back in his chair and taps his finger on his lips. “You’ve got to relax, man.”

“I am.”

“Then why do you keep looking at the door every ten seconds as if something bad will storm in any minute now?”

I suck in a breath. “I might have gotten myself into a situation, and now my sister and her friend both think I’m on a date. I don’t want them to find out I lied.”

He snorts. “You told Maggie you had a date so she wouldn’t set you up with another horrible one? That’s actually kind of genius.”

I take another swig. If I keep this pace up, I’ll be drunk before I can blink. “Yeah, I had to do something, right? She keeps pushing me, trying to get me to stay put by handing out my number to every single girl in a ten-mile radius. Honestly, it’s not something I want to take part in.” I run a hand through my hair and sigh. “If I ever meet The One, it should be on my terms, you know? I want to meet her in a spontaneous way, become friends first, share some laughs. I need someone who gets my pulse racing. All that blind dating stuff is too artificial. Not to mention I don’t want to get entangled in a complex situation with a girl who wants to build a life in Summerville Creek while I’m saving up to get out of here.”

“Do you have an idea of when that’ll be?”

Tyler and I don’t talk about me leaving that often, but once in a while he cautiously asks about my plans. He’s one of the few people who haven’t judged me for wanting to uproot my life. He knows it’s something I need to do, and that there’s a good chance I’ll return one day.

“It depends. If I find a place to live that’s affordable, I won’t hesitate. I don’t understand why Maggie is so against me moving away.”

“She loves you, that’s all. Once you’re gone, she’ll have no one left here.”

I shake my head. “That’s not true. She’s got her colleagues and now her best friend is back.”

“Yeah, but they aren’t family. I’m not saying you should stick around for her, but I do get where she’s coming from.”

“I guess.”

My phone lights up with a text. A rush of endorphins spreads through me when I see it’s from Elle.

Is a cheesy monologue about the color of my eyes part of this guy’s routine? I had to take a time-out in the bathroom to stop myself from slapping him into normality.

I hesitate a moment before firing off my reply.

I think so. Do you need me to come and save you? No need to text me the address.

I don’t need you rescuing me… yet. But I do need to know how you know where I am. That’s kind of creepy.

What’s creepy is that I know where you are because Zeke takes every girl there. Enjoy your time at Casa Mama Pizzas.

She replies with a couple of stunned looking emojis, and I laugh. I’m secretly hoping for another text from her soon, asking me to come and be her knight in shining armor. Not that I want her to have a miserable date, but Zeke is so wrong for her, it isn’t even funny.

“What’s that all about?” Tyler asks.

“Oh, nothing. You know, just some girl.”

He shakes his head and laughs. “Oh, man, you’re in trouble. That look in your eyes? That tells me this isn’t just some girl. You’ve got to spill the beans.”

I motion for the waitress to bring us another couple of beers. “There are no beans, so I can’t spill them.”

Tyler grabs my phone and holds it above his head so I can’t reach it. “Damn, it’s locked. Didn’t think of that.”

I push myself up and manage to take my device from his hands. “Nice try, though.”

Just then, another text message comes through, but I refuse to read it in front of Tyler. For an entire hour, we talk about our jobs, Tyler’s renovation project, and the latest sport stats, but all I can hope is that he doesn’t notice I’m zoning out half the time, trying to figure out when would be a good time to read this message from Elle. My phone is burning a hole in the table, and I can’t touch it, which is driving me bonkers.

Yeah, I was definitely right. Elle is a big bag of trouble. Delicious, toe-curling trouble.