Page 75 of If It's You

Maizie nodded. “I’m not surprised you had no idea. He comes down for the summer, dates one of my friends, then leaves them high and dry.”

“What do you mean?”

“He leaves all of the girls hating him and me by default.”

Christian studied her. “So this is about you.”

“Wh-what? No! This is about Jayce hurting my friends.”

Christian pursed his lips. “And he was always the heartbreaker?”

“Yeah. . . I think.” She paused. Everything she knew about the breakups had been what she’d heard from her friends.

“He’d kill me for saying this because he acts really tough, but he’s actually pretty sensitive and takes criticism hard.”

“I know. I wasn’t trying to be mean.” Maizie said with a frustrated sigh. “I just don’t want him and Lindsay to end up the same way.”

He nodded. “She’s your best friend. You don’t want to see her hurt. It makes sense. To me, at least. But I’m not the one you chewed out.”

Unspoken truce, my butt.“Oh, whatever. You don’t know everything, city boy.”

He chuckled instead of offering a retort that would have been easier to deal with. “So explain it.”

Maizie stared down at her hands. “Lindsay is the girl who can tear it up on the soccer field then turn around and help teach preschool with her mom. She’s kind and sweet and the pickiest eater alive, unless it’s popcorn or something covered in cheese. A good boyfriend should know all these things about her and appreciate every single one.” She paused to look at Christian who appeared to be deep in thought.

“I don’t think you’re giving Jayce enough credit,” he said while putting a milker on the last cow.

“I know.” Maizie shook her head. “I went too far. I’m sure what he feels for Lindsay is real. I just want to make sure he’s in it for the right reasons.”

He stopped, holding a milker but not moving to put it on. “You know you can’t control everything, right?”

She rolled her eyes. “Duh.”

He pursed his lips before they broke into a smile. “Yet, it doesn’t stop you from trying.”

“I see a problem and try to help. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”

He cocked his head to one side, and the way he studied her made everything from the bottom of her toes to the top of her head tingle. “There is if you’re trying to fix the wrong problem.”

Was he referring to the problems he couldn’t fix, or the ones she was trying to solve?

“Ugh,” Maizie groaned. “The whole thing was a mistake. I only want the best for both of them. Was that wrong?”

He seemed to ponder it for a minute.

“I don’t know. I think it’s good to have an outsider’s perspective sometimes. As long as the outsider has your best intentions at heart,” he said in a way that made Maizie think there was more to this story.

“Of course it is.” She agreed.

“Like your new boyfriend. He seems nice. Much better than the last one,” Christian said and walked into the tank room. Was he jealous? No way. They’d only just started getting along.

Maizie followed him. “Rob is not my boyfriend.”

“Really?” He cocked an eyebrow at her. “Because he sure wants to be.”

Maizie’s face burned with his accusation. “No, he doesn’t. He’s just a really good friend.”

“All right.” He threw his hands in the air. “No need to convince me.”