It wasn’t obvious at first.
She went back to Evan’s place that night and everything seemed fine. She used being the designated driver as the excuse to not drink much, and then she drove everyone home. Evie first, then Karen Miller, the librarian, then Beth, and finally Carrie, who lived in the country on a farm.
“How was girls’ night?” Evan asked when she returned.
“Good.”
“Brent’s asleep.”
“Aww.” She went and peeked in on him, passed out in Evan’s bed. Their lover followed her, wrapping himself around her in the doorway to his room. “Are we all going to sleep together tonight?”
“One big cuddly pile,” he whispered. “Do you want to climb in with him now?”
“I’d share a glass of wine with you, if you want one? I didn’t drink tonight.”
“What kind of girls’ night is it without a bottle of wine?”
“I wanted to come back to you.”
He kissed her when she said that, and it was lovely and sweet.
But over wine, she let something slip that Evie had said, and Evan didn’t like it. “Apparently, a few years ago, Evie drunkenly shared the story of your threesome back in college. It came up again tonight, so I thought I would tell you.”
He swore under his breath.
“Evie shut down the conversation,” Jess hastened to add. “She said your life is private and none of our business. And she didn’t look at me when she said it or anything, so I think it’s no big deal, right?”
“She knows,” he growled. “I just talked to her about this today.”
“What?”
“Ty asked me about you. And Brent. I dunno, maybe he’s seen some touching, or looking—I honestly don’t know. I drew a hard line in the sand, said it was private.”
She blinked. It was, but…oh. “Okay.”
“And then he said I should go and talk to Evie if I wanted to shut down rumours. So I did, and she fucking promised—”
“Shedidn’t bring it up. Someone else did. And she shut it down, so I think she’s Team Evan, don’t worry.” She gentled her voice. “Remember, I’m on Team Evan, too.”
He still paced back and forth.
“Can I ask…is it really the end of the world if people knew we were dating?”
“Are we, though?”
“The tacos say yes.” Jess ignored the pain in her chest. “Maybe this isn’t the right time to be having this conversation.”
“No, maybe not.”
She leaned back against the couch and sipped her wine. “For what it’s worth, I think you’re a pretty decent guy to date. And if, at some point, you wanted to be my boyfriend, and go steady, that would be nifty.”
“Go steady?” He threw his head back and laughed, but it had a hard edge to it.
“Super nifty,” she repeated. “Swell, even.”
“I’m no Norman Rockwell painting, sweetheart.”
“I know. I’m not looking for that. I don’t think that was ever what I really wanted, Evan.”
