“Please. More like twenty minutes.”
“It’s felt like forever.”
She flipped Jed off and felt better.
He gave a ghost of a grin. “YourfriendMack took out his frustration with his family on you. No question.” Apparently Jed wasn’t buying the idea that she and Mack were merely friends.
She flushed. “Go on.”
“But you should have given yourfriendthe benefit of being an asshole. You said Mack was amazing with your parents, the two supportive people who always make you feel like you belong.”
“Yeah?”
“He doesn’t seem to have that. The Reveres are known for being stellar officers. Everyone knows that last name. It’s like cop royalty. It has to be tough for Mack being the sole firefighter in the family, the guy who doesn’t fit in. Can’t you see how awkward that would be? And especially when they gush all about the girl he brings over and he’s still not good enough to sit at the grown-up table?”
“What grown-up table?” She’d been with Jed until that comparison.
“Sorry. The kids have been bitching about sitting at the kids’ table when we go to Shannon’s folks’ next week to celebrate a late Thanksgiving. You’re more than invited to come.”
“Ugh, no, thanks. I’ve already had two celebrations this week. Oh, in case I forgot to tell you, happy Thanksgiving.”
“Don’t change the subject. My whole point was Mack’s date seemed to have a better time than he did with his family. And that’s gotta be tough.”
“Yeah.” She sighed. “I told him to fuck off when he left.”
“Oh, nice.” Jed shook his head. “Is he coming back?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you want him to come back?”
Miserable, she wanted to yellYes.“Maybe.”
Jed sighed. “You know I hate talking feelings.”
“And yet you’ve done nothing but Dr. Phil me for the past five minutes.”
“Remember what you said to Mack?”
“Fuck off?”
“Yeah, fuck off.”
She sighed. “Sorry. I’m frustrated.”
“I can tell. Look. Just talk to the guy. And before our game next Saturday. So you have time. You do know we have a soccer match with the Burning Embers to make up for the disqualified mud fight a few weeks ago next week. Are you going?”
“Of course.”
“Then figure out what you want from yourfriendbefore then.”
“Would you stop sayingfriendlike you don’t believe me? Or putting it in air quotes?”
In air quotes, he responded, “What-ever.”
She snorted. “Such a jerk.” She paused. “So did you and Shannon ever talk about that baby you don’t want?”
He flushed. “Yeah. She cried a lot. Talked about her time as a mom being over and shit. That she feels like she’s shriveling into an old lady.”
