Yet Wyatt seemed serious about me.
As if he might actually want more.
And for the first time since I was a starry-eyed high-school dreamer, I wanted more too.
The streets of Kennett were ones I’d spent my whole life running through. All the familiar buildings flashed by, even though certain ones had changed over the years—businesses closing, new ones opening, places getting torn down and built up. Owen had broken down right outside town, or he would’ve hoofed it with the shop supplies. I cast a glance in my rearview to see the headlights still following. Wyatt seemed like the kind of guy who’d stay with you. A type of dependable I’d never been but sorely craved.
Up ahead, Owen’s familiar Pontiac appeared in view, and I began to slow down and pull to the side of the road.
The light was on inside the car, which surprised me, because normally Owen was a DIY kind of guy. I stopped behind his car, and Wyatt took a spot behind me. My heart thumped a little harder. This wasn’t bringing Wyatt to a Brannon family brunch sort of nerves, but with how much I’d found a home for myself at Alchemy Ink, it came close.
Hell, I wasn’t even introducing Wyatt as anything, but for sure Owen would catch what was going on. Fuck, I hoped I didn’t piss him off too for sleeping with Harper’s dad. Clearly, at this rate, the entire world would be pissed because Harper’s dad was a DILF I couldn’t resist.
Before I could overthink anything else, I hopped out of my car. The brisk breeze iced my cheeks, hitting me a little stronger.
“He’s got a good taste in cars,” Wyatt said from behind me.
“I’d say a better taste in cars would involve one not on the side of the road.”
We walked up to Owen’s car, and both the driver’s and passenger’s doors opened.
Owen hopped out of the driver’s side.
And Harper from the passenger’s.
Oh, fuck.
I froze in place. There wasn’t anywhere to bolt. Wyatt bumped to a stop behind me, the reminder that I’d arrived with him, and Harper was here. She was fucking here, and I didn’t have any believable excuse as to why her dad had arrived with me. Ice rushed through me.
“Hey, thanks,” Owen said as he glanced between me and Wyatt. “Shit, sorry. Did I interrupt a date?”
Yes, he had. Which was wild, because I, Rory Patrick Brannon, did not do dates.
Harper stared between me and her dad, and her brows drew together.
I blurted out the first thought that leapt into my head. “I was just checking his piercing!”
Owen clapped a hand over his mouth, trying and failing to hide a grin with the way his eyes crinkled.
Harper crossed her arms. “I’m well aware of what the piercing is thanks to your big mouth.” Her gaze sharpened, and the terse note in her voice rang my warning bells. Shit, we’d fucked up. We’d upset Harper, and there’d be no salvaging our friendship, and then Owen would hate me and I’d be out of a job too.
On top of all that, Wyatt would never want to see me again.
I’d be jobless, friendless, and I’d have lost my one shot at the guy of my dreams.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Heat burned at my eyes, and my breaths started to come faster. This was why I never put my heart on the line.
Emotions were for the birds.
“What’s going on, Dad?” Harper asked, a sharp note still in her voice.
“Wait, you’re her dad?” Owen asked, glancing between us. He shook his head and let out a low whistle. “Well, one of the reasons I called you out, Rory, was to give Harper a ride back to her car at the shop, while I wait for the tow. But if her dad is here, that resolves that.”
Right. If I’d had that information from the outset, we wouldn’t have shown up together.
I couldn’t bear to look behind me, to see the resignation on Wyatt’s face, the reality that this had been our one and only date.
