And, okay, maybe things felt different now. They were both adults; they’d both changed and grown…but he’d always been a serial dater and an adventure junkie. Did she really think that even if he was interested in her as more than a friend that he could settle down in Misty Peak long term? The idea felt insane.
“Someone looks deep in their own head.”
She turned to glance at Molly, who was wiping down the counter. “I’m…”
“Thinking about Art?”
She lifted her brows. She’d mentioned the lawyer earlier, even said she might go on a date with him…lies. All lies.
Molly held out her hand. “Give me your phone. I want to see those dreamy brown eyes again.”
Dreamy? Yeah right, the only dreamy eyes in her head were ridiculously blue.
She unlocked her phone and clicked into Art’s profile before handing the cell to Molly, who proceeded to swoon. “He’s cute. And a lawyer, so he’s got to be smart and have his life together. And it says he’s six foot.”
“If it says he’s six foot, he’s five ten. Guys always lie about their height on that thing.” It was something she’d learned early on. And she shouldn’t care, right? She shouldn’t obsess over the fact that none of them were six four…like Jace.
Stop thinking about him, Elle!
“I think you should go out with him.”
Elle shook her head. “No.”
“What? Why? He’s perfect on paper. And he’s been sweet and patient in messages.”
Maybe that was it; she didn’t want sweet and patient. She wanted fun and playful. Someone with some attitude. “I’m just a bit over dating these random guys.” Sure, she’d only been on a handful of dates, but when they were all as terrible as hers had been, it felt like more.
Molly frowned. “Because you like someone else?”
“What?” Shit. That came out way too quickly and high pitched.
“I mean, you and Jace seemed quite close at the table earlier today, and—”
“No.” She shook her head so vigorously, it probably looked like she was having uncontrollable chills. “We’re friends. We’ve been friends for a million years, and it’s never surpassed that. I don’t think it ever will.”
Why did her heart ache when she said that?
Molly watched her closely. “Are you sure? Because I was thinking I might…”
Elle’s heart dropped. It shouldn’t. She knew Molly was interested in Jace. Hell, she’d basically asked him out already; this shouldn’t come as a surprise.
“You should. Ask him out again, I mean.” She swallowed the lump in her throat. The words hurt, but there was no way she was going to tell another personnotto make a move. She had no right over him. At the end of the day, it would be Jace’s choice whether he said yes or not.
Molly frowned at her. “Really? Because if you tell me you like him in that way, I won’t. I’ll stay away.”
“Molly, you’re gorgeous, he’s gorgeous, and you’ve got nothing to lose.”
She handed back the phone. “Okay. If you’re sure. You’ll have to tell me more about him so I know what to talk to him about and he won’t get bored.”
“A man getting bored of you? I can’t see that happening.”
“Pfft. I’m not that great. And what about you? You gonna date the lawyer?”
She sighed. “It doesn’t look like he’s—”
At that moment, a text came through from Art…but it wasn’t the text she’d been expecting.
What the heck?
