Jacob cleared his throat. Or maybe it was a strangled cough that slipped from his chest. Either way, he’d garnered the attention now.
“What is it?” Tripp demanded.
“What? I didn’t say anything,” Jacob insisted. He glanced only briefly at Tripp. Then he turned his gaze to Brent. “Sometimes matters like this one can’t be helped. If the girl wants to move on, then Tripp needs to know when to cut his losses.”
Tripp jumped down from the tailgate, his boots kicking up dirt at his feet. “What do you know?” he snapped. “And don’t try tobrush me off. I know you know something. So spill it. What did she say?”
“Who?” Jacob asked. “Wendy? I don’t talk to her. How would I know?—”
Tripp grasped his friend’s t-shirt with both of his hands and pulled him closer, their faces inches apart. “I told you not to brush me off. And don’t play this game with me. Semantics. You know something. Whether it came from Wendy or it came from someone else, you know something.”
“Jacob, just tell him,” Tate sighed.
Tripp’s eyes cut to his friend and his eyes narrowed further. “Are you?—”
His growl was cut off when Tate’s eyes widened with what could only be fear and he raised both hands palms outward. “What? No. There’s nothing going on between Wendy and me. I know better. I saw the way the two of you were the other day.”
He couldn’t decide if he believed the guy. Jacob wrestled out of Tripp’s hold and shot him a withering stare. “Sheesh, man. Lighten up. The only thing I know is that Hallie wants to set Wendy up with someone. She said she thought it would be best for Wendy to get you out of her system.”
Tripp muttered a curse. There was no way he’d allow that to happen. She couldn’t just run away like that. They had been doing so well together. Granted, they weren’t dating, but he could see a future for the both of them if they’d stayed on the track they’d been heading down.
“No,” he snapped.
“No?” This time Jacob laughed as he smoothed out his shirt over his chest. “Really? Last I heard, you have no jurisdiction over what Wendy Scott wants to do with her time. This isn’t up to Hallie or me. It’s up to her. And if you want to stand in her way, be my guest. Unfortunately, from what I heard you can’t do that if she won’t even let you speak to her.”
Tripp shoved his hands into his hair, knocking his hat from his head as he paced back and forth. This was bad. Wendy was finally taking action. He’d thought he had more time to give her space before she gave into her fears and completely pushed him away. “I don’t care what you say, Jacob. You’re not setting her up. Hallie can recruit some other idiot for this.”
Jacob laughed, drawing Tripp’s focus. “I didn’t realize you had it this bad.”
“Oh, he’s got it bad.” This time Tate was the one to speak. “You should have seen the way they were at the burger place off tenth.” He scratched at his temple and a frown replaced his amusement. “Only…”
“What, Tate. Spit it out,” Tripp snapped.
“It’s a little weird now that I’m thinking about it. I can read people pretty well. And from what I could see, that girl had it just as bad for you.”
For the first time in a long while, a glimmer of hope shone through the frustration Tripp had been drowning in.
“Really?” Jacob’s tone was flat and disbelieving.
“Really.” Tate crossed his arms. “Lydia tried flirting with Tripp and that didnotmake Wendy happy. I thought we’d have a catfight on our hands.”
Jacob’s expression turned contemplative. “Do you think that could have triggered this whole thing? Jealousy?”
“No,” Tripp muttered, rubbing his back. “I teased her a little about being jealous and she denied it.”
“Did you show any interest in anyone else?”
Tripp glowered at Jacob who only laughed, taking Tripp’s reaction as answer enough.
“And if you didn’t do anything specific to make her mad, there’s no other logical reason she’d ghost you.”
Tate snorted. “Since when are women logical.”
Jacob’s lips twitched but Tripp’s mind was already working. Hallie wanted to set Wendy up on a blind date. She’d gone to Jacob to make that happen. And she didn’t know all of Jacob’s friends.
He tossed a look at Tate out of the corner of his eye, briefly wondering if Jacob had already offered to set him up with Wendy and they’d come here to see how Tripp would take it. He swallowed down the vitriol that came with that idea and shifted his focus to something that would actually be helpful.
“Maybe it would be better if Jacob did set her up with someone,” Brent murmured.
