“What do you mean?” Sheldon finally gets out. “You two are cousins. You can’t be her date.”
Dead silence hits our group as Jenson says nothing to break the awkwardness, and I freeze up completely.
“He means her friend-date,” Hayley says finally with a quick glance at me. “Duh, Sheldon. Haven’t you ever heard of it? It’s called helping a friend out of a jam. Which clearly Olivia needs.”
“That is so sweet,” Cara says, her eyes softening. “My mom told me her brother was her date to the prom because her boyfriend dumped her last-minute.”
Super.
“You’re really going to look out for her?” Sheldon asks Jenson in a serious tone. “You’ll protect Olivia from the sea of men our relatives will no doubt send her way at her brother’s wedding?”
Jenson rubs my shoulder briefly but purposefully. “I’ll always protect her.”
“Cool.” Sheldon reaches out to shake Jenson’s hand. “All joking aside, that’s a weight off my mind then. Our mom is bad on a good day with this set-up crap, but I know that at my wedding, she’s bound to be downright nuts.”
Before Jenson can respond, I interrupt to mention I’m worried about Daphne.
My attempt at distraction does the trick.
“So am I, but I can’t get her to come out anymore,” Sheldon says. “And I hate going to her house. She’s always so moody.”
I say that maybe it’s because of the stress of having to take care of a family.
Cara agrees with me. “The first two to three years of your child’s life are really stressful. Her husband’s gone all day, and she’s home alone with the kids.”
“I can understand that,” Sheldon says. “But there’s a difference between stress and misery.” He waxes into a long soliloquy on why Daphne’s unhappy, ending with the theory that her marriage wasn’t on solid footing from the beginning. “And if you’re not solid before the kids,” he says as he raps his knuckle on the oak coffee table in front of us. “What chance do you have?”
Jenson nods slowly. “I have to agree with you there.”
I lean back against the couch the same time Jenson does, and our arms accidentally touch. Heat scorches my side like I’m on fire. I resist the urge to lean into him, nearly biting down on my lip to stay still. This is ridiculous—I sound like I’m in junior high school talking about my first crush.
When Sheldon and Cara start kissing, Jenson says to me in a low voice, “You want to get out of here?”
My gaze drops to his lips and then shifts back up to his eyes. “How?” I mouth.
“Let’s hang out a little longer,” he says in a low voice. “And then you say you’re tired. I’ll meet you at the corner of Oak.”
We spend the rest of the time flirting with each other but pretending not to. Hayley gives me a look, or several looks, but Sheldon seems clueless. Jenson snaps my bra when I lean forward to pick up my drink, and I curse out loud.
“What happened?” Sheldon says.
“Oh,” I stammer. “Nothing. I just…Jenson flicked my back.”
“Still teasing your cousin, huh?” Sheldon says. “Well, you’ll be able to do that as much as you want to now that you’re moving home.”
“Hey, Olivia,” Hayley says abruptly, “come with me while I get a muffin.”
She stands up, and I follow her as she walks toward the counter but then veers at the last second and walks over to the corner table, where no one ever sits because it’s so dimly lit, and you have to practically step over the garbage can to reach it. She takes a seat and gestures I do the same.
“I remember the night you told me about him,” Hayley says without taking time for a lead-in.
I can’t blame her for her lack of a preamble. We probably have about two minutes of peace before Sheldon barges over.
I smile. “You’re the only person in my life who knows the whole story. Of course, I didn’t remember I told you because I was drunk.”
“I came by the bank with coffee in the morning and said something about your cousin, and you turned white as a sheet. It was like you thought I’d pulled your deepest secret out of you while you were sleeping.” Hayley reaches over to give me a hug. “I’m so happy to finally meet him. He’s super hot. And nice. He’s one of the good ones, Olive.”
I nod. “He is. And I owe you for the save. Friend-date? You made it all okay. Thank you so much, Hayl.”
