Charlotte exhaled. “Well, you’re officially my Secret Keeper.”
“And you’re mine.”
“I say we stick together.” She turned to look at him. “What do you say? Partners?”
His mouth dropped open. “Why, Charlotte…” He trailed off, his brows pushing together.
“Donovan,” she said.
“Charlotte Donovan, are you asking me to be your fake Turtledove?”
“It’s not fake,” she said, laughing too. “Look, neither of us is looking to actually date someone here, right?”
He shook his head, then pointed to a white guy with a red beard standing by the doughnuts. “I’ve known that dude since preschool. Jameson. He ate glue. And crayons, now that I think about it.”
Charlotte grinned. “So we hang out during these events. We…look out for each other. You can tell your mother and Dorian and whoever else that you met a mesmerizing violinist named Charlotte—”
“My, we are confident.”
“—and you can help me keep my distance from Brighton. We don’t even have to use the worddating. We just let our proximity speak for itself.”
He pursed his mouth in thought. “And we both stay safe from Jenny’s mating calls.”
“Is she going to be at other events?”
“Oh, she comes to every single one. Loves matching up all the sad and lonely queers in town.”
Charlotte winced. “All the more reason.”
He paused again, his gaze going to where Sloane was now standing with Manish and Brighton. Charlotte felt everything that had gone loose inside her in the past half hour tighten up again. But no…Brighton wouldn’t tell anyone about them. The truth only made her look like an asshole.
Still, Charlotte had the sudden urge to hold Wes’s hand, just for some human connection, something alive and warm other than her own frantic heartbeat.
“Please,” she said, her voice bordering on begging. She cleared her throat. “I promise not to fall in love with you.”
He scoffed. “That’s what everyone in a romantic comedy says before they promptly fall in love.”
“Yeah, but I actually mean it,” Charlotte said. “I don’t even think I can…” She trailed off, her gaze drifting and landing on Brighton without her even realizing it. She yanked her attention back to Wes, smiled broadly. He was looking at her with narrowed eyes, an expression that called bullshit.
“And we both know you won’t fall in love with me,” she said.
He sighed dramatically. “As much as I might want to…probably not.”
She nudged his shoulder with hers. “So?”
“So. You’ve got a deal, partner.”
She held out her gloved hand, and he took it, kissing her knuckles softly, winking as he did so.
“Oh, you are good,” she said.
He grinned. “Was there ever any doubt?”
Chapter 10
Late that afternoon, Brighton closedherself in Adele’s room and called her mother.
Hi, this is Bonnie! Leave a message, and I’ll get back to you—
