“It is, right? Growing a human is the coolest thing ever.” Emma was beaming.
Jessica still felt a little bit light-headed so she took a big bite of her apple turnover, hoping the sugar would do its thing for her too.
“You okay?” Emma asked.
“Yeah, you do look a little pale.” Mandy frowned at her.
“Low blood sugar,” Jessica said once she’d swallowed. “Missed lunch, but I’m making up for it now.”
“Good plan.” Mandy took a sip of her own coffee. “Hey, we’ve been so focused on training for the Adrenaline Rush that we’re way overdue for a girls’ night, don’t you think?”
“We are,” Emma agreed. “I’ve got classes tonight and Thursday. Are you guys free tomorrow?”
“Works for me,” Mandy said.
“I should be able to make it.” Jessica glanced at her calendar between bites of apple turnover. She should be able to leave the spa by seven, and she could really use a night out.
“Count me in,” Carly said, walking up behind them. “We’re definitely behind on our gossip. In fact, Jessica, I heard a rumor you kissed Mark at the Halloween party.”
Jessica choked on her coffee. It seared its way into her lungs, and if she wasn’t mistaken, some went up her nose too. She coughed and spluttered. “What?”
Emma and Mandy stared at her, eyes wide.
Carly was grinning like a fool. “Way to go, girlfriend. He is seriously hot, especially with that whole silent, mysterious vibe he’s got going. He’s always been my favorite of the Off-the-Grid trio. No offense, Emma.”
“None taken.” Emma was grinning now too. “You and Mark? When did this happen?”
“I never said…” Jessica coughed again. Her eyes were watering, and she definitely had coffee up her nose.
Mandy raised her eyebrows dramatically. “I don’t think you have to at this point.”
“Aw, man, it looks like I just missed something good!” Gabby hurried up to their table, iPad in hand. “That’s what I get for being late.”
“Jessica was just about to tell us all about kissing Mark at the Halloween party,” Emma said.
“What?” Gabby dropped the iPad. It clattered to the table, sloshing coffee onto Jessica’s fingers.
Goddamn coffee.She cleared her throat. “Um.”
They were all staring at her with huge smiles on their faces.
“Fine.” She wiped her fingers on a napkin. “I kissed Mark at the Halloween party. And…a couple of other times.” No need to mention the fact she’d slept with him that morning, not until she and Mark had had more of a chance to talk.
“Yes!” Emma fist-pumped the air.
Gabby looked thoughtful as she picked up her iPad. “When I first met you, I thought you guys hated each other, but it was attraction all along, wasn’t it?”
“I did hate him, or I tried really hard to anyway.” Jessica swallowed the last bite of her turnover. “He was an idiot in high school. He broke my heart, and he hasn’t changed a bit so I don’t know why I’m even wasting my time kissing him.”Or sleeping with him.
“Well, I didn’t know him in high school,” Gabby said. “But he strikes me as a really honorable guy. Are you sure he hasn’t changed?”
Jessica stared into her mostly empty coffee cup. “Heishonorable. He always has been. He wouldn’t hurt me on purpose…but he’s just so closed off. I was naïve enough in high school to think we’d be fine anyway, and look where that got me.”
Emma frowned. “It’s true. He’s always been like that.”
“Yes, he has. We were inseparable back then. We were soulmates, or at least I thought we were. But while I was planning our future together, he was enlisting in the Army. He didn’t even tell me until the day before he shipped out.”
“He didn’t tell you he’d enlisted?” Carly asked, eyes wide.
