“Those sound like the words of somebody in love,” he said, sounding very pleased with himself.
“Jake.”
“Give me a half hour, and I’ll meet you out at your pond.”
“Why the pond?
“My work is done for the day. If I have to go girl-talk with you, my consolation prize is that I’m fishing at the same time.”
I went ahead and shoved another bite into my mouth, letting the warm chocolate make me feel better. “Why do I put up with you?
“My mom calls me a sweetie-pie.”
“Ew. See you in a few.”
* * *
I brought my fishing pole,too. It took me five minutes of rummaging around the basement storage room to find the pole, only to spend another five minutes untangling the line from three other poles that hadn’t been used in a decade.
It felt weird having a Saturday night without seeing Logan. Jake had counted our date from Thursday since the rest of the weekend we’d both be with our families over the Fourth of July. My family had hosted our annual neighborhood get-together, where Logan had made an appearance along with a hundred of our closest neighbors and family. Though he had been friendly, he had also been noticeably distant, which led to an impressive internal freak-out on the part of yours truly. Hence me calling Jake in a panic.
I had dragged two camp chairs to the pond. I sat in one while waiting for Jake and enticing the fish with a half-mauled worm skewered on the hook. My foot jiggled restlessly. I should have called Kelsey. She was used to my confessionals, but it was weird talking to her about her brother. Anyway, it was too late now. Here I was, waiting for a known prankster and self-proclaimed matchmaker to listen as I bared my soul.
“Caught anything yet?”
Jake settled into the chair beside me. He was wearing a t-shirt, basketball shorts, boots, and a cowboy hat and looking as at home with himself as I had ever seen him before.
“Not yet. You might be disappointed in the fishing tonight. I’m pretty sure it’s been years since this pond was last stocked.”
“Joke’s on you because I always leave disappointed when I’m fishing.”
Jake readied his pole and cast his line. When I said nothing else, he looked over at me. I averted my gaze and focused steadily on the pond. Jake cleared his throat expectantly.
“Girl-talk starts now. You have five minutes.”
I drew in a big breath, trying to sort all my emotions into something I could tell Jake without dying of embarrassment. “I like Logan. I knew I had the potential to like him again going into this stupid bet, but I hoped that the fact that I got dumped by a player would cure me. Apparently, I’m a glutton for punishment. I don’t want to like him, but I can’t seem to help it.” I searched around for something I could bury my burning face in but found nothing.
“It was that kiss I interrupted, wasn’t it?”
My first thought went to the kiss in the water—the one I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about—until I remembered that Jake hadn’t seen that one. Nobody saw it. But he did see the one in the trees. “Shut up.”
Jake rubbed his hands together with glee. “My evil plan worked.”
I bumped his shoulder with mine. “Only half of it. Can you call off the bet?”
He held up his hands. “I can’t call off the bet. Especially with that truck on the line.”
“You’re not normal, by the way. Who puts that much on the line for a bet? It’s crazy.”
“Because I have eyes. Trust me, there’s no way he’s walking away this summer with that truck. Mark my words.”
A thrill rose up inside of me before I squashed it back down to reality. “I think you’re underestimating how much money that is for him. He could start his own business.”
Jake shook his head. “He could start his own business anytime, with or without the truck money. He’s just scared. He needs a push and a reason to date somebody real.”
“Real?”
“He hasn't dated anybody with the intention of settling down for a few years now.”
