“I think it’s going to rain.”
She shook her head. “It won’t. We need it too badly. You should come to the show tomorrow night, by the way. We’ve been rehearsing a new routine.”
“Yeah. Well. Assuming you don’t kill me during dinner. Or that Danielle doesn’t hunt me down and do it. Or maybe even more likely, her father.”
“Is her dad mad at you?”
“Oh, I’m sure he’s about to be. My mom called. She’s all wound up.”
“Oh.”
He opened the passenger side door of the truck. “Get on in.”
He got into the driver’s side and thought again how stupid it was that they were playing this game. “You look great, by the way.”
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, and her cheeks were lit up pink. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I mean, you look great too. You do.”
“Thanks.”
“I don’t really know to do this. Dates.”
He laughed. “Me neither. But here we are. It’s a great excuse to go to Adeline. I hear the food is amazing. Farm to table and all of that.”
“Well, that sounds decidedly above my pay grade.” He looked at her again, and she squared her shoulders, seeming uncomfortable. “What?” she asked.
“Nothing. You just seem a little bit more feral than normal.”
“I don’t ever bring anybody out to my house. I do have money, actually. It’s just I’m used to the way I was raised.”
He put his truck in reverse, turned around, and headed back out toward the road. “I’m the last person to judge anyone about something like that.”
“Well. Good. Because I’m not home to judgment. I dealt with enough of all of that back in school.”
He frowned. From his memory, Jessie was really popular in school—at least with a certain crowd. No, it was never the preppy kids, like the pack his half siblings ran with, but she had been very well liked in general.
“I remember you having a lot of friends.”
“Sure. Later. But not when I was really young. I barely had any. Nobody wanted to hang out with me. I was … one of the weird-ass Hancocks. And I just … I carry that with me.”
“You don’t seem to care about what anybody thinks.”
He could feel her staring at the side of his head. “I’m a performer. Who’s also running for mayor.”
They were silent for a moment, and he let her words sink in. Let them get under the top layer of his skin. Well. The things she was doing definitely indicated someone who cared what other people thought. But she just … She was such a wild card. She gave off the vibe that she didn’t care what anyone said about her or thought.
“Just forget it. You’ve seen my house.”
“You don’t bring any of your gentleman callers back home?”
“I can’t say that I ever have.”
That made him feel satisfied for some reason. Like he had an edge on those guys, even though he hadn’t slept with her. He had been to her house. So there. And they were going on a date, which was something. It just was.
“Well. One of these days, you’re going to let me in.”
