Jillian knocked her bangs out of her face.“I loved thatbook.Isn’t there going to be another author with her, though?”
“Yeah, I think Sophie Jordan and Jay Crownover are going tobe there.”I glanced over at the couple walking past our table.“You want tomeet at the bookstore?”
She nodded as she picked up her glass.“So,” she drew theword out.“This Colton guy you mentioned?You went to high school with him?”
I bit back a sigh.I didn’t know why I even brought him up,but I had, and I was woman enough to admit that I wanted to obsess over everylittle thing he’d said to me, but all I managed was a tight nod.
Jillian turned her head to the side and shot me a sidelongglance.“You know, when you brought him up earlier, you blushed.”
“I did not.”
“Yes, you did.”
My eyes narrowed, but I laughed because yeah, I probablydid.“I had the biggest crush on him in high school, and I know that’s terriblebecause I was with Kevin and that probably makes me a terrible person.”
“No, it doesn’t.”She rolled her eyes.“Just because youwere with someone doesn’t mean you’re blind to everyone around you.”
“True.”I paused.“And Colton was hot.”
Jillian giggled.“Was?”
“And now he like puts an extra ‘o’ and ‘t’ in hot.He…heactually remembered me.Like he knew what class we shared.”
Her brows rose, disappearing under her bangs.“Really?”
I nodded as I scrunched my nose.“And I think he wasflirting with me.Okay.He was definitely flirting with me, but I think he’sjust a flirt.And guys who are flirts will flirt with anyone.”I paused.“Iwonder how many times I can say ‘flirt’ in a sentence?”
Jillian gave a close-lipped smile.“Oh, I know all aboutguys who will flirt with anything that’s breathing.”She glanced over at theempty table.“Anyway, maybe he’s interested.”
“Ah, I don’t know about that.”Caving in, I scooped up thelast little crumb of cake.
She frowned.“Why?You’re smart and funny.You’re pretty,and you love books.Why wouldn’t he be interested?”
“Thanks,” I laughed.“But he was engaged up until six monthsago.”
“Oh.”Her lips pursed.
“And I’m not judging the fact he was in a previous seriousrelationship because so was I, but…” I stopped myself, laughing again.“Why amI even thinking about it in that kind of manner?I saw him last night becausehe’s the detective investigating a homicide I witnessed and he stopped by thismorning.”I shook my head, clearing those thoughts away.“I don’t even need tothink about this in that way.”
“I don’t know,” she replied after a moment.“But this wholething sort of reminds me of a romance trope.”
Another laugh burst out of me.“It sure does, except in reallife, it never works out that way.”
The truth was, even though that kind of thing only everhappened in books, I secretly dreamed of it happening to me.Sort of like agrown version of a girlie fantasy.
She shrugged as a far-off look appeared in her gaze and herresponse was soft.“I don’t know about that.I like to believe—I need tobelieve—that happily ever afters exist in real life too.”In that moment, shesuddenly looked far older than nineteen.“For all of us.”
After dinner, I stopped at the grocery store in town,picking up a couple of necessary work items.
Coffee.
5-hour Energy drinks.
Skittles.
Chocolate.
Coke Zero.
