“Good?”
“Fine.Reallygood.”
Jacks had walked away to retrieve another case,but his voice drifted from the back, “On a scale of ‘pleasant’ to ‘life-changing’—”
“Can we not do this right now? We have a watch party to prep for—”
“The watch party can wait. This is important.” Mark leaned against the bar. “I need to know if this is a one-time thing or if you’re dating this guy, because you’ve been texting him for a week and now you’re doing the walk of shame—”
“It wasn’t a walk of shame—”
“—and I need to know if I should be preparing for you to be distracted and useless for the foreseeable future.”
“Yeah. We’re—yeah. We’re going to see each other again.”
“Officially?”
“Officially,” I surrendered.
“Excellent.” Mark grinned. “I’ll ease up—for now. Just know that I expect regular updates.”
“You’re worse than Priya.”
“Priya and I have been texting about this all morning, actually. She’s thrilled. She’s also concerned that you’re going to self-sabotage, but mostly, she’s thrilled.”
“Why would I self-sabotage—”
“Because you always do when things are going well. You get nervous and start overthinking and—” Markwaved a hand. “But we’re not doing that this time. This time you’re going to let yourself be happy and see where this boyfriend thing goes.”
“He’s not my boyfriend—”
“Yet.” Mark winked. “He’s not your boyfriend yet.”
Jacks laughed—a big, genuine sound that bounced around the room like a massive ping-pong ball. “Man, I love this. Boss is getting his life together. Opening a bar, dating a hot lawyer. Living the dream.”
My phone buzzed.
Mark and Jacks froze. And stared. I don’t think either of them breathed.
Reluctantly, I pulled it out of my pocket and flicked the screen to life.
Chase: How’s prep going?
Me: Being interrogated by Mark and Jacks about last night.
Chase: Oh God. What did you tell them?
Me: That the crepes were really good.
Chase: Just the crepes?
Me: I love sausage.
Chase: Oh, I know. I’ve tasted yours.
Me: Now I’m blushing again . . . in front of the enemy.
Chase: You’re welcome.
