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“If Yvette isn’t your type,” his mother went on, “what about Mia Deans? Remember her?”

Mia had grown up a few houses down the street and had been in the same grade as him. She still lived with her parents. “She owns ferrets,” Jace said. “And she named them after Star Trek characters.”

Olivia leaned forward. “I have single friends who live in Lark Springs.”

“So do I,” Elsie put in.

His family was going to trot out every woman in town until they wore him down. He did not bolt, but he did edge off the couch and held up his hands to stop the barrage. “None of you need to set me up. I’m perfectly capable of asking women out on my own.” To prove the point, he added, “In fact, I ran into Marlowe Partridge today, and we agreed to get together.”

Lucas narrowed his eyes. “You asked her out?”

Jace wished he had a better answer. “She works at a salon. I said I would get a haircut sometime so we could catch up.”

“That’s not a date,” Lucas said. “That’s a business transaction.” He turned to Elsie and Olivia. “He totally needs your help. Your friends, are they pretty?”

“I don’t need anyone’s help,” Jace insisted. A plan had sparked in his brain like kindling catching fire—a way to make Jennifer look better by comparison. “When I see Marlowe next, I’m going to ask her out.”

Carson rubbed his chin in thought. “Marlowe? Wait, wasn’t she that juvenile delinquent girlfriend who got arrested for vandalizing Safeway?”

Jace smiled. “Technically, they don’t arrest minors. She was detained and taken into custody.” And that was the reason she was the perfect person for Jace to date. She was the one girl that his parents had disliked even more than Jennifer.

That opinion had been misguided on their part. Marlowe had never been a juvenile delinquent. She’d been a cheerleader who loved fashion and all things in the world of hair and makeup. At some point, she’d given every girl in LSH a makeover. They had consulted her as if she were an oracle, and she was always happy to help them. Under different circumstances, his parents would have liked her.

But the circumstances had been this: At the beginning of Marlowe’s sophomore year and Jace’s senior, she was part of a group text where some jocks bragged that they were going to spray-paint a slur about one of the girls at school on the side of the grocery store. Safeway sat on the corner of the street that led to the school, so everyone would see it in the morning when they drove by.

Marlowe hadn’t even been friends with the girl the guys targeted, but she got up early the next morning to blacken out their words.

Unfortunately, Mr. Copley, the curmudgeonly owner of Safeway, caught her in the act and either didn’t believe her or didn’t care why she was spray-painting the side of his store. He detained her and called the police.

That’s what the talk at school had been about that day, not the unreadable message scrawled on the wall, but about Marlowe getting cuffed and escorted into the back of a police car while a bus full of people witnessed the incident. The pictures of her walk of shame were all over social media before classes even started.

The other girls in the cheerleading squad tried to do damage control, telling people that Marlowe had been spraying over a slur. Most people believed it, or at least the ones who knew her best did. She had a reputation for being kind.

Jace had never given Marlowe much thought until then. Sure, she’d been pretty, but she was two years younger than him, so they didn’t have any classes together. He knew she was friendly to everyone, though, even the unpopular students. He agreed with the people who believed she’d been doing slur-control.

Marlowe didn’t show up at school until lunchtime. She swept into the cafeteria, head held high, and lifted her hands to get everyone’s attention. “At the end of high school, we vote for who’s most likely to succeed and whatever the rest of that list is. If there’s a category for most likely to be arrested, I just made the vote really easy for you guys.” She took a dramatic bow. “You’re welcome.”

She was so beautiful and confident, so unapologetic about standing up for the underdog. Right then, he stopped caring that she was too young for him.

Back when he started dating Marlowe, he’d explained her vandalism charge to his parents, but they hadn’t believed him. “When someone gets caught in a crime,” his father had said, “they always have a good excuse. No one ever admits their real motives.”

Now Jace’s mother was staring at him like his judgment of women had failed him again. Her hands clasped and unclasped. “You and Marlowe never had a lot in common. That probably hasn’t changed.”

“Opposites attract,” Jace said with a shrug as though love was a mysterious thing that couldn’t be explained. And he was about to make this even worse for his parents. “Have you seen her around town? She has a purple streak in her hair. She told me she dyed it to match her aura.”

His mother coughed in alarm. Success. Jennifer was looking better by the minute.

Jace added, “Marlowe said she was a roadie for a hard rock band a while back. They all dyed their hair that way.”

“Mmmhmm,” Carson said, also disapproving. “Didn’t she dump you back in high school? Maybe her opposite isn’t so attracted to yours.”

“Our breakup was more of a mutual decision.”

Lucas gave him the side-eye. “You know she’s going to shoot down the idea of dating you again, right?” He turned to Olivia. “When you said that you have single friends who are pretty, one of them was Annie, right? Since she’s a nurse—which makes her like a doctor but with a smaller ego—I think she and Jace would click.”

No. Jace wouldn’t let his family set him up. “I’m going to ask Marlowe out, and I’m sure she’ll say yes.” Because he had a proposition she wouldn’t turn down.

His mother shot worried looks at his father. “Marlowe wasn’t really the best influence on you during high school. You should probably find someone who has similar values. And you know, a woman who wants to stay on the right side of the law.”