Bet Me Read online

  Min started to laugh. “You did pick him out. You sent me over there to meet him. Now, that’s funny.”

  “A fairy tale,” Cynthie said, sounding as if she wasn’t sure they were serious.

  Bonnie nodded. “Cal gave her the ball cap because it’s part of his quest.”

  “No, he gave her the ball cap because he’s courting,” Cynthie said, a little sharply. “It’s part of the attraction stage.”

  “Attraction stage,” Liza said.

  “He is not attracted—” Min began.

  “There are four stages to mature love,” Cynthie said. “Assumption, attraction, infatuation, and attachment.”

  “Now, see, I would have called the way he looks at her infatuation,” Liza said.

  “Excuse me?” Min said, looking at her best friend, the betrayer.

  “It’s the fairy tale,” Bonnie said.

  “It’s attraction,” Cynthie said flatly.

  “It’s love, a random reaction,” Liza said. “Chaos theory.”

  “Hey,” Min said, and they looked at her. “It’s a kind act by a friend because I don’t want freckles. Not everything is a theory.”

  “The fairy tale is not a theory,” Bonnie said. “Even if you won’t believe it’s happening to you, it’s happening to me.” She smiled at them all, too happy to be smug.

  “So how’s Roger?” Min said, more than willing to have somebody else be the topic at hand.

  “He is The One,” Bonnie said. “He’s going to propose in a couple of weeks and I’ll say yes. I told my mama to plan the wedding for August.”

  “He told you he’s going to propose?” Cynthie said, and when Bonnie looked at her, surprised, she said, “I’m writing a book on this. It’s none of my business, but I am interested.”

  “Oh,” Bonnie said. “Well, no, he hasn’t told me. I just know.”

  Min tried to look supportive, but the silence that settled over them must have reeked of skepticism because Bonnie turned back to the field and called Roger’s name. When he came trotting over to them, she said, “Honey, are you going to ask me to marry you?”

  “Yes,” he said. “I didn’t want to rush you, so I thought I’d wait till our one-month anniversary. It’s only eleven days.”

  “Very sensible,” Bonnie said. “Just so you know, I’m going to say yes.”

  Roger sighed. “That takes a lot of the worry out of it.” He leaned over and kissed her and went back to the field.

  “That was either really sweet or really annoying,” Liza said.

  “It was sweet,” Min said, trying to imagine Cal saying any of that. Stop thinking about him. “And annoying.”

  “I told you,” Bonnie said. “It’s the fairy tale. You have to believe.”

  “Positive thinking,” Cynthie said, nodding. “There’s good evidence for that. Could I interview you? For my book. Because this is fascinating. You’ve moved into the infatuation phase very quickly.”

  “Sure,” Bonnie said. “But it’s not infatuation. This is True Love. Like Cal and Min.”

  “Will you stop that?” Min said.

  “Of course,” Cynthie said to Bonnie with no conviction whatsoever, and they began to talk.

  Min took a deep breath and turned back to Liza. “Cynthie seems nice,” she said quietly, hoping for a conversation that didn’t have Cal in it.

  “She is,” Liza said. “But I think she wants Cal back.”

  Min gave up and stared out at the field where Cal was talking to somebody on third base. His face was serious again, and the kid nodded, hanging on his every word. What a darling, she thought and then remembered, No, beast, but that wasn’t working anymore. Well, it had never worked, really.

  “Are you going out tonight?” Liza asked.

  “Yes, but just as friends,” Min said. “He’s doing me a favor. We’re going to my mother’s so she can stop worrying about him being a vile seducer.”

  Liza shook her head, looking doubtful. “I don’t think meeting Cal is going to reassure your mother.”

  “Why not? Elvis likes him. And Elvis has very good instincts.”

  “Elvis?” Liza said, sounding alarmed.

  “The cat. I named him Elvis,” Min said.

  Liza sighed. “Thank God. I thought you’d finally cracked.”

  “Hey, I’m not the one who believes in the fairy tale,” Min said. “Or in chaos theory, for that matter.”

  “Or the four-step program to love,” Liza said, jerking her head toward Cynthie, who was listening to Bonnie finish up the theory of fairy tale love.

  “Right,” Min said. “That’s all garbage. You don’t need a theory, you just have to be practical, figure out what it is you want in a man, and then find one who has those things. Make a plan. Stick to it.” Her eyes went to Cal. “Don’t get distracted.”

  Liza rolled her eyes. “Or you could just fall the fuck in love.”

  “Oh, right,” Min said, looking away from Cal. “That’s like saying you could just fall off a building. Because it won’t hurt until you land.”

  Liza drew back. “I just meant—”

  “No,” Min said as several people turned to look at her. “You have to be sensible. It’s not silly love songs and sloppy kisses, it’s dangerous. People die for it. People die from it. Wars are fought. Empires fall.”

  “Uh, Min . . .”

  “It can ruin your life,” Min said, shutting her eyes so she wouldn’t look for Cal. “Which is why I’m staying friends with Cal, nothing more. I’d have to be insane to think there could be anything permanent. Masochistic. Suicidal. Delusional.”

  “Uh huh,” Liza said.

  “So that’s my plan,” Min said. “And I’m sticking to it.”

  “Right,” Liza said.

  When the game was over, Harry came up and said, “Uncle Cal said we can go to lunch if you’ll come,” and Min said, “Well . . .” and thought Calvin, you nephew-exploiting bastard. Still, lunch wouldn’t kill her. It was okay to have lunch with a friend. And his nephew. Like a chaperone.

  “Uh huh,” Liza said, even though Min hadn’t spoken.

  She made him take them to a retro diner where she and Harry played Elvis all the way through lunch, a new experience for Harry, who’d been raised on Chopin. Cal didn’t seem to mind. When they dropped her off, Harry said, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Min,” and she said, “Yes, you will. Dinner at Grandma’s.” Harry looked a little confused, and Cal said, “Harrison, I will pay you fifty bucks if you’ll call your grandmother that tomorrow.” “I don’t think so,” Harry said, and Min got out of the car feeling that tomorrow was going to explain a lot about Calvin Morrisey, assuming he lived through dinner that night with her parents.

  “Keep the cap, Minnie,” Cal said when she tried to hand it back to him through the window. “You look good in it. I’ll pick you up at eight.” Then he drove off and left her feeling ridiculously happy, which couldn’t be good.

  “You’re a mess,” she told herself, and went to get ready for dinner with her mother.

  That evening, Cal picked up Min in his ancient Mercedes. She was sitting on the bottom step when he got there, dressed in a plain black dress that she’d pulled over her knees. She looked like a cranky nun.

  “What are you doing down here?” he said when he got out of the car.

  “You have to put up with my parents,” she said, standing up. “It didn’t seem fair to make you do those steps, too.”

  “I don’t mind climbing as long as you’re at the top.” Cal looked down at her feet. She was wearing plain black flats, no toes showing at all. “Why the awful shoes?”

  “They’re not awful,” Min said. “They’re classic. Like your car, which is very nice and yet somehow not what I’d pictured you in.”

  “Graduation present.” Cal opened the door for her. “Never look a gift car in the mouth. Get in, Minnie, we do not want to be late.”

  When he was in the driver’s seat, Min said, “For the MBA?”

  “What?”