The Boyfriend Project Read online

  “See you later,” she said, and wandered off.

  I looked back toward the front of the room. Kendall was gone and so was my chance to talk with her. It was probably for the best. Or at least that’s what I told myself.

  Chapter 35

  KENDALL

  I texted Avery to let her know I was running late. I’d finally managed to answer all the questions that some of the volunteers had and slipped out without catching Jeremy’s eye. Not that he would have noticed me. He was pretty focused on Jade.

  Chase was waiting for me, leaning against my car, feet crossed at the ankles, arms folded over his chest. “Hey,” he said.

  I arrived a little breathless. “Hi.”

  “Want to hit a pancake house?”

  “Thanks, but I’m meeting Avery. We need to work out some details regarding Bark in the Park.”

  “This fund-raiser is really keeping you hopping.”

  We’d only seen each other when we worked the same shift at the shelter. We hadn’t had any dates since Sunday. “Yeah, but I love it.”

  “How about we catch dinner Saturday after the event?”

  I welcomed the chance to have a distraction. I didn’t want to sit around at home and have flashbacks of all the flirting I was certain Jade and Jeremy would do during the gun show. I smiled. “I’d love to.”

  “Okay, then. It’s a date.”

  He walked off. I opened my car door, climbed behind the wheel, set the thick notebook with everything that needed to be done for the weekend on the seat beside me, and sighed. I’d been a little worried that Jeremy might try to corner me tonight, might talk to me, and I wasn’t sure I could be totally cool about it. He’d looked so wonderful sitting there with Fletcher, so confident. It occurred to me that he might really have a chance of beating Chase and Fletcher. As far as I was concerned, of the six gunslingers, they were the top contenders.

  My phone buzzed.

  Avery:

  Where are you?

  I quickly texted back that I was on my way. Then I started the car and headed out. I’d almost said no when she invited me to grab a burger with her, except that I was hungry and didn’t want to eat alone. She was always trying to include me in things she and Fletcher did but it was awkward being the third wheel. I couldn’t believe she’d done it for months before she started falling for Fletcher. It was hard being the odd-numbered one in a group. Briefly I thought about inviting Chase, but I wanted to relax and totally be myself. For some reason, I couldn’t do that with him. At least not yet. I told myself it was because we were still in that uncomfortable just-starting-to-date stage. Even though I’d never experienced that stage with Jeremy. I’d been comfortable with him from the moment I met him.

  I pulled into the B. S. parking lot, got out of the car, and walked into the restaurant. I staggered to a stop when I saw Avery and Fletcher sitting in a booth with Jeremy. His back was to me. I glanced quickly around for Jade but didn’t see her. Maybe she was in the restroom. She seemed to like hallways with restrooms.

  I thought about retracing my steps and getting out of here, but Avery smiled and waved at me. Jeremy turned around and surprise washed over his face. He quickly masked it. I walked forward as though I were going to my execution. How could Avery do this to me? I was going to kill her.

  Fletcher got out of the booth and slid onto the bench next to Jeremy. Avery glided over and stood up. She gave me a welcoming hug. “I’ll sit across from Fletcher.”

  I wanted to ask her if this had been a setup, if she was trying to play matchmaker and get us back together, but my voice box seemed to be locked. Besides I knew if I said anything at all that it would come out snarky.

  “Saturday is going to be so much fun,” Avery said as we settled into the booth. Fletcher reached for the saltshaker, set it in the middle of the table, and gave it a spin.

  “Yeah,” I said. “I thought you wanted to talk about that.”

  “I do, but why don’t we grab some food first? I’m starving.”

  “Got it covered,” Fletcher said as he climbed out of the booth. I reached for the shaker he’d abandoned, then pulled my hands back and sat on them, as I remembered Jeremy pointing out some of my control issues. I was working not to have them, but salt and pepper were supposed to stay together, not be separated.

  Of course, I’d thought Jeremy and I would stay together forever, too. Look how that turned out. Maybe nothing stayed together.

  “The usual?” Jeremy asked.

  “Yeah, but I’ll get it.” I gave Avery a little nudge.

  “I’ve got it,” Jeremy said.

  “At least let me give you some money.” I started to open the small wallet that also housed my phone.

  “I’ve got it,” Jeremy repeated.

  “I wouldn’t feel right.”

  With a shake of his head, he slid out of the booth and followed Fletcher before I could give him anything. I turned to Avery. “Was this setup on purpose?”

  “No, I didn’t know Fletcher had invited him until he got here.”

  “You could have texted and warned me off.”

  “He’s still my friend. Besides you can’t avoid him forever. He’s one of your gunslingers.”

  “He’s not mine.” Not anymore, anyway.

  “You’re going to run into him at college. Probably a lot since you’re living in the same dorm. You might as well start practicing how you’ll act when you run into each other.”

  Easy for her to say. She hadn’t seen her boyfriend in a lip-lock with Jade.

  When the guys returned, they distributed the food. A burger to me and a basket of fries to share with Jeremy. Only I wasn’t going to share with him. I’d just have the burger. I checked it out. Layered just the way I liked it. Then my gaze shifted to that lone saltshaker, my fingers itched—

  Jeremy picked it up and set it back into its place. My heart did this stupid, dumb flutter because that was so Jeremy—to know what was bugging me and to try to make it right. Then his gaze settled on mine, and he nudged the basket toward me. “Help yourself.”

  Just one. Maybe two.

  “So I wanted to run this by you. Dot would like to feed the crew readying the park on Friday,” Avery finally said.

  “What do you mean?” I asked. “Have them go to the restaurant on the beach afterward?”

  “No, she’ll bring the food to the park.”

  “That’s awfully generous.”

  “You know she’s an animal lover. So she wanted to do something to help out this weekend.”

  “I don’t think it will be a problem, but we’ll need to talk to Terri.”

  “That’s what I thought but I wanted to get your opinion on it.”

  Right. Like we were going to turn down free food. I knew a lame excuse for getting me here when I heard it. If she hadn’t told me that she needed to talk to me about something regarding Bark in the Park, I might have walked out when I saw Jeremy sitting here. Yeah, this had definitely been a setup.

  Although I wasn’t sure what she thought she would accomplish. Maybe letting us both put the breakup behind us. As she’d said, he was still her friend. While her first loyalty was to me, our breaking up had to make things difficult for her. I hadn’t even considered that.

  Nor had I considered how nice it would be to just be with Jeremy. He’d been my friend before he’d ever been my boyfriend. As we started talking about how we’d begin packing for college right after Bark in the Park, I feasted on French fries and finished off my burger. In a way I wished Jeremy and I had chosen different schools. It might have made things easier. On the other hand, I knew that if I ever needed him for anything, he’d be there. And I’d be there for him.

  It was nearly eleven o’clock when Fletcher said he needed to go because he had to get to work in the morning. So did Jeremy.

  “I enjoyed tonight,” he said as we walked out to the parking lot.

  “Me too. I thought it would be awkward when I saw you sitting there.”