Page 23 of Full Coverage (Boys of Fall)

“Good call.”

Yeah well, steak, burgers and anything else that went on the grill were her go-to’s. She was an okay cook in the kitchen, but she was pretty great on the grill.

And steak went with tequila. Probably.

“Do you know if he likes dessert?” Randi asked. Lacey knew Nolan. She and her ex-fiancé had lived in San Antonio before Garrett had died, and they’d spent some time with Nolan.

“He likes dessert,” Lacey confirmed. “But the basics—pie, cookies, brownies. I wouldn’t worry about getting fancy.”

Randi almost slumped in relief. She’d looked up some recipes for things like tortes and tiramisu but she’d been nervous about getting them right. Not that she really knew what went into making a torte. Or even what a torte actually was.

“Brownies? Really?” Pie was a little beyond her skill level too, but cookies and brownies she could do. Even from scratch. Those were a specialty.

Lacey nodded. “He likes stuff like meatloaf and spaghetti and roast chicken—normal, home-cooked type stuff.”

Well, Randi could do all of those. She was feeling better and better all the time.

“How about appetizers? Do you think I should do something there?” Appetizers around here were chicken wings and mozzarella sticks, and if you ordered both you didn’t have to worry about ordering a meal. Was the same true in New York?

Lacey gave her a smile. “No, I wouldn’t worry about it. Steak, baked potato, green beans, brownies. You’re set.”

Randi looked at the other woman, wondering if it would be awkward to hug her in the middle of the grocery store. “Really? I don’t even need to do fancy potatoes?”

Lacey tipped her head. “What are fancy potatoes?”

Randi dug her phone out of her back pocket and swiped her thumb across the screen, pulling up the recipe for roasted red potatoes with parsley. She’d never used parsley in her life.

Lacey shook her head with a smile. “No. Bake them. You’re fine.”

“Thank God.”

Lacey put a hand on her arm and gave her a gentle squeeze. “Thank you.”

Randi frowned as she slid her phone back into her pocket. “What do you mean?”

“For asking him to dinner. He’s such a great guy and I know that everyone here thought of him as kind of a nerd in high school. But he’s just so…great,” she finished, as if that was the best word she could come up with. “Thanks for giving him a chance.”

Whoa. Randi shook her head. “I’m not giving him a chance.” She sighed. “That’s not what I meant. There’s no chance.” She shook her head again. “There’s no reason Iwouldn’tgive him a chance.”

Dammit. She couldn’t even talkabouthim without sounding stupid?

“What I mean,” she said slowly, “is that I like Nolan. This is not some big favor or chance I’m taking here. I want to see him tonight and I’m really glad he’s coming over.”

Lacey smiled. “Well, he really likes you too.”

“He told you that?” Obviously there was some chemistry between them and he’d asked her to the New York party. So yeah, she figured he liked her. But did helikeher?

And since when had they all gone back to seventh grade?

“A long time ago,” Lacey confirmed. “You’re the one he always wanted a shot with but never got.”

Randi shook her head. That definitely wasn’t right. “You’ve got the wrong girl.”

“No, it’s you.”

“No, I was…not his type.” There hadn’t been any spark between them in high school that she could recall. There had been no flirting, no hot looks, no mention of body shots.

She hadn’t actually known about body shots in high school. Probably. She couldn’t remember when she’d learned about body shots, to be honest. But she hadn’t done them in high school. She’d done other stuff though. Plenty of it. And now that she thought about it, those were the things that made her less Nolan’s type than the school-and-grades thing. She’d drunk beer and made out and snuck into places she wasn’t supposed to be and snuckoutof places shewassupposed to be. Nolan had studied and tutored other people. While she’d been staying out late partying, he’d been staying up late reading. While she’d been taking road trips to see live bands, he’d been taking road trips to science camp.

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