Page 58 of Just One Kiss

Carly shrugged.

Quinn gasped. “You’re not bummed?”

“I mean, I feel like a loser being here without a date.” She popped what turned out to be a crab wonton into her mouth and chewed it up. “These are good.” She looked around for another server, happy to flag one down. She took two more appetizers from the tray.

“I mean, there’s always Josh,” Quinn said.

Carly followed her sister’s gaze to the other side of the dance floor where Josh sat at a table next to Cole Turner and Wes Thompson, another guy they’d gone to high school with. Josh met her eyes instantly, as if he’d been waiting for her to look over.

“Very funny.” She turned away.

“So, you’re not having, you know . . . feelings for him, are you?” Quinn’s eyebrows popped up in expectancy.

“Are you delusional?” Carly ate another wonton.

Quinn clicked her phone to life, scrolled for a minute, then held it out with the screen facing Carly. “Okay, so how do you explain this?”

Carly took the phone and looked at a photo her sister had pulled up on the screen. Staring back at her was the image of her, Jaden and Josh sitting at their table at Dockside a few nights before.

“Why do you have a picture of us?”

Quinn shrugged. “I’ve got eyes all over town, big sister.”

Carly rolled her eyes. “They wanted to get a pizza after Jaden’s appointment.” She handed the phone back to Quinn and walked away, toward the outdoor bar on the opposite side of the space from where Josh and his friends sat.

To her dismay, Quinn followed her.

“Pretty cozy pizza,” Quinn said. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were all one happy little family.”

Carly groaned. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“It’s notsoridiculous.” Quinn leaned against the bar and surveyed the space, eyes landing on Josh and his table of brooders.

“Quinn,” Carly said, “this is Josh we’re talking about.”

Quinn met her gaze. “Exactly.” She faced Carly. “All I know is, I see the way he looks at you, and it makes me nervous.”

“Because you don’t want me to get hurt, I know.”

Quinn put a hand on Carly’s arm. “You kind of lose your mind when it comes to Josh. He has this strange spell over you.”

“He doesn’t have anything over me anymore,” Carly argued.

“Just be careful is all I’m saying,” Quinn said.

“I don’t need to be careful. Only a fool would make that same mistake twice. You know how long it took me to get over Josh leaving.”

Quinn stilled. “Carly, some days I wonder if you’re still not over it.”

Carly’s jaw went slack as she searched her mind for a proper response to this lunacy, but she came up empty.

“There you are.” Grady came up behind Quinn and wrapped his arms around her. “Carly, can I steal her for a minute?”

Carly nodded. “Of course.” She leaned against the bar and watched as they walked off onto the dance floor, perfectly in sync, as if they were made for each other. What did Carly have to do to find someone like that?

She could be strong and independent all she wanted, but if she was really honest with herself, she longed for what her sister had.

She kept her eyes on the happy couple for several seconds, marveling at the way they moved, the way Quinn looked so comfortable in Grady’s arms. It hadn’t been that many months ago her sister despised the man.

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