Page 39 of Actually Yours

“I’ve been messaging with Jake…” I admit, waving my hands in front of me to cool down my cheeks. “That’s all.”

Her mouth drops open, a bit of cupcake falling out. “Jake? Robby’s brother, who is like the hottest man alive?”

“Apart from your hunky firefighter husband?” I ask dryly.

“Of course, of course,” she says, making a ‘pfft’ gesture with her hands. “But Jake, he’s like a hot, nerdy guy. Those glasses…” She trails off with a faraway look and I join her in reminiscing the pleasure those glasses give to the wider female population.

“Either way,” I say, snapping us both out of our collective daydreaming, “he’s just been keeping in touch since we bumped into him at Love, Lilly’s. It seems like he’s pretty invested in seeing how our dating plan works out.”

She smirks at this. “Invested to see it fail.”

I gape at her. “What does that mean?”

“Come on, Millie. You can’t have missed how that man looked at you. I was only in the presence of the two of you for a short time and even I could see it. He watches you like you’ve been put on this earth specifically for him.”

Her words cause all sorts of butterflies, moths, insects and the like to take flight in my belly. If only it were true.

“You’re seeing things,” I argue with her. “You think I’m amazing, so you think everyone else sees me that way.”

“That’s true.” She hands me a cupcake with a grin. “But it doesn’t mean I’m making it up. I think hunky Superman has a thing for you.”

“He’s Robby’s brother,” I burst out. “Hisbrother.” I repeat for good measure.

Bella looks unperturbed by this. “So? Robby was the worst. And he dumped you. And he has a girlfriend. In my mind, you’re free to do whatever you want. Including Jake. Especially Jake.”

Her words echo Andrea’s so closely I wonder if they’re colluding against me.Can’t they see it would be wrong to go from one brother to the next?

“Picking Jake after being with Robby isn’t wrong,” she tells me, reading my mind apparently. “It would just be a way of righting a wrong. Maybe you were with the wrong brother from the start?”

I bite into my vanilla cupcake with buttercream frosting with gusto, hoping to end this conversation. Because as much as I wonder, in my quiet times, whether it should have been Jake all along, I can’t help the guilt I feel about Robby. Even though he’d treated me poorly for the entire relationship and I’m pretty sure he cheated on me (several times) he doesn’t deserve to have me jump to his big brother.Does he?

“It doesn’t matter.” I shove the rest of my cupcake into my mouth and chew vigorously. “I’m going out with Hank the carpenter. And I’ve got a good feeling that maybe third time’s the charm.”

Bella wipes the icing from her lips while giving me a speculative look. “OK, I’m letting you get away with avoiding the topic. This time.” She shoots me a glare. “Now tell me, where are you and the good carpenter going tomorrow? Somewhere more exciting than the lecture hall at Melbourne Uni, I hope.”

I scroll through my messages, re-reading the one Hank had sent earlier today.

“We’re meeting at an escape room. That sounds like fun, yes?”

She gives what can only be read as a doubtful look, and I secretly agree.

An escape room doesn’t sound like fun at all

*****

Always trust your instincts.

This thought is bouncing through my brain ten minutes after the door to the escape room locked behind me and Hank. Forcing us to work together to find our way out.

So far, this date has been no better than the first two. Hank the carpenter had turned up on time (one point for him) but had also turned up drunk (minus one hundred points for him). At first, it was hard to tell what exactly was off with him, but then the door closed and we were given our mission—to “help save the Prime Minister who’d been kidnapped”—and he started freaking out. Like this is all real.

“We have to save him,” Hank yells in my face, the pupils in his blue eyes dilated almost completely, making them a scary shade of black. “The fate of the country rests with us.”

I hold back my laughter because really, it’s kind of funny that he thinks he’s capable of saving anyone right now. I give him a solemn nod. There’s zero point trying to convince him this is all make-believe, given how ‘out of it’ he is.

“You’re right,” I say, rubbing his arm to calm him down. “So, we need to be focussed.”

Hank’s very unfocussed eyes lock with mine and I see pure panic in there.This is going to be a long afternoon.

---