Page 66 of Fight Or Flight

But he never once thought about the pond.

“This isn’t about the pond at all, is it? It’s about the hot homeless girl.”

“Don’t call her that.”

Adam rolled his eyes. “Apologies. Didn’t you know she was leaving all along?”

“Yes. But I guess she delayed leaving.”

“Oh, well, that’s good, right? Is she coming tonight?”

Ethan nodded, took another drink, then looked around at the crowd. Adam did the same, but they didn’t see her. They did, however, spot Lindsay and Derek standing at the bar, taking shot after shot.

Adam looked back as his eyebrows shot up. “Those two are a train wreck waiting to happen. Hopefully, Barry cuts them off soon.”

Ethan shrugged. “Not my problem.”

“Thank fuck.” He took the throat of his beer bottle and clinked it on Ethan’s. “So how long is Natalie staying?”

“I don’t know. I asked her to call me, but she sent me the shortest text possible, instead.”

He pulled out his phone, opened the conversation, and passed it to Adam.

“‘Hey, didn’t leave,’” Adam recited in his fake girl voice. “‘See you Thursday.’” He looked up, and his smile had turned back to a look of horror.

“What?” Ethan asked. Maybe she’d said something else? Texted back since and said, “Nevermind!”?

Adam scrubbed his face with his free hand. “You replied, ‘Great!’?”

“Yeah. So?”

“Great? That’s the worst . . . Why didn’t you call her? Tell her you love her? Ask her to grow your babies in her womb?”

Ethan ripped the phone from Adam’s hands and looked down at the screen. “I added an exclamation mark.”

“That means nothing. You clearly want her to stay. You’re a mess over this.”

“I do, but I don’t know how long she’s going to be here. Telling her any of those ridiculous things you just said will make it worse if she’s just going to leave anyway.”

Adam narrowed his eyes, evaluating. “I think you’re getting this all wrong.”

“Yeah? And what qualifies you to make that judgment?”

Adam scratched the back of his neck, shrugged. “Fair point,” he said with a laugh. “But something about this just doesn’t sound right to me. You know who we need? Amy.”

Ethan rolled his eyes and drained his beer. If he was going to deal with Adam, he was going to need more alcohol. “Amy’s in Barbados. Another?”

“Yeah,” Adam replied.

He’d taken a single step toward the bar when he caught sight of Chelsea walking between the picnic tables, scanning the crowd. She was impossible to miss.

“Chelsea’s here.”

Adam twisted on the bench, looking over his shoulder. “Who’s Chelsea?”

“Natalie’s sister. Over there. Baggy pink dress, gold hair thing, weird boots.”

He looked for a split second, then stood abruptly. “Is she single?”

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