Page 81 of The Wrong Date Deal

“You wouldn’t,” he said, cheerful and without a hint of concern that August would actually make him leave.

“Fine. I wouldn’t.”

They were quiet for a moment before Ford sucked in a breath and quietly asked, “Whyareyou being so cagey about the whole thing with Piper?”

August deflated slightly. She hadn’t expected him to just ask outright. Perhaps she should have known better. But, if she couldn’t tell him, who could she tell? Getting it out might even help.

She took a minute, thinking and gathering herself, before she looked pointedly at him. “She was—however unintentionally—the very first person I met on a date after I decided it was time.However ready and hopeful I felt about the whole thing, I wasn’t actually expecting something so quickly. I know it happened for Meilíng, and, ostensibly, I was looking for the same thing, but I was planning for a grace period, you know? A period of time where I could date and it wasn’t going to be anything, and I could… I don’t know, ease my way back in.”

“But you and Piper were just friends first, right?”

August nodded. “Even within that, there was this… chemistry, I guess? It wasn’t like anything else I’d ever experienced. You know how, when you’re with your friends, you’re having the best time and you love seeing them, but you know you’d start to wind each other up if you lived in each other’s pockets?”

Ford laughed. “Kind of, yeah. Though I think my need for quiet, alone time is less than yours.”

“Right, but you know what I mean. With Piper, it never felt like that. She could call me right after we’d gotten off a call; she could call me and stay on the phone all night; she could send me fifty texts in an hour, and it would never become too much.”

“She sent you fifty texts in an hour?”

“What? No. It was just… a saying.”

“Not a saying, but I see what you mean.”

August glared at him. She knew that wasn’t a saying, she was just trying to parse her thoughts, and there he was, being a typical brother, like always. “I just mean that, even when we were friends, it was a different kind of friendship than I was used to. So, if we do the whole relationship thing, what if that’s different, too?”

“What if it’s better? Why would that be scary?”

“Why would it not be?”

“Because you’re wondering about if you date and it’s amazing? There’s nothing bad there.”

August stared at him. “You never get that feeling? The terror of something that’s about to change your entire world?”

He stopped, looking at her, a million different emotions passing over his face. “Huh. I guess it’s never felt like that, no.”

“Culinary school wasn’t like that?”

He tilted his head, looking up at the ceiling. “Maybe a little, but, in a good way. I knew it was going to change everything in my life, and I knew it was going to be hard, but I wanted that change so badly. And it’s worth it, you know? Even with all the trouble with my roommates.”

“Because you love it?”

He smiled. “Yes. Because I love it. So, even the bad times are worth it.”

“But, what if you don’t love it yet, there’s just the potential for you to?”

“Wasn’t that how it worked for you when you went to college?”

She stared at him. “I… guess so.”

“And that seems to have worked out great. You picked something you liked enough to know you might love the future it gave you. Maybe relationships are the same.”

“My career doesn’t hold in its hands the ability to crush my heart.”

“Yeah, but it also doesn’t stand by you when you’re forced to go to dinner with Mom and Dad and answer all of their invasive questions. It isn’t where you turn when you’re having a bad day and need to talk—or when you’re having a great day and want to celebrate. It doesn’t give you the power to feel like you can live your own life without worrying what other people—Mom and Dad especially—think.”

“And you’re suggesting Piper will?”

He nodded slowly. “I think there’s something between the two of you that’s worth letting go of control for. And, I think,yes, she would stand by your side through Mom and Dad’s nonsense.” He hesitated. “I think the kind of connection you have with her could lead to a love that shows you that what you’ve settled for in the past is not what you deserve. You just need to give her the chance.”

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