Page 116 of The Disasters of Dating
I nod. “Yep. Which shouldn’t be a problem, right?” I give him a look. Evan sometimes thinks that anything that isn’t his idea is a problem.
“You must like her.”
I nod. “I do. I don’t think I’ve ever liked anyone as much as I like her.”
His brows slowly rise. “That much?”
I nod. “Yeah.”
“What about her? Does she feel the same?”
I frown. “Sometimes I think so. But there’s something holding her back. I just don’t know what it is.”
“I don’t want to see you hurt.”
I nod. “Thanks, Evan.”
He lightly pounds his palms on the arms of his chair before standing up. “Okay, I’ll plan on you calling in for the meeting.” He smiles at me. “See you at Dad’s tonight.”
I nod. “Are you heading out?”
“I think so.” He stares at me. “Why don’t you leave, too? You put in more hours than most of us.” He grins. “Or you did until you found a girlfriend.”
I laugh. “You’ll be happy, then, that she starts back to school and work?”
My phone vibrates, and I pick it up, ready to defend myself against whatever Lowell has just texted. But it’s Poppy calling. I grin.
“Oh, man. I know what that smile means. I’ll leave you alone to talk with her.” He closes my door behind him.
“Hey, I was just talking to my brother about you.”
There’s hesitation on the other end. “Is that good or bad?”
I chuckle. “It’s good. Don’t worry. You’ve got Shay’s seal of approval, which means you’ve got Evan’s, too.”
“Oh, good.” I can hear the smile in her voice. “Listen, Keaton.” My stomach drops. No good conversation starts with ‘listen.’
“Yeah?” I say tentatively.
“My mom wants to have a family dinner with my brother and sister, to introduce Adam. You remember him, right?”
“Uh, how could I forget Adam?”
“I know,” she says. “Seeing them on the couch is burned into my retinas.”
I laugh. “I bet.”
“Anyway,” Poppy continues. Is she going to ask me? I don’t think I’ve ever anticipated anything so much. “My mom asked for you to come. I told her that it wasn’t likely you could fly in early, but I have to admit, I wouldn’t mind having you come. It’s going to be soooo awkward. And after all, you discovered them with me. So I think it’s only fair that you share in the awkwardness, right?” She takes a quick breath. “Which is the very impolite way of asking if you could please fly in early?”
I laugh out loud. It’s only partly because she makes it sound like I’m partially responsible for the Adam thing. But then I release a sigh ofrelief. I’m so happy she asked me! But I’m also nervous. I’ll basically be meeting her whole family. Well, except for maybe Grandma Alice—which I’m fine to miss—and the elusive cousins who warned her away from me. Or rather from Lincoln.
Lincoln. What am I going to do about that? I can’t drag it out much longer. I’m getting in too deep with her to have that secret hanging between us. I suck in a breath as an idea hits me. Maybe I can start giving small clues in Lincoln’s and my texts so that she’ll figure it out? I’ll have to think more about that.
“What? Why are you laughing?” She asks.
I smile at my phone. “It almost sounded like you were blaming me for Adam.”
She sighs. “I wish I could blame him on someone. Other than my mom. But I can’t. And I shouldn’t. He was very nice.”
