Page 88 of The Disasters of Dating
“You were just mixed up on which week it was?” My shoulders sag in relief. “So we could have done something?”
She nods. “Yeah, sorry, Soda. By the time I realized it, you had already made other plans.”
Our name is called. I hurry up to the counter and grab our tray of food. I’m relieved there’s an explanation for the book club thing, but something still doesn’t settle right. Maybe it’s that I’m still not convinced of the Margo Conway thing. Or maybe it’s something else that I can’t put my finger on.
I do feel a little better. I mean, I’m not scheduling an appointment for her with a neurologist or anything. (Is a neurologist who you go to for memory problems?) But nor am I going to text Brody or Sadie and call off ‘Operation Watch Mom like a Hawk.’
I place the tray on the table and grab us each a water before settling in to eat. We both stop talking as we take a few bites of our lunch.
“So,” Mom says as she puts her fork down. “Tell me about your new ‘friend.’”
Ugh. Can’t we go back to talking about her sus behavior?
CHAPTER 26
KEATON
Don’t rush through life. Remember to pause sometimes and enjoy it!
Learn Chinese: ??? — Bingqílín — Ice cream
Lucky Numbers: 13, 19, 26, 44
Why are Mondays so exhausting?It probably doesn’t help that a flight cuts my weekends short every week. That’s not to say that my trip to the Salt Lake Airport isn’t a highlight of my week. Everything that involves Poppy is pretty much the best thing ever. Maybe my fatigue has more to do with the fact that I missed seeing her yesterday than anything else.
Still, I’m not too tired to meet her tonight. I’m counting down the hours—seven hours and forty-two minutes.
Brenden saunters into my office and sits down in the chair across from me. I raise a brow. He has become entirely too familiar with that chair in recent weeks. “So, Lincoln.” He’s referred to me by my business last name almost since the first time we met. I’m okay with it because I think otherwise I’d be “bro” or something else less desirable. “We’re all going out to a restaurant tonight. Do you want to come?”
The question is rather pointed…almost challenging. Likely because I’ve declined nearly every offer they’ve extended. It’s not that I don’t like them. I see them all day, four days a week. Must we spend our evenings together also?
I grimace. “Sorry, I can’t. I alreadyhave plans.”
He raises a brow and drops his head to the side. “With the ‘lady you met at the airport?’” He actually uses air quotes. Is he for real?
I nod. “Actually, yes. We’re going to get ice cream.”
“You could still do that after dinner.” He looks at me like he’s some great problem solver.
I shrug off his suggestion.
He stares at me for a minute before his face sets into a neutral expression. “Listen, Linc, if you don’t want to come with us, you can say so.”
I frown. “That’s not it at all. I do have plans.” Not that this is any of his business. But he is making it seem like I’m making Poppy up. Like she is the elusive “girlfriend in Canada…so you wouldn’t know her,” kind of thing. “She lives just outside of Salt Lake, I think.” I’m not sure why I add that part because it only gives the ‘Canadian girlfriend’ story credence. And my uncertainty about where she lives only makes his brows rise higher.
His head slowly starts to nod. “I see.”
He obviously doesn’t.
Keaton’s phone vibrates, and I pick it up, relieved to see it’s her. I hold the phone out for Brenden to see. “See, it’s from her.” I feel like a junior high kid trying to prove that I’m cool. I hate that feeling.
Poppy
So what time are you thinking?
I glance up at Brenden. “This may take a minute, so, if you have something else to do—” It’s my subtle way of telling him that heshouldgo somewhere else.
He lifts a dismissive hand. “I can wait.”
