Page 32 of Make it Real
“You want to tell me about Fool Hearted Memory last weekend?”
“Callie. Come on. Were you on a date with Jed last night? Or was it more of a…friend thing?”
She didn’t sound as if that option were very likely. Fingers crossed Jed’sShe won’t want detailsclaim turned out to be accurate. “It was a date.”
“Was it your first date? How long have you been seeing each other? Why didn’t you tell me he asked you out? Or did you ask him out?”
Those nerves in my stomach multiplied and had babies, wriggling around and erasing my thoughts. What was our story again? I couldn’t remember a thing. I should have written this down.
Harper groaned. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t pry. You don’t have to tell me anything.”
“It’s okay, it’s just new. There’s not too much to tell yet.”
“I didn’t see it coming. Not in a bad way,” she hurried to add. “Just unexpected, that’s all.”
“It’s unexpected for me, too.” Totally true. Before my wildLet’s fake dateidea, I never would have seen myself with Jed, either. Although, now that I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out exactly why. I’d liked him well enough—he’d just seemed…out of reach.
“He’s a good guy,” I said more to myself than her. “When we’re all together, if anyone’s left out or on their own, he loops them back in. When we went on that big hike, he took up last spot to make sure nobody fell behind. When people talk, he gives them his full attention. He steps up when other guys wouldn’t.”
“Oh, wow,” she said in a hushed voice. “You do like him.”
My heart banged around in my chest, thundering its confirmation. Her soft tone told me my emphatic defense of him had been fully convincing. A-plus girlfriend material there, and totally unscripted. Which only made my heart flop around more.
“There’s a lot to like.”
“There is. And you’re right, he is a good guy. There’s a lot more to Jed than most people see, you know? He’s had trouble getting on his feet since he’s been home from the Army, but I think you could be good for him. I like this. For both of you.”
Her encouragement soared through me, giving my awkward heart wings. But only because it would have been pretty terrible if my friends didn’t support my relationship. No other reason.
“But if he breaks your heart, I’ll help you egg his truck.”
I laughed, grateful she had my back if worst came to worst.
No. My soaring heart came back to earth with a thud. Notif. When.
My relationship with Jed would be over in two months. I couldn’t let myself get caught up in what ifs when I knew exactly what lay in store for us: a couple of months of fake dating followed by a very real break up.
ELEVEN
jed
I didn’t clockmy assailants until too late.
Their whispering should have been my first clue something was up. Usually, they spoke just below therattling your eardrumsrange. The giggling was pretty typical, although if I’d been paying more attention, I might have noticed the slightly sinister tone to it. Evil little imps plotting their offensive.
But I’d sat there like a dope, unaware of the sneak attack until I had two kids dog pile on me, tiny fists pummeling away. Dylan slammed into my shoulder trying to knock me out of the chair, but Beau got me where it hurt—my full stomach.
Little kids could be the worst.
Recovering quickly, I retaliated against my nephews, roaring and tickling both at once. They fell into my lap, laughter overtaking their drive to lay me out. For now, anyway. They’d get their second, or third, or tenth wind here in another few minutes and try to take me down again. At four and six years old, they didn’t seem to need much rest.
“We got you, Uncle Jed.” Dylan shouted straight into my ear to be sure I wouldn’t miss it.
“Got you.” Beau, his big brother’s echo, grinned up at me, traces of our taco dinner still on his mouth.
“Jed, don’t rile them up this late in the day,” Wade called in mock defeat from across our pop’s living room. “Makes it harder to get them to bed.”
“I’m innocent in this one.” Although, to be fair, I did instigate a good number of our wrestle-fests.
