Page 75 of Finding Jack
“I think we both have to stay honest about what this is. That’s my only ground rule.”
The twitch to check the text disappeared. “That doesn’t sound too bad. Explain that some more. Like, can we bring up whatever we want? I can ask you doctor questions?”
“Yeah. I mean, maybe don’t ask me about any growths you have. But yeah, we can talk about whatever it feels normal to talk about. But since this isn’t ever going to be a relationship, I think we should quit flirting. Just talk like friends.”
“Friends.” I considered the way the word felt in my mouth. How the idea felt in my chest. “Maybe I should feel bummed about that, but this doesn’t feel like a downgrade.”
“Right?” Relief flooded his face, the tight lines around his eyes finally softening. “Friends is good.”
“Friends is good. But bad grammar.”
“But a good thing to be.”
“A good thing to be,” I agreed. “But I would prefer not to be the friend you tell your dating stories to.”
“Ditto. And tell Ranée not to send me pictures of any shoes you’re wearing on dates. Especially not if they’re high heels. And the higher they are, the less I want to see them.”
I leaned forward, like that was somehow going to magnify his face on the screen. “You have a thing for high heels?”
“I’m pretty tall. I appreciate them for purely practical reasons.” He drummed his fingers a couple of times. “Are we flirting?”
“You started it. Knock it off.”
“I will. I’m being serious. It’s weird not being able to send you something funny when it happens, or to go out of my way not to talk to you.” I opened my mouth to respond, but he held his hands up. “I know. That was my fault. But we’re good now?”
“We’re good.”
“So what should we talk about?”
How about how he wanted to sit across from me and listen to me laugh? That seemed like a pretty good start. But since I had agreed to the ground rules, I cleared my throat while I bought time to think of something else.
“Oh, I know. I finally figured out how to get revenge on Ranée for posting your Photoshopped pictures of us.”
“I gotta hear this.”
I recapped how she’d hated Paul then suddenly found herself volunteering alongside him at the barn and catching all the feels. “So in conclusion, neither of them is ever going to make a move on the other, and Paul especially is an overthinker, so I texted him and told him he should kiss her.”
“Out of the blue? Tell me what you said.”
“I said I knew there was no non-awkward way to say it, but that he should kiss her.”
“So you haven’t talked to this guy in a month—”
“Longer.”
“And that’s what you started with?” When I nodded, he burst out laughing. “Oh, man. Does she know?”
“No. She has no idea what she’s walking into.”
“Okay, but you have to tell me how this plays out. What did he say?”
“I don’t know. It just barely happened. He might have texted me while we were talking, but I haven’t looked at it yet.”
“Are you kidding me? Look at it now. Go!”
I laughed and opened my texts. “It’s from him. It says, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’”
“Is that possible?” Jack asked.
