Page 81 of Sergeant O'
She wrapped her arms around my middle and looked up at me with a smirk. “Is my JFJ going through withdrawals?”
“Yes I am. So, you need to take me to the ice cream parlor STAT before I pass out from low blood sugar.”
She pursed her lips and shook her head.
“I’m pretty sure you’ll live if you don’t have ice cream. Trust me, I’m a professional.”
“Yeah, but do you really want to risk it?” I slid my hands under her t-shirt to caress the bare skin on her back. “Come on, you know a hot fudge sundae sounds really good right now.”
She let out a sigh, like going to get ice cream was a hardship. But I knew she was lying. Her vanilla pint had disappeared before my cookies and cream.
****
Jade
Swensen’s must be a popular place on the Cape because the line was out the door. Everyone there had to be on vacation time because no one seemed to mind the wait.
I certainly didn’t.
Not with Brian’s hand at my back, guiding me forward through the line while he talked low in my ear.
“You know the ice cream has to be good if the line is this long.”
“I was just thinking the same thing.”
“You have to get something other than vanilla, though.”
“No, I don’t.”
“I hope you brought your wallet, then. Because I’m not paying for vanilla.”
“Youtold me to leave my purse at the cottage!”
He shrugged. “Guess you’ll have to branch out, then.”
“Fine, I’ll get what you get.”
“Oh no. You can’t do that. That’s like Rule Number One when it comes to dating. You can’t order the same thing as your date.”
I pulled back to stare at him. “What? Why not? It’s not like we share our food.”
“Doesn’t matter. We can’t order the same thing. Ever.”
“That’s the stupidest rule I’ve ever heard. I guess it’s a good thing we won’t be dating when we get back to Haven Springs.”
Saying it out loud felt like someone had come in and put a wet blanket over our entire evening.
We were silent for a few minutes as we moved through the line. Finally, when we were three customers from the front, he murmured, “What if we did date when we got back home?”
I felt my blood rush to my toes.
Brian wanted to date me—in Haven Springs?
For a split second, my soul sang. The words I hadn’t let myself hope for came out quiet, almost cautious, like he wasn’t sure he should even ask.
God, I wanted to say yes. I wanted to nod like an idiot, throw my arms around his neck, and let myself believe this could turn into something more. I wanted to believe the way his hand settled on the small of my back meant I mattered to him.
But the same reasons I hadn’t been able to argue away still stood. His family would never see me as the right kind of girl. I could already picture the polite smiles and the unspoken disapproval, the way I’d always be the outsider at their table. And no matter how I spun it, we both worked too much. I’d already lived through being second place to a man’s ambition, and I wasn’t going through that again.
