Page 59 of Bullet
“Everything okay?” she asks softly.
“Of course. Look, I just want to apologize for Harlee’s behavior. She and I are just friends,” I say, the lie tasting bitter on my tongue.
Adalyn laughs softly as she shakes her head. “Jake, I know I don’t really know you, but even I can tell that there’s more than just friendship between the two of you,” she says, making me freeze.
Shit, are we really that obvious?
“Excuse me?”
“Don’t get me wrong, you’ve been a lovely date, but you haven’t looked at me the way you looked at her. When you saw her, you looked like you were a fox caught in the henhouse.”
I mean, she’s not wrong. The last place I wanted Harlee to catch me was out on a date with another woman.
“I’m serious, we’re just friends.”
“Yeah, but you would like to be more with her,” she says confidently.
For a moment I contemplate denying it, but I can’t.
“That’s what I thought. So tell me, what’s stopping you?”
“A lot of things, but that doesn’t matter. I’m here with you,” I say, trying to pull the conversation away from Harlee.
Adalyn smiles softly. “While I appreciate your chivalry, it’s not necessary. As great as this date was going before she showed up, I think we can both agree that it was going nowhere. There’s no spark between us.”
I feign offense. “Ow, talk about a punch to the ego,” I say, making her laugh.
“You know it’s true.” She laughs.
“So, what now?”
“Maybe we can be friends? If Harlee’s okay with it.”
Shit, this girl is too sweet for her own good. She almost reminds me of Natalie. From what little I know of William, I don’t know how she’s his daughter. The dude’s a selfish asshole.
“What do you say?” she asks hesitantly.
“Yeah, if Harlee is okay with it, I think we could be friends,” I tell her without thinking about it.
“I’ll be honest, when I left the table I went to go talk to her,” she confesses.
“Yeah, how’d that go?”
“Well, I told her that she could have you all to herself and that I would like to be friends with her.”
I think about Harlee and what little I know of Adalyn. They are polar opposites, but not in a bad way. In fact I kind of like the idea of them being friends.
Maybe Harlee would help her be louder, and she would help keep Harlee calm. Maybe they would balance each other out.
“What did she say to you about that?”
“She exchanged numbers with me.”
“Make sure you text her. She could use somebody like you in her life.”
“I will. Now tell me what are you going to do to win your girl over?”
Shit, isn’t that the question of the year.
