“Did your family like her?”
Jack considers the question. “My mum liked the idea of her family.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means—Caroline had the kind of connections Mum would like to have.” Another pause. “Not that Mum doesn’t have good connections, but you can never have too many, yeah?”
Uh, sure. Whatever you say, Jack.
I let him eat in silence and even take a few bites of my muffin since it’s there in the center of the table mocking me. I’ll never be able to eat a muffin after this without thinking of him and his opinion of how I smell and taste.
We don’t talk any more about sex, or his ex, or the fact that he’s obviously…into me. Is it sincere, or am I just a challenge?
I push that thought out of my brain; why wouldn’t he be interested in me? I’m a great catch! I’m sweet, good-natured, and cute—in an unassuming way. I may not be the ‘in-your-face sexy’ kind of attractive that my roommates are, but I can hold my own.
I catch Jack staring at me a little too long a few times, a look on his face I can’t describe. No one’s ever looked at me that way on purpose, and I’m not sure what to make of it or what to do. It doesn’t make me feel uncomfortable; it’s just different than what I’m used to.
I get hit on sometimes on the rare occasions I go to a house party, but it’s even more rare to have a guy sitting across from me at a table showing me this kind of open interest when I’m not trying to attract him.
I’m wearing jeans and a dirty sweatshirt for crying out loud.
Jack does not seem to care.
We seem to have enough in common that he’s drawn to me. Our love of comics and movies. Our love of breakfast food. He’s funny and makes me laugh, and it seems he’s amused by me, too.
He’s watching me as he noshes on his breakfast, in no rush to go anywhere.
I watch him back, picking apart my muffin.
Thirteen
Jack
“Are we officially sneaking around on your roommate?”
We’re sitting in the bed of my truck, parked at the end of a dead-end road, laying on our backs on a blanket, staring up at the stars. Don’t know how we ended up here but we’ve been together all day.
Talking.
Laughing.
Talking.
Beside me Eliza groans; it’s an unpleasant sound—one of many in her arsenal of noises. “Stop saying it like that! We’re not cheating.”
“But you feel guilty.”
I already know her well enough to know Eliza takes things to heart, feels them deeply, has empathy for her friends and other people. She’s kind and considerate and for the most part, she’s done her best to be mindful of Kaylee’s feelings.
Up until the part where she climbed into the bed of my truck.
Innocent business as it were, no hanky panky involved, more’s the pity.
“Of course I feel guilty—Kaylee likes you.”
That makes me snort good and loud through my nose.
“Likes me? I hate to be the one to break it to you, Eliza, but Kaylee doesn’t like anyone but herself. She only fancies a crush on me.” I warm to the topic, stringing my theory together in short sentences. “Doesn’t know a damn thing about me except my name. Doesn’t have the foggiest about where I’m from. Oh. And that she wants my father to die so my brother can become an earl.” I roll my eyes heavenward, somewhat dramatically. “My father is not an earl by the way. Kaylee doesn’t bloody listen.”
“You really don’t have to tell me all this.”
Yes I do. “Your flatmate likes the idea of me and that is it.”
“The idea of you.” Her tone is dull and droll as if she thinks I’m being ridiculous. Somewhere in the distance an owl hoots. “It’s not for me to agree or disagree with that. It’s not my place to say what’s going on inside her head.”
“No, you’re too good of a mate to her.” Slyly, I glance over at her. “You know lads gossip, don’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
I readjust myself, arse sore from the hard, metal truck bed, even though we’ve layered and layered up blankets to sit on. Conveniently, my brother happened to have a stack stashed in the back seat and I can only wager he’s used them for watching cold weather sports outside, or shagging his wife on the cold, hard ground.
The world may never know what the purpose of them was but the Universe was smiling on me when I glanced into the back seat and discovered them.
“I mean—lads talk and I know for a fact Kaylee was snogging Bryce Waterfield at the fraternity party last night.”
Eliza doesn’t look surprised, but still asks, “What do you mean, snogging Bryce Waterfield?”
“You know, kissing a different bloke.”
“Are you sure?”