The Wager (The Bet 2)

The lady behind her disappeared.

Everyone exhaled.

“I’m so sorry,” Sally said. “I know I’m being unprofessional. Now remember, you have to fill in the names of the two parties and then the witnesses, all righty?”

“Perfect.” Jake took the piece of paper and winked. “How much do we owe you for the license?”

“Sixty dollars cash.” Sally held out her hand.

Jake almost choked. “Sixty dollars? To get a piece of paper?” Was it printed on gold? Who the hell paid sixty dollars for something that took two seconds to type out?

Char elbowed him in the ribs. Luckily he always carried cash, so he pulled out three twenty dollar bills and handed them over.

“Thank you so much!” Sally winked. “And congratulations.”

Jake stared at her for a minute. Why did she look so familiar?

“Oh, look! Lunch break!” Sally stood. “Now off you go!”

“It’s ten,” Jake pointed out.

“I like

to eat.” Sally walked off.

Jake stared after her.

“Let’s go.” Char grabbed the manila envelope with the license in it. “Mission accomplished, and you Grandma swore you’d make it worth my while and buy me lunch.”

Actually, his goal was to take her on a date, but she didn’t have to know that. It would freak her out; hell, it was freaking him out. He was actually going to do this. Was he ready? Would he ever be ready to take that plunge?

His manhood was on holiday, his brain was fuzzy from last night, and Char’s short white shorts weren’t helping matters.

“Hello?” She picked up her ringing cell phone. “Right. Okay, yeah, not a problem. Uh.” She flushed and looked away from Jake. “I don’t think that—” She cringed. “Fine, okay, yeah.”

“You all right?”

“Sure.” Char waved him off. “It was nothing, just work.”

“They do know you’re on vacation, right?”

“Vacation and Grandma don’t exactly fit in the same sentence.”

“Tell me about it,” he grumbled as he turned the car toward his favorite coffee shop. “I can talk to your boss, you know, if you want.”

The car fell silent.

“My boss?” Char laughed. “What are you going to do? Waltz in there, throw your name around, and make my problems go away?”

“So he is giving you problems.”

“Drop it, Jake. You’re not my big brother protecting me from the bullies on the playground.”

“Hell no, not a brother. I was thinking more of a superhero, like Superman, sweeping in to fix everything.”

Char rolled her eyes and laughed; there went more giddiness. “So you’d pick Superman.”

“Yes.” Jake exhaled and pulled into the coffee shop. “If for no other reason than wearing super tight Speedo-like pants so everyone on God’s green earth could see that I don’t wear extra small condoms.”