Straight Up Love (Boys of Jackson Harbor 2)

But I’m supposed to

be prioritizing our friendship. I fold my arms. “Fishing for compliments tonight?”

“Maybe.” Her lips twitch. I’m having a lot of trouble keeping my gaze off those lips, but it’d be best for everyone involved if I did.

She fidgets with the hem of her dress again. “Is Levi around?”

I shake my head. “Why?”

She shrugs. “Just wanted to see him before my date. You know, for the confidence boost. He knows how to give compliments and make a girl believe them.”

Grunting, I press a hand to my chest. “I’m hurt. Are you calling me a liar?”

“No, I’m calling you my best friend. You’re the one who’s going to have to feed me Oreos and chocolate martinis if I end tonight feeling ugly and not good enough. You have a vested interest in bolstering my confidence.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re still calling me a liar. But that’s cool. I’ve been called worse.”

She laughs, and her dark hair brushes her bare shoulders as she shakes her head. “Hey, guess who’s coming to town?”

“Who?”

“Mother Teresa.”

I frown. It’s been so long since I heard that nickname, and it takes me a minute to understand she’s referring to her stepsister. When that realization hits, my stomach sinks. “Wow. Molly? Seriously? When? Is she coming back for good?”

Smooth. Real smooth.

I take a deep breath and ignore the sick gnawing I get in my gut any time Molly’s name comes up in conversation.

Ava doesn’t seem to notice my awkward rush of questions. She rolls her eyes. “I doubt it. She never stays more than a day or two. Apparently, she has some big news to share with everyone.”

Thanks to her father’s obvious favoritism, Ava has always been incredibly jealous of her younger stepsister. Ava was ten when her dad left her mom. He immediately moved in with Jill, and Jill’s beautiful blond daughter became the center of his world.

When Ava first told me about it, I figured she was just being a jealous kid, but then I saw it for myself over the years. I can’t blame her for the innate sense of competition she feels toward Molly.

The only thing Harrison ever did right when it came to Ava was to make it clear that he wanted her and not Molly. Her father initially tried to set Harrison up with Molly on one of Molly’s brief visits to town. The story, as Ava’s father tells it, was that Harrison said he didn’t feel right taking Molly out when he couldn’t stop thinking about Ava. That sentiment alone was enough to win Ava’s heart.

“What do you think her news is?” I ask.

“God only knows. I mean, if I had to guess, I’d say something like an all-expenses-paid trip to Haiti to launch a not-for-profit that uses rehabilitated circus elephants to improve local literacy rates while providing the impoverished access to clean water.” She chuckles softly, and I grin. Her ridiculous exaggeration of Molly’s volunteer work is a good approximation of how Ava’s father represents it to the world. “Whatever her news is, can you imagine me following it with my plans to buy myself some sperm? Dad would flip and use Molly as an example of all the ways I’ve screwed up my life.”

I grimace, imagining the scene. “Are you really going to tell your dad your plans?”

“I think my news can wait. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think it might be wise to not tell anyone else and pretend I got knocked up by accident. Even my friends don’t seem to understand why someone would make the choice to be a single mom, and I don’t need them to. If they’re more comfortable believing I was irresponsible and accidentally ended up pregnant than with the truth—that I desperately schemed and plotted for a baby—then so be it.”

“So be it,” I say, forcing a smile. Christ, she’s serious about this, and I can’t believe I’m thinking it, but I’m grateful for Ellie and her Straight Up Casual idea. Ava needs a chance to mull this over for a couple of months.

She looks at her phone. “I should probably go.”

On a date. To find Mr. Right. To interview a potential father of her children.

This blows.

I sweep my eyes over her again—because she needs the confidence boost and because I fucking want to—and shake my head slowly. “I hope the asshole you’re matched with appreciates the value of your company.”

She wraps her fingers around my biceps and squeezes. “Thanks, Jake. I needed that.”

“Message me when you’re home safe.”