The Love Wager by Lynn Painter

            “You need to tell her how you feel,” Olivia said.

            “I think she’s right, God help me,” Colin said. “Just tell her how you feel, because your friendship is already fucked. You will never have it back the way it was before, so you’ve got nothing to lose.”

            “Wow, you’re really shitty at this,” Jack said, terrified Colin was right about his and Hallie’s friendship. Ironically, it was what he’d been afraid of from the beginning. “Now I just want to go sob into my pillow.”

            “You’ll be fine,” Olivia said, walking to the freezer and opening the bottom drawer. “I just made ice cream cake.”

            He set down his beer. Everything sucked, but maybe ice cream cake would make him feel better, right?

            Wrong.

            Because the minute he looked down at the bowl Olivia set in front of him, he remembered eating ice cream with Hallie on the floor of her living room and the way she’d licked her bowl like a damn cat.

            There was no one quite like her, and he was terrified he’d lost her forever.





Chapter

THIRTY



Hallie


            “You get it, though, right?”

            Hallie nodded and smiled a little too brightly at Alex, forcing her eyes not to roam the establishment in search of Jack. “I do. It makes perfect sense.”

            She could hear the rain pouring on the roof. It’d been one of those chilly autumn days where the rain fell in sheets and didn’t stop. Since the second she’d opened her eyes that morning, it’d seemed like the perfect weather for her stupid non-date date night.

            Alex picked up his water and took a drink before saying, “It was dumb, honestly.”

            “We all have our expectations that we,” she said, her heart pounding in her chest as she saw Jack walk in, “um, expect.”

            Alex nodded. “Right? It was a dumb thing to get hung up on.”

            “It is what it is,” she said, watching as Jack bellied up to the side of the bar. He was wearing jeans and a thick fisherman sweater, and he sat down on a stool that put him directly in her line of sight, which was a blessing and a curse. He was so attractive, and her lovesick eyes were dying to drink him in, but he was also the world’s biggest distraction.

            Especially when he looked over at her and gave her a chin nod.

            She looked back at Alex.

            “Listen, I’ve got to be honest with you,” she said, not wanting to lead him on. “I really like you. You seem like a great guy. This has nothing to do with you, but I’m really not looking to date anyone right now.”

            His eyes narrowed, like he was trying to figure her out, but he didn’t look mad. “Okay, so I’m going to ask you what you asked me at the airport. What’s changed since before?”

            “Well,” she said, not sure how to explain it, “let’s just say I kind of fell for someone else. It didn’t work out, but it left me with very strong anti-dating feelings.”

            “Got it.” He reached out a hand and set it on top of hers. “Is it your bestie at the bar?”

            Her eyes shot up to his. “What?”

            He shrugged. “I saw him come in. Actually, I saw you see him come in.”

            “Alex, I am so sorry—”

            “Nope.” He smiled and said, “I got a vibe from him both times we met, so I can’t say I’m surprised.”

            She swallowed. “There’s nothing going on with us, I promise. And there wasn’t when you and I were dating, either.”

            “I know.” He swirled the liquid in his glass and said, “Are you okay, by the way?”

            She smiled. He really was a nice guy. “I will be. You know how it is—love just sucks.”

            “Truer words have never been spoken,” he said, smiling back at her. “We can still have dinner as friends, though, right? I feel like we’ve earned it.”