10 Weeks (10 page)

I watch him move as he fills my cup and splashes in the cherry flavor. Long, lean arms, nice waist, a perfect view of his fabulous ass. My eyes haven’t come back up when he turns
,
giving me another nice view that I can’t
believe
I’m enjoying through his snug jeans. He bends down until our eyes meet—right about ass/crotch level.

“You here?”

I press my palm into my face as if it’ll hide me and my burning cheeks. Never have I checked out a guy like that, and when I did, it definitely didn’t leave the pinpricks of nerves that are dancing around on my skin and in my gut.

“I…” I set my hand down.

He smiles. “Yeah, you’re here.”

“I’m sorry.”

He chuckles. “What for? You think other girls haven’t checked me out before?”

“I’m not other girls. I’m not
that
girl. I don’t…”

He grins and I realize he’s messing with me. “I know you’re not that girl. Bill told me. And I have a pretty good sense of these things. You’re different.”

“You asked Bill about me?”

“Sorry.”
Sam
grabs me from the side. “We gotta get out of here.”

“Wait.”
Liam
steps forward.

I shrug, drop a five o
n the bar and let myself be dragged
out. The feeling is an
equal mix of disappointment and relief.

Sam’s quiet on our way back until I ask her about the dance place
she worked at last winter. She
seems distracted, but tells me how she met her dance partner. She pauses a few times as she talks about what a natural talent he is, and how hard he works. I know there’s a lot more to the story than she let on, but I don’t push her.
 
Sam tends to snap when I do, and I know she’s not in the mood.

We don’t even sing when we hit the trees. When we stop in the parking lot, I don’t know how to do more than ask if she’s okay, and I get a mumble in response.

Chapter Sixteen

I hate
shedding the casualness of
my shorts and camp T-shirt. I come here to escape all the politeness of being around my parents, and now I’m stuck in the even worse situation of being around Jeff’s.

My cotton skirt actually feels itchy, but I slide on my wedges and grab a cardigan to toss over my tank top for when we get there.

Last minute I grab a pair of soft cut-offs and tennis shoes to toss in my bag.

Fifteen minutes until Jeff’s picking me up. My heart pounds. What will it be like to be with him, but not with him? How am I supposed to act like everything’s okay when my heart’s still breaking? Only, I don’t even know if it’s my heart. I’m still in shock maybe. Hopefully more anger will kick in at some point, because I think that would be easier to deal with.

Fourteen minutes.

I clutch my stomach, feeling like I’ll be sick. This is just Jeff and his parents. We’ve had a
million
meals together.

Just none where we were pretending to be in love.

Because we still were.

A knock at my door catapults me to my feet.

I jerk it open to see Jeff. Perfectly pressed in light khakis and a button up, not a drop of sweat on his face. I don’t know how he does this. My hair is probably already starting to frizz at the edges.

“You’re early.”

He smirks. “Because I knew you’d be ready early
,
and that you’d be sitting in here stressing out about a night that’s no big deal.”

It’s a huge deal, but I can’t give him the satisfaction of knowing how much in shock I still am over our breakup, over his parents not knowing, and over him asking me for this bizarre favor.

He glances at my bag, and I’m sure he’s internally cringing. He bought me like three or four designer purses when we were dating, which I never used.

We sit in the car and I can’t help it. “Why did we split, Jeff?”

He sighs. “Different directions. Like I said.”

“No.” I rest my hand on his arm and then jerk it away when I remember he doesn’t want me to touch him like that anymore. “That’s not it.”

He glances at me. “Everything’s so easy for you, Jody. You just do the right thing. It’s exhausting being in that shadow.”

I’m completely deflated. Nothing’s easy. It isn’t easy being the girl teased for her innocence, even though I was
with
Jeff. It’s not easy being the only one without makeup because I can’t bring myself to care. Or the only girl not drinking at the bar. None of it is easy. I do it because it’s the right thing for
me
. Maybe Jeff never understood that, which means that he never really understood who I am.

Crazy that I never figured that out. Not in the almost two years we were together.

Jeff’s parents are perpetually early and wave through the glass doors of the restaurant as we get close.

They won’t want to be out of air conditioning in the heat.

Seafood.

Always a seafood place, even though I hate almost everything on the menu and end up ordering something like chicken fingers that are for little kids.

Jeff casually rests his hand on the small of my back and once again I’m having a moment of flashback and how much comfort that used to give me. I’m still not sure if I should lean into him or pull away.

Before I think, I go for the lean in. Normally this is when his hand would sneak around my side and he’d rest his fingers low on my waist to give me a squeeze as a sign that he can’t wait for our meal to be over so we can be alone.

I expect it. Rely on that. It was our routine. This time he stiffens, steps away and pulls open the door.

My words stumble as I try to say hello to his parents and give hugs, and I have no idea what my smile looks like because my face has never been this heavy.

He stepped away.

Our two years should mean something more than awkward pauses and pretend dinners.

Susan grabs my left hand, still beaming, and glances down. Her brows twitch together and then she glances at Jeff who is very purposefully not looking at his mother. And then back down at my hand.

Our eyes catch and I know. The lump in my throat won’t be swallowed away.

“I need the restroom,” I squeak. My hands are shaking and my legs don’t feel like my l
egs. She was expecting to see an engagement
ring. They must have talked about it. What happened?

Do I even want to know?

I stand in the bathroom with my hands on the counter and stare at myself in the mirror. Red hair. Freckles. Round face. Blue eyes. Shoulders that might be a little too strong.

Okay. I’m not a wimp. I can do this. I straighten my shoul
ders, re
adjust my bag and walk out of the bathroom.

I spot Jeff right away, staring down at his plate. His parents’ backs are to me.

“I just don’t understand why you’re waiting,” his mom says.

I slow my walk, knowing they don’t see me, and wanting to know more.

“You asked for the ring, Jeffrey. I was expecting…”

My feet refuse to carry me to their table. I can’t do this. Instead I head for the exit, chin trembling. I do not want to be trying to get over Jeff this summer. I want to love my summer. My last summer at camp.

As soon as I step outside, I sit on the bench and slide off my wedges and pull out my tennis shoes.

“Jody!” Jeff bursts outside. “What are you
doing
?”

“I can’t do this.” I lace up my shoes, glance around and start sliding my cut offs on under my skirt.

“What the hell are you thinking? You can’t change here!”

It’s so completely unlike me, but I’m desperate to get rid of everything that is this night.

I button my shorts and slide off my skirt, stuffing it and my cardi back in my bag. Tank, cutoffs, shoes. Better. I get a few odd looks, but it’s not like I come here often, or that I’ll be back here ever again.

“How do you plan on getting home?”

I open my mouth to speak, but haven’t planned that far. “Anything’s better than riding back with you. Have a nice dinner.”

And just like that I walk away. As soon as I’m around the corner I pull out my phone and start dialing.
Kay-Kay
, who doesn’t answer and then
Sam
.

“Can you
come
into town and pick me up?” I ask.
“My keys are in my room.”

“I’m in the middle of
a dance
class,” she protests. “Go to the Little Minnow.
I’ll meet you there after
.”

Right. Change out the hurt and infuriation that is Jeff for the hit me between the legs feeling that comes with
Liam
.
Great.

Chapter Seventeen

By the time I make it to the Little Minnow, my day and Jeff and his parents and talk of the ring has sort of numbed me.

The place is
packed when I step inside
,
and as the
fried food
smell hits me, my stomach rumbles. Right. I missed dinner, and I’m not a skipping meals kind of girl.

I glance around, but the thought of sitting at a table by myself just seems too pathetic.

Bill’s arm comes around me. “You’re looking a little lost.”

“I…um…”

“Come on in back, and I’ll hook you up, okay?”

Without a word I let him lead me, and in minutes I have dinner on the picnic
table
out back near the employees’ door. Two minutes after that,
Liam
steps outside with a beer and freezes upon seeing me.

“Hey.” I wave as
I stuff another small bunch of fries in my mouth.
Hey
is a bit pathetic, but at least I spoke first this time.

He stands in silence, clutching his beer with white knuckles, which relaxes me a bit because something’s obviously making him nervous.

“You look outside of yourself,” he
says as he
sits across from me.

“Outside of myself?”

“Something my mother used to say when we were deep in thought or completely distracted.” I get a better look at his tattoos as he
folds his arms on the table
. All swirled designs around names and a few random objects—an anchor, a paw print…

“Your accent is unbelievably sexy.” The words spill out before I can filter or stop them, and I wonder if
Kay-Kay
has these horrible cringing moments of regret when something just comes out. I somehow doubt it.

He grins. “An actual compliment from the very quiet Jody. I’d almost given up.”

Given up? On what? My heart’s going crazy, and my fingers are shaki
ng. It’s just a guy. And we’re only talking
.

“Rough day?” he asks. Sheesh, the words are like silk coming off his tongue and then I think about silk and tongues, and
…
I have a question to answer.

“You could say that. Just weird. I ended up out to dinner with my ex-boyfriend and his parents and I sort of
decided to take
off.” That’s the easy explanation.

He cringes slightly. “Why would you be out with your ex-boyfriend and his parents?”

I sigh. “He hasn’t told them we split, and—”

“Sounds
a bit
like his problem and not yours.”
Liam
adjusts
his arms on the table and starts tugging at the label of his beer.

“I guess.” It’s a matter of me trying to keep the peace.

My eyes flit to his, but he’s so intense. Or maybe it’s the way that I feel about being close to this perfectly cut, on the edge of bad-boy man of hotness who makes my knees weak by saying my na
me, that creates tension in the
situation.

“Look. Jody.” He sighs again. “I get what it’s like to be in this kind of shit, but if you don’t have to be there, don’t be. Life will throw enough crap at you without you walking into it.”

My eyes trace the outside of his body again. The perfect combination of lean and strong. Skinny jeans, despite the heat. Jeff would never be caught dead in skinny jeans.

I’ve got to stop comparing the two.

No comparison.

I ignore the voice in my head that’s making me feel a little insane with being this close to him. And alone.

“You’re a deep thinker.” I can’t remember the last time I had a conversation with someone that meant something, and I just met this guy.

“Hazard of living.” There’s a sadness in his eyes that I don’t understand and probably never will.

Realizing I might never know makes me a little sad and then makes me wonder if we’ve started a sort of something here. I’m not sure what. But something.