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She looked up from her screen long enough to roll her eyes at him. “How else am I supposed to figure out if someone is a serial killer?”
“Maybe you should just think that not every person out there at the grocery store is looking to wear your skin?” Brit piped up from the corner of the loveseat. “You know some people actually are nice.”
That elicited tons of laughter from the other sisters—who may not have dated serial killers but definitely had some of the absolute worst luck with men that he’d ever seen. That included ever-optimistic Brit, who once dated a circus clown who ended up stealing her car and driving it cross-country with six of his clown buddies. By the time she got her Camry back, it was littered with big red plastic noses and empty Mad Dog 20/20 bottles.
“Does that make things awkward?” Cami asked. “You two working together to help Tig and then going on a date because of some reason other than either of you wanting to be romantically involved?”
Yeah, he was not responding to that sarcasm. Plus the only thing making working with Astrid even a little bit weird was the fact that he couldn’t seem to keep his hands off of her, no matter how many times they promised each other that this time really was the last time.
“Not at all.” He fisted his hand so he wouldn’t play with his right earlobe, which was his tell that he was lying his ass off and his sisters all well knew it. “We’re all adults and are handling it like adults.”
Roxy snorted, the disbelieving sound matching the you’re-full-of-shit expression on her face.
“Oh!” Brit exclaimed after looking over at Meg’s phone. “She’s super cute.”
Cal groaned and reminded himself that he loved his sisters. “Will you guys please get off of Google?”
“What, and miss out on the only fun thing that is currently happening in this tiny town of ours, where we’ve all either dated every eligible bachelor or one of the others of us have?” Megs scoffed. “No, thank you.”
Cami high fived Megs over Brit’s head. “I am not taking Roxy’s sloppy seconds.”
“Do you remember Bob?” Brit said, her face twisted into the perfect ew expression. “Oh my God, could you even imagine dating him? Roxy, what did you see in him?”
“Like you have room to talk? Do we need to discuss Pete?” Roxy shot back. “I saw him the other day at Harbor Freight, and he smelled like the floor of the High Noon Sports Grill the morning after their annual New Year’s Eve party.”
At that point, all of his sisters were talking over each other and mocking each other’s poor dating choices. While it got him out of the hot seat, Cal couldn’t stay and watch. He had to be down at the pub to get Astrid in ten.
“Okay, well, as fun as this has been, I’ve got to get dressed now,” he said.
“What are you wearing?” Cami asked before he could disconnect.
He didn’t have to glance at his closet to answer. “Black T-shirt, jeans, and shoes.”
All four sisters groaned in disgust.
“Put on the sweater I got you,” Roxy said. “Pink really is your color.”
He glanced over at the one standout item among his hoodies. “I don’t know,” he said. “I was wearing that when we met. It would be weird to wear it on our not-date.”
“Awwwwww,” Brit sighed. “That is totally romantic.” She gasped out an “ow!” when Megs elbowed her. “I mean not romantic. It’s boring. Totally blah, blah, blah. You should wear it just to show that tonight is just another night for you, too.”
They all murmured in agreement, looking way too sweet and agreeable for him to take them even the least bit seriously.
“So where are you guys going?” Megs asked.
Fuck. He was never getting off this phone. Was it too late to throw it out the window?
“We’re meeting up at the Flying Sow Pub downstairs and sort of taking it from there.”
Yes, he’d used Google to plan some things out, but his sisters didn’t need to know he’d actually put time and effort into this. The last thing he needed was for them to get any ideas.
“Oh God,” Roxy said. “You’re gonna marry this girl.”
All of his sisters nodded as if Roxy was the oracle of Prairie Lake.
“What are you talking about?” He shook his head at them. “I’m not marrying anyone.”
“Sure you are,” Megs said.
