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Mateo nodded. “Ah, yes.”
Jack clenched his jaw. “I’m not lying.”
“Sure you’re not.”
Jack angrily crumpled up his sandwich wrapper into a ball and squeezed it like a stress toy. “Go out with her. Have a great time. Sleep with her if you want. I don’t care. I don’t want to think about her or see her at all.”
“That’s curious,” I said, winking at Mateo, “considering Alyssa and her sister are staying in your guest house.”
Jack froze. “How’d you know that?”
“Alyssa doesn’t have a car. Hers was the one that burned up in the driveway. And when I offered to pick her up, she told me where she was staying.”
I put my hands on the back of my head and leaned back in my chair, smiling.
“It was a stupid coincidence.”
Mateo and I exchanged a look. “That’s one hell of a coincidence.”
“I was going to cancel their reservation, but it’ll count against my Airbnb Host account.”
“I’m sure that’s a truthful answer, and definitely not an excuse.”
Mateo covered his mouth to suppress a chuckle.
Jack’s chair screeched as he stood up. “Believe whatever you want. I don’t care.” He walked away, slamming his trash into a nearby trashcan.
Mateo turned his hazel eyes to me. “I have never seen him this upset before.”
“I have,” I replied, watching Jack walk out to the parking lot. “He was this angry one other time, eight years ago. At a pool party.”
“What caused it?” Mateo asked.
I grimaced. “Alyssa Ford.”
“You are going through with it?” he asked. “The date? Even though he is this mad?”
“Jack’ll be even more mad if I cancel on account of him. Besides, I don’t want to bail on the girl a few hours before our date. Real dick move. I’ll take her out, show her a good, innocent time, and drop her off at the end of the night with a kiss on the cheek. That’s it.”
I intended to do just that. I really did. As much as I wanted to push Jack to acknowledge and deal with his feelings, I didn’t want to get involved with Alyssa Ford. There was way too much baggage there between her and my best pal.
But the night had other plans for us.
I pulled into Jack’s driveway and found Alyssa sitting on a chair by the guest house. She was wearing a red sundress with yellow flower designs, one leg crossed over the other. She had a great set of legs. Not that I was looking. My intentions were innocent tonight, after all. But I couldn’t help but notice.
“You look like you belong in the Florida sun,” I said while holding the passenger door open for her.
“I did grow up here!” she replied, giving a wave back toward the guest house. Her sister—her twin, I had to remind myself—gave a little wave from inside the door. Even though I lived in Clearwater for a full year, I didn’t remember much about Brandi. Alyssa was the one that stuck out in my memory.
“Kinda nice, picking up a date,” I said while pulling out of the driveway. “Reminds me of high school dates. More chivalrous times. Small talk with the parents. Glad I don’t have to do that.”
“You dated Lindsey Chatwell in high school, right?”
I glanced over at her. “You remember that?”
“Sure. She’s married now. Has five kids.”
“Six,” I corrected. “Just had a newborn. Photos were on Facebook a week or two ago.”
