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“Oh.” She furrowed her eyebrows. “Any special occasion or reason?”
“I need…” I found myself suddenly embarrassed. Why did I not want to say the words to this woman, this stranger? “I need better pictures for my Tinder profile. The ones I have now are insufficient.”
“Oh. Okay!” Alyssa said happily. “How about tomorrow? You’re on the same shift schedule as the other guys, right? One day on, two days off?”
“Tomorrow would be excellent. And then two days after that, I can teach you to surf.”
“Or at least attempt to!” she said with a grin.
I grinned back at her. “Let us hope you are a better student than Liam.”
I went home, showered, and changed. After taking care of a few chores around the house, I met Liam for lunch.
“She’s great,” Liam said when I mentioned running into Alyssa. “I only went out with her to make Jack jealous, but once we were on the date? We really hit it off. Too bad she lives in New York. I’d never do the long-distance thing. Enough about me. Alyssa’s great. You might want to mention it to Jack, though. Just in case he’s weird about it, you know.”
“What happened between them?” I asked. “What is their history? I have only heard small bits of information from Jack.”
“Where to begin,” Liam muttered.
He didn’t mean it literally, but I still responded like he did. “How about the last time they saw each other, eight years ago?”
Liam let out a long sigh. “Jack will be here any minute.”
“Then you should speak quickly.”
Liam looked around, then leaned across the table and lowered his voice. “I was a foreign exchange student for their junior year, but I came back a year later, when school was over. Just for a week. Jack had a pool party at his place. A big blowout after graduation. One last hurrah before everyone went off to college. I was having a great time catching up with all my friends, while Jack played host. Then Alyssa and Brandi showed up.”
“They were not invited?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Everyone was invited. Word spread around town, and they only lived two doors over. They showed up, and at first everything was fine. Alyssa was playing in the pool. She was wearing a sexy little orange bikini. Jack and her were friendly. They played a game in the pool together.
“I lost track of them, because I was busy flirting with Emma Schmidt and Kara Peterson. But then I see them. Jack and Alyssa.”
I leaned across the table too. “What were they doing?”
“She came running downstairs,” Liam explained, “and Jack was right behind her. It looked like something had happened. Her face was crimson, and Jack was hopping mad. And then…”
“You two look like you’re planning a heist,” Jack suddenly said as he joined us at the table. “Sorry I’m late. Had to take Smoke to the vet.”
I handed Jack the sandwich we had ordered for him. “Is he in good health?”
“Oh yeah, just his yearly vaccines. What were you two talking about?”
In perfect synchronicity, Liam and I both replied, “Nothing.”
Jack’s head swung back and forth as he eyed both of us. “That was weird.”
“We were talking about Alyssa,” Liam said. “Mateo is going to teach her how to surf.”
“In exchange for photographs,” I added. “She is going to take pictures of me. For my Tinder profile. I hope this is okay with you.”
Jack unwrapped his sandwich and took a huge bite. “Why wouldn’t I be okay with that?”
I shared a look with Liam, but said nothing.
“I’m fine. Do whatever you want with her.”
“Are you certain?” I asked.
