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“That’ll be nice.” Jenna smiled when our eyes met. “So you’ll have some time to yourself.”
“Looks like it.”
“Mm. Maybe you should go out on a date.”
My brows lifted. I watched the smile pull from Jenna’s mouth and her hands slide off the counter. Her reaction was immediate, like she hadn’t even considered her words until she heard them herself.
“I don’t know why I said that,” she rushed out. “I mean, you could if you wanted to…obviously. She better not try anything though.” Jenna narrowed her eyes playfully.
Speaking of that…
“He better not try anything either.”
“Travis?”
“If that’s his name, yeah.”
“Like what? What would he try?”
“Something you don’t want.” I set the bottle on the counter and flattened my hands on the granite. “You know you don’t have to do anything with this guy, Jenna. There’s no obligation here. You could eat and leave, and he better be grateful for that. If he tries anything you don’t want to do—”
“Nathan,” she cut me off before a threat slipped out of my mouth. Her pretty green eyes jumped between mine. “I know. And he wouldn’t do that.”
I pushed breath in and out of my nose. My chest was heaving now.
Get it together, Nathan. Jesus. What the fuck was wrong with me?
I was jealous, and I had zero fucking right to react this way. Waiting the two months wasn’t solely Jenna’s idea—I’d agreed to it. Hell, I’d told her it was probably for the best. I didn’t know if I was ready to start something with Jenna, and until I was, we couldn’t go beyond friendship.
She deserved to go out and enjoy a nice time. And I couldn’t say shit about it. I needed to back off.
“Sorry.” I held her eyes. “Like I said—I’m just tired.”
Jenna nodded like she was buying my excuse.
I walked them to the door after paying Jenna for the day. She gave Marley a kiss and told me she’d see me next week.
I wanted to see her tomorrow. I almost told her not to go through with this date.
I held Marley on the porch and watched the car drive down the street and disappear over the hill. Then I closed the door and dropped my head against it.
* * *It was a little after eight thirty when I left my parents’ house Friday night.
Even though Marley was excited to spend the night with her grandparents, I almost changed my mind and drove all the way back over there to get her. Marley was my only distraction. I knew there would be nothing stopping me from pacing my entire fucking house the rest of the night.
Jenna was two and a half hours into her date, which was no time at all if she was planning on spending the entire night with this guy.
I began to dissect her evening as I drove. I thought about everything—from where he’d taken her to what she wore. I was certain she looked incredible, and there was no way he wouldn’t be into her. The only way this prick was staying friend-zoned was if she forced it or if one of them backed out of this thing at the last minute.
I began to consider that possibility. I turned it over in my mind. It became an obsession. What if Jenna never went through with this date?
Reaching out with a text would be an easy way to get the answer I was suddenly desperate for. And we were friends…I could simply be checking in.
At the next red light, I palmed my phone and typed out the message.
How’s the date going?My thumb hovered over the screen. What the fuck am I doing? I deleted the text and tossed my phone on the passenger seat.
Any way I tried to spin this, sending that text made me a douche bag. I wouldn’t be checking in for friendly reasons. Fuck that. There was nothing friendly about what I wanted with Jenna. I needed to leave her alone tonight.
The light turned green, and I sped through the intersection.Chapter SeventeenJENNAI don’t know how you do it,” I said, looking over at Travis as he drove. “I can barely handle it when my children get a scrape. I can’t imagine operating on someone.”
“Well, these aren’t my kids I’m operating on. Besides, I started pretty young. I used to cut animals open when I was little.”
“What?”
He smiled over at me. “Tell me you don’t believe that…”
“I thought you were serious!” I laughed, dropping my head against the seat. “Our family dog went missing when I was seven. I was beginning to panic.”
Travis chuckled as he pulled off the main road and into the parking lot surrounding my apartment complex. It was nearly eleven, though it didn’t feel that late. I’d had a nice evening with Travis. He was easy to talk to, we got along well, and the restaurant had great food and an incredible view of the bay. Our evening flew by.
