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But when the majority of her joy blast had been exhausted, she went back to the kitchen, and Jake and I had sat at the island, smiling at each other like a couple of dummies.
It was basically the best day ever.
We’d taken a shower together, and once I was dressed, he’d sent me off with that kiss and a long list of things to talk to Presley about.
I hated that Jake hated the thought of me being friends with Chase, but there wasn’t any way around it. We’d all been bred to hate each other, and deprogramming from that was no small task. Jake was probably a lost cause. But Chase and I had a rapport. I wasn’t so stupid to think he didn’t have any ulterior motives, but I believed he was genuine after coming clean and offering inside information. He’d come to me if he heard anything, I was sure.
I’d been playing devil’s advocate with Jake for months, but it’d taken us sleeping together for me to convince him to let me try to make peace.
Hopefully, it wouldn’t take that to get Chase on board. If he had designs leading that direction, he was going to be real disappointed—and maybe end up with a broken nose, if Jake happened to find out.
I hadn’t even told Jake what Chase had said about his dad and James Patton’s designs, not wanting to give Jake any more fodder for the grudge.
Jake, Jake, Jake.
I smiled at nothing and sighed like a teenager as I slid into a booth at Debbie’s.
“Well, what’s gotten into you?” Presley asked from my elbow.
She looked adorable in her little blue uniform that was straight out of the ’50s, starched collar and name embroidered on the breast and everything. In revolt of any sort of uniform, she rejected the ’50s hair, or even a conventional hairstyle. Today, it was two little buns on top of her head like teddy bear ears.
One of her dark brows made an elegant arch, and her lips rose on that side in amusement.
“Jake,” I said, mirroring her expression.
Just like that, her face fell open. “What?” She slid into the booth. “I’m sorry … what?”
“Well—we almost banged in the hayloft on the Fourth.”
She shook her head, blinking. “Rewind. Start over.”
“Banging might have been preemptive, but given another five minutes, it would have happened if he hadn’t run off like a jackass. But then …” I leaned in. “Did you know my grandpa mortgaged the farm to keep Jake in America?”
I didn’t think her eyes could open any wider, but they did. “I knew Frank helped him, but I didn’t know he had to borrow off the farm to do it. Jesus.”
“Well, I found all the paperwork last night, and I … I didn’t understand him, not until then. So I marched over there and told him as much. Let’s just say, I didn’t make it home last night.” I waggled my brows. “I got the Roman candle I was denied on the Fourth.”
She made a face. “Ouch.”
I giggled. I was officially someone who giggled at leisure. “He blew it up like—” I made an explosion sound and gestured to my hips.
“Oh my God, stop,” she said on a laugh.
“It was all blam, blam, blam.”
“That’s it—we can’t be friends anymore. I’m embarrassed for you,” she said on a laugh, pretending to leave.
I grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
She narrowed her eyes at me in confusion. “I’m still trying to put this together. You. And Jake.”
I nodded, grinning with my lips together.
“You hate each other.”
“Turns out, we super don’t hate each other. Like at all.”
“Yeah, yeah, I think they’ve even got it in the back.” A laugh puffed out of her. “If you had a thought bubble over your head, it’d be full of doodly hearts. I do not even know what to do with you right now.”
“How about getting me a coffee?”
“I’m not your servant, ma’am,” she said too loud as she stood. “You can’t talk to me that way.” As she headed to the back, she cut me a smart look and said to Mr. Wheaton at the soda bar, “She can’t talk to me that way.”
He chewed his bacon, unfazed.
Immediately, my mind wandered back to Jake.
I daydreamed about what he was doing. Maybe he had the puppies with him. I wondered if he had a shirt on, and for once, I hoped he didn’t. Maybe he was feeding a calf with a bottle. My insides turned to goop at the thought. In my fantasy, I conveniently left him shirtless.
This, of course, wasn’t a thing he would be doing, but I put all that energy into the universe to manifest it anyway.
I sighed again with that dopey smile on my face, so preoccupied with my imagination—Jake conveniently slipped into something more comfortable, which turned out to be a pair of very tight boxer briefs—I didn’t see Chase until he slid into the booth where Presley had just been.
