I shrug. "Thought you'd like to relax a little on your birthday."
"And for the job and watching Coop," she says, rushing the words out as if it's painful.
"Go have some fun, Jade. You only turn twenty-five once."
Her lips twist into a half smile, and she walks away.
"Happy birthday," I call after her.
Cooper is asleep in the guest bedroom upstairs, an alarm set on his phone for school, and I'm once again left to my own thoughts.
I fluff my pillow and try to get comfortable, but it's difficult when I can't stop thinking about the half-smile Jade gave me. Does that mean I'm chipping away at her cold exterior? What did Mom mean, she's fragile? Are her sharp edges invisible to everyone but me?
I check my phone. Still no text from Kyler, but there is one from Aria.
Aria
Hey babe, need a nurse?
For the life of me, I can't remember an Aria.
A few minutes of scrolling through InASnap and she remains a mystery. Guess she was worth adding to my contacts, but that's where it ended. I stop looking for her and find Addie's profile.
How is it possible Jade is twenty-five and has zero social media presence? It's odd. I guess I could text her. That's appropriate, right?
He asked me what a one-night stand was tonight.
Storm Cloud
…
I told him it was a drink FYI
Storm Cloud
Thanks
Yup.
Yup?
Smooth, Mateo.
Chapter ten
Jade
"Can I see your phone?"
"Absolutely not," I tell Mateo, risking a glance away from the road to look at him.
"I'll write it down for you then," he says, a tinge of annoyance in his voice.
"Write what down?" I ask. "Is this where we're going? On the left?"
"Yeah, that tan building right there." He points. "I'll write down my login so you can log into my InASnap."
"Log in on your own phone," I say, pulling up to the door to let him out. Better if he doesn't have to walk far, and better for me if he doesn't witness me trying to park this monstrosity of an SUV. A brand new one at that. Yeah, I'll be parking a mile away.
