“Very funny. Can’t a man just have some thoughts on love?”
I’d never in my life thought Jude would have a thesis about love. This was the kind of deep thinking about emotions that I would’ve sworn Dr. Cheese never did since I thought he preferred formulas to human connection. Yet, he’d thought about it quite a lot. A lotmore than I had. Emotions were icky, like cooties, and I tried to avoid them at all costs.
“So, how did you know Kenzie couldn’t be this one? This living, breathing thing you’re talking about?”
“No comment,” Jude said.
“What? Hang on. You can’t say ‘no comment’! What the hell was that?” I gave Jude a shove with my elbow.
“Hey. Ow. That hurts!” He rubbed his arm gingerly.
“Is it a sex thing? Are you going to have to defend Kenzie’s honor if I ask any more questions?”
“No,” Jude said, quickly, as we came to a blinking stop sign. Even though no one was around, he came to a full stop, and I swear he counted a full three seconds. “She just wasn’t the one.”
“And you know that because…” My brain whirled. The answer came suddenly, out of the blue, like a lightning bolt. “You know because there’s someone else. Someone youarein love with.”
Jude went dead silent. His hands gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned pale. He refused to look at me.
“I’m right, aren’t I?” I squealed, delighted.
Jude said nothing. I wasn’t used to Jude being anything but annoyingly overconfident. This quiet, chagrined Jude was new and exciting.
“Oh my God! I am!” I clapped my hands in delight. This was better than Pooh Bear. Dr. Cheese had a crush. Bigger than a crush. He was in capital-LLove. “Tell me! Tell me, who?” My mind raced to try to figure out who in town it could be. There weren’t exactly a plethora of options. “The cute barista at Good to the Last Drop? The hostess at the golf resort?”
Jude sighed and rolled his eyes to the Volvo’s visor. I wasn’t even close.
“Are you on Spark? Let me see your app! I’ll figure this out.”
“No.” Jude patted away my hands. “You are not looking at my phone.”
I crossed my arms across my chest, temporarily defeated. “Wait. Does Oscar know?” If he did, I could get it out of him. Sure, I might have to twist his thumb back to wrest him into compliance, but…
Jude stayed resolutely silent, not saying one way or another.
“I thought you two shared everything in your bromance,” I said. “Like deep dark secrets and cheat codes toFortune Fatedand all those dumb games you play.”
Come to think of it, their online gaming time might just be what has kept them together all these years, headphones on, mowing down alien invaders with glowing flamethrowers while they battled to upgrade their armor into shiny new outfits.
They might be polar opposites in life, but they agreed on the importance of taking out the bosses and upgrading their laser shooter thingies. They both nerded out whenever a newFortune Fatedupgrade dropped, when Oscar turned into the nerd Jude is every day of the week.
“So Oscar doesn’t know.” I tapped my finger on my chin, thinking. “Are you sneaking around? Is this a covert operation?” I slapped a hand across my mouth. “Oh my Lord. Is she married?”
“No!” Jude shouted. “I wouldn’t date a married woman.”
I snapped my fingers in disappointment. “I thought I had the beginnings of a hot scandal.”
“Can we talk about anything else? I want to know more about the budding romance with Spider-Man.” Jude arched a superior eyebrow. “Is he moving into your Airstream? Are you going to have little spider mutant babies?”
“Ew. No. Never,” I scoffed. “That’s not our vibe. Spider-Man was… is… casual. He was supposed to stay in Chicago.”
“And that peacock detective in his designer clothes, which, by the way, how does he afford on a civil servant’s salary?”
“Russo?”
“No, I mean the other guy who keeps checking out his own reflection in every window he passes. Yeah. Him.” Jude shook his head. “You know, he’s into you.”
I felt my face flame. “Really? Why do you say that?”Please, tell me more.
