Page 54 of The Other Room

“Okay. Um... do you want to like hang out or something? With me?”

She shrugged and nodded. “Sure. If you’re still up.”

“Yeah. I’ll wait up.”

“Okay, I’ll see you at home then?”

“Yeah. Sounds good.”

When she walked away, Jenna gave me an appreciative nod. “Atta boy. Rip it off like a band-aid.”

“You’d better be right, Jenna.”

“I’m right. You’ll see.” She bopped me on the nose, then settled back into her seat. “I’m a fucking professional.”

Even if she wasn’t right about Jo’s feelings for me, she was right about one thing. I had to try. To miss out on the chance of having Jo in my life as more than a friend was a risk I’d regret forever if I didn’t at least try.

And now I had to come up with the perfect way to turn our friendship upside down.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

MATT

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“Wine, check. Blanket, check. Balls, no check,” I mumbled to myself while I paced the little cabin waiting for Jo to get home. Petunia watched with cautious eyes as I burned a hole through the floor. “Don’t judge me, Petunia. I’m freaking out. I could use some support here. A little camaraderie, you know.”

A warning growl and her hiss were my only encouragement.

Normally I didn’t lack confidence when it came to women. Honestly, asking out women had always been easy for me. A little coy smile, some flirty lines, and they seemed to melt into a puddle of goo. But the women from my past weren’t Jo. Melting Jo into goo would take more than flashing my signature smile. It would take something as hot as molten lava, and I worried I couldn’t crank my temperature up high enough.

The moment of truth had arrived, hurried along by an unlikely messenger. Over twenty-five years of pining for Jo and tonight I was going to confess it. Put my heart out on a platter and hope she didn’t pummel it into smithereens.

I looked at my phone. Only fifteen minutes until midnight. Fifteen minutes to get my shit together and figure out the perfect thing to say. Why the fuck had Cassie picked this week to take Jake up North fly-fishing and out of cell-phone range? I could use them right now and they wouldn’t be home until tomorrow night. If they were here, I’d be making Cassie run lines with me while I begged Jake to talk me off the ledge.

But they were gone, and I was alone.

Alone with my runaway thoughts of seeing Jo’s face twist in disgust when I told her that I didn’t want to be what we’d always been. The same face she’d made when I’d kissed her in eighth grade.

I cringed just thinking about it.

The face that said we were just friends.

Footsteps drummed up the stairs, and with them my heart beat faster. Jo appeared in the doorway, pushing it open and tossing her purse on the couch.

“You’re early,” I blurted.

Damn it. I needed those extra fifteen minutes to compose myself.

“Yep. You and Jenna took off, things stayed crazy at the bar for a bit, but then they slowed down. So, I’m a little early.”

“You’re early,” I repeated, panic turning my brain to mush.

Jo’s eyebrows snapped together. “Yeah? Is that a problem?”

“Um, no. No not at all. It’s great. Yep, totally great. You’re early.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” She tugged off her hairband and her ponytail turned into long, flowing waves of hair brushing across her back. The sight of her hair swaying as she ran her fingers through it nearly took me to my knees with screams of “I love you!” rolling off my lips.