Page 28 of Never Let Go

“That’s good.” She nodded slowly, but once again, she was acting just a little bit weird. “Do you think she’s a good match?”

I shrugged, still frowning at her. I studied her wide eyes and slightly furrowed brow. “What else have you and Porter got riding on this?”

“What?” She blinked hard. “Nothing. The cruise, but you know about that and it’s not even about that anyway. It’s about you being happy.”

“I am happy, but I want to know what else there is to this for you.” I propped my elbows on my knees and leaned forward to arch a brow at her. “You’ve been acting weird about it for the last couple of days.”

“I’m not weird. I’m just excited.” She gave me a soft smile. “Forget about me. The girl we should be talking about is Amanda. Did you ask her if she’d go on a second date with you?”

I studied her for another minute before I let it go. I honestly didn’t know what was going on with her, but it wasn’t impossible that it’d been nerves about finding me a good date before and that it was excitement now. Hope could be a bit of an oddball at times. A very lovable oddball, but Porter was the only person who really understood how her brain worked.

“I did ask and she said yes.” I sat back in the chair, jerking my head at her computer. “Set it up, maestro. As soon as possible.”

“As soon as possible, huh?” She chuckled as she turned to her computer. “Let’s see what I can do. Is tomorrow night too soon?”

“It’s too late,” I said honestly, flashing her a sheepish grin when she lifted an eyebrow at me. “What can I say? I really like this one. She was a breath of fresh air after the first three.”

Something strange passed across Hope’s features, but it was gone before I could identify it and then her brow puckered in concentration as she logged into the system. “Okay. Let’s see here. Amanda and Tyler. Date two. Any preferences for a location?”

“Nah. Do your thing. I trust your judgment and I don’t want to interfere anyway. As it is, I’m probably going to have some explaining to do when she finds out I work here. I don’t want her thinking I manipulated the process.”

Hope’s fingers sped across the keys. “Well, to be fair, we are making the dates happen a lot faster for you.”

“Yeah, but it’s not because of me. It’s just because it’s easier to have one of the parties sitting in your office rather than to have to go back and forth with emails and notifications.”

She chuckled. “It does have a little bit to do with you, but I get it. Back when Porter was still Parker, I used to watch my phone like a hawk but I couldn’t rush anything because of the documentary.”

I rocked my head from side to side as I considered. “In my defense, I did try to set it all up as fast as I could. If I remember correctly, you also needed some time to… debrief with Porter in between your dates with Parker.”

Her cheeks turned a rosy pink and she deliberately avoided my gaze. “Do you know how it sucks that everyone knows about that?”

I shrugged. “If it helps, you’re the only one who cares. No one else did. Especially not Porter.”

“Foster!” She shot me an exasperated look and pretended that she was about to pick up her stapler to chuck it at my head.

I knew she wouldn’t follow through, but I dodged anyway, chuckling as I lifted my palms in surrender. “What? All I’m saying is that it was the best damn night of his life at that stage. If he hadn’t already been completely head over heels for you, he sure would’ve been after that.”

“Let’s just focus on the girl you’re head over heels for, shall we?” She groaned and the keyboard clacked a few more times before a notification about the date came up on my phone.

As it did, her mention of the girl I was head over heels for brought an image of Shelby to mind, but I shook it off. Shelby was my past, but this Amanda girl was my present and she might very well be my future. That was what I had to focus on—the future.

Not some unreciprocated crush I had on a junior twelve darn years ago.

14

SHELBY

Ashley shoved a wine red dress at me, a pinched look on her face when I shook my head. “Why not? It’s perfect. Just wear it.”

“What’s the point?” I asked, looking at the scrap of material up and down. “He’s not going to see me anyway and that thing is tiny. It’s not my style at all.”

“The point is that when you look good, you feel good. It’s a real thing. A scientific freaking fact. Wear it, but you’re not doing it for him. You’re doing it for yourself.”

I eyed the dress some more. “You’re just going to blow right past the fact that it’s not my style, huh?”

She shrugged, waggling her brows at me, and she shoved the dress at my chest again. “Admit it. You love this dress and you want to wear it. You’re just usually too self-conscious to wear anything that hits above your knee, but that’s the beauty of it. He won’t even know. You just get to look and feel sexy without having to worry about anything at all.”

I sighed, but she had a point. It was a beautiful dress, way more risqué than my regular outfits, but definitely sexy. Tyler also really wouldn’t be seeing it, so she was right about that too. With a heavy sigh, I took the dress from her.