Page 48 of Never Let Go

My cheeks flushed and I averted my gaze, fiddled with my fingers in my lap, and let out a long sigh. Ashley and Chase were similar this way, direct and never pulling their punches. It was something I loved about her, and while it always caught me off guard coming from a guy I’d only met a few months ago, I supposed it was something I needed to get used to from him.

“A little bit of both,” I admitted before lifting my eyes back to his. “Do you know anything about the dresses, or are we keeping it all a secret?”

He chuckled and glanced at Ash. “I saw some of the contenders, but I don’t know which one was the final choice.”

I nodded and mimed zipping my lips as I winked at my friend. “Okay, so let’s skip past dress details. All I’ll say is that they’re gorgeous, but not nearly as spectacular as your future wife’s.”

Ashley gave me a conspiratorial smile. “Way to hype it all up for the big day. I like it.” She turned to him. “You’re just going to have to wait and see, so let’s move this conversation along, shall we? Make her tell you about the guy.”

I groaned. “Your wedding is coming up. Let’s talk about that.”

This time, Chase was the one who groaned as he shook his head. “Let’s not. That’s all I’ve been talking about for months. Besides, Ash and I have just navigated this process. Maybe we’ll be able to help you. You’ve had three dates already, right?”

“Yep.”

“So the next one is the last date in the dark,” he mused before he grinned at me. “Not everyone gets this far, you know. It’s a good sign. How are you feeling about it?”

I stared back at him for a long moment, drinking in the sincerity in his eyes and wondering if it might be worth getting a guy’s take on this whole thing. “I’m feeling pretty confident. It’s obviously all still very new, but it feels right when I’m with him.”

“Right?” Chase let out a dramatic sigh. “You’re going to have to give me more than that to work with.”

My lips hooked up into a hard smile. “You’re not going to let me get away with being vague at all, are you?”

He shook his head at me. “That’s not my style. Give it to me straight, other than just that it feels right. Why does it feel right? What feels right about it?”

“Aren’t you in finance?” I teased. “You’re sounding more and more like a shrink.”

“I missed my calling.” He leaned forward and picked up the beer the waiter had just dropped off. “Why are you trying to avoid my questions? It won’t work. It’s just making me more curious.”

“I’m not avoiding anyting. I’m just curious myself, but if you must know, it feels right because I can talk to him as easily as I talk to Ash. Like, this, talking to you, is much more difficult than talking to some guy I’ve never laid eyes on before. That says something.”

“Sure does,” he agreed and he motioned for me to continue.

I dragged in a deep breath. “Okay, so aside from that, he makes me laugh, but he also sets me at ease. He also makes me feel confident about myself, which is much easier said than done. So far, I haven’t even really been nervous about what he’s going to think when he sees me because he’s touched me, so he—”

Chase’s eyes widened and he glanced at Ash. “She’s broken the rules? Shelby has broken the rules?”

“Don’t sound so surprised,” I said playfully. “I do know how to break rules and I can do it. I just don’t always like to. Besides, nothing major has happened.”

“They’ve been kissing,” Ashley informed him with a smug grin on her face. “Just like we did, so you can’t give her any crap about it.”

“I wasn’t going to. I was just surprised.” He slung an arm around the back of her chair, casually stroking his thumb along the side of her shoulder, and he turned back to me. “Do you have chemistry with him?”

“Lots.” My cheeks burned up again, but I was sure Ash would’ve told him anyway. “So, uh, yeah. He knows I’m no stick figure and he’s hanging around, which makes me a lot less nervous than I thought I’d be about the reveal.”

Chase nodded slowly. “I think I’m going to like this guy. What about your parents? Are they cool with all this? My mom hated every second of it. She tried to get me to quit more times than I can count.”

“She did?” I flashed him an understanding smile. “Mine is the same. She doesn’t get any of this at all, and I’m worried that even if it goes well with us, her hostility toward the program is going to make it impossible for me to keep seeing him at some point.”

“She’ll get over it,” Chase said confidently. “Mine did. We just made sure that she and Ash spent a lot of time together to get to know each other after the reveal. Ashley sat her down and explained why she signed up for Sight Unseen, gave me a bunch of compliments, and won my mom over. She loves Ashley now.”

As they shared one of those dopey, loving, it-all-worked-out-in-the-end looks, I smiled and tried to take comfort in his words. Mom wasn’t on board now, but maybe Tyler and I would be able to win her over one day.

Chase and Ashley started talking about the wedding and the plans for their honeymoon again after that, obviously having been inspired by thinking back to how far they’d already come. I listened, and I couldn’t help but daydream about that being me eventually. Once Tyler and I had proven to Mom and all the other doubters in our lives—of which I was sure many would crawl out of the woodwork if we got together for real—that we were meant to be.

Because we were.

I was ninety-nine percent sure of it.