Page 20 of On the Line

Ace is never going to let me hear the end of this. Sitting here with her laughing against my mouth, I can’t make myself care.

Chapter Six

Delaney

Monday morning comes way too fast. On Friday, I was sitting in Mercury Slice making up a boyfriend because I was too stubborn to let Nora set me up on a blind date. Now I’m staring at an open suitcase, trying to figure out how things got out of hand so quickly.

I don’t want to leave. It hurts to think about being away from Liam, even just for a week.

Somebody knocks on the door.

“Come in.”

Nora slips inside and shuts the door behind her. “You know I have to ask.”

I sigh. Nora’s been my best friend for years. She’s always been able to read me like a book. “No, you don’t.”

“Yes, I do.”

I throw a shirt into the suitcase. “You really, really don’t.”

She sits down next to me on the bed. “Tell me again how long you and Liam have been together.”

“Six weeks,” I say automatically.

“Delaney.”

I keep packing.

“Kelsey asked him when your birthday is,” she says, “and he said March. Like a question. March?”

“It is in March,” I point out.

“He guessed. I watched him guess.”

I throw a pillow at her. She catches it. “So, what’s up?”

“What do you think is up?”

She shrugs. “I know you two took off on his boat every night and you came back in the morning, so I’m assuming you stayed at his house?” She hugs the pillow to her chest and waits for my nod. “So, I know you like him. I believe he’s your boyfriend. It’s just the timeline I’m questioning.”

I sigh. “You were never going to let this go. Ever since I said I was bringing someone.”

She pinches her lips together. “Here’s the thing, Del. You’d never date a guy for six weeks without telling me. You tell me about every single date you go on!”

“Fine,” I admit. “We met on Friday, okay? At the bar at the pizza place on the lake. I told you I was bringing someone, and he… well, he stepped up to the plate.”

“I figured it was something like that. But you like him? For real?”

“Yes.” It’s out before I can think about it.

Nora smiles. “Then go out with him. It’s plain to see that’s what he wants.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Why not?”

I open my mouth, and nothing comes out. Damn her.