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He nodded. “He seemed kinda jealous.”

Now I really laughed. “He’s not, trust me.”

God, I wish he were.

Chapter 36

Jacob

She introduced me as her friend. Her friend.

Even eight hours later, I couldn’t stop thinking about it as I waited for Briana and her family at my parents’ house.

Briana had wanted to pick up her mom and her brother and meet me here. We hadn’t been able to do lunch together like we planned, so I didn’t get a chance to ask about Levi—I winced when I thought of him. Levi. What kind of a name was that? It sounded like a garden tool.

They’d seemed comfortable with each other. She’d taken way too long to stitch him up. I’d stared at the door of room three until I actually did have to go drain that abscess, and when I was done, she was still in there.

What had they been talking about?

I was chewing on my thumbnail. My anxiety was humming again. It had been quiet for weeks and now it was back. I couldn’t tell if it was the dinner tonight or Levi.

Her friend.

I was probably overthinking this. I was sure I was overthinking it. Maybe she introduced her boyfriend as a friend to everyone? I mean a boyfriend is a type of friend. Right? It wasn’t technically wrong.

But the problem was that I wasn’t her boyfriend. Not really. And maybe she’d wanted him to know that.

I paced in the foyer, waiting for her to pull into the driveway so I could meet her at the door. It would only be my parents, Jane, and Grandpa today. Everyone else had to work. I was grateful for the smaller crowd because I was already feeling drained. By Levi.

When Briana and her family finally pulled up outside, they were ten minutes late. As they came up the walkway, I took a deep breath and opened the door with my best smile. “Hey, there you are.”

“Sorry, we had a little detour,” Briana said, coming in and kissing me on the cheek. My heart skipped. I didn’t normally get kisses of any kind.

At least she wanted her mom and brother to know I wasn’t a friend.

She stepped aside to introduce me to her mom. “This is my mom, Rosa.”

“Hi—”

The woman threw herself at me. “Our hero!” she said with a faint accent. “We prayed for you, and God brought you to us. Thank you.”

While she hugged me, Briana shrugged at me over her shoulder with a smile.

“You’re welcome,” I croaked.

Rosa peeled herself off me and held me by the arms. “I told Briana, that’s a special man you have. You take care of him. You give him all the good sex—”

I blanched.

“MOM!” Briana looked horrified.

Rosa looked nonplussed. “What? You’re living with him, it’s not like I don’t know.”

Well, Rosa was going to love Joy.

Benny came up behind his sister, who was still shaking her head. I nodded at him. “Nice to see you again.”

“Yeah,” he said awkwardly. “Thanks. For the thing.”