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Chapter 16
BRIDGET
Past
After seeing JD with Hannah, I decide I’m going to press Darren for insight into JD. Having a friendly conversation, even a flirty one, doesn’t mean that JD was doing anything wrong. Still, I owe it to Amy to tell her that I saw him at the club.
Taking a fortifying breath, I step into our room. Amy lies in her bed, still in her pajamas, scrolling through TikTok.
“How you feeling?” I ask her.
“Soooo tired. I don’t know how I’m ever going to make it back to California time,” she replies, putting down her phone.
“Do you have to work tonight?”
“They said I missed too many dinner shifts.”
I stare at her and move to sit on my bed. “So…you’re not working at the restaurant anymore?”
“It was getting in the way of my time with JD. Plus, I don’t like waiting tables all that much, except I did get to meet JD that way.”
I look down in thought. From an upper middle-class family, Amy doesn’t need the money from her waitressing job. She likes having the extra spending cash because she doesn’t think her parents give her enough of an allowance. But she doesn’t seem terribly broken up about losing her job, so I guess I shouldn’t worry about it.
“How was your night with Darren?” Amy asks.
My nipples tingle at the memory of the clamps. I reply, “Great. Um…I saw JD there.”
“Oh, yeah. He called.”
I straighten in surprise. “He did?”
“About half an hour ago. It’s what woke me up. Turns out he couldn’t fall asleep, so that’s why he went to The Lotus. He didn’t want to wake me in case I was asleep. Otherwise he would have suggested we meet up at the club.”
That’s plausible. Maybe I’m being overly suspicious of JD. But what if I’m not off base? Amy should at least know everything I do.
“Did he mention Hannah?” I venture.
Being the bearer of bad news is tricky because Amy might blame the messenger. But since she seems to be sacrificing her job and schoolwork for JD, I want her going into this relationship with her eyes open.
Amy frowns. “Who’s Hannah?”
“A former employee of Darren’s who seemed to be flirting with JD.”
“There are always women flirting with JD.” She sighs. “That’s the drawback of dating someone desirable. I told you about that girl from Cornell who was at the wedding? JD said he talked to her a few times because she seemed lonely.”
“You believe him?”
She hesitates for a second before answering, “Yeah. I mean, I wouldn’t not talk to a hot guy just because I’m with JD. It doesn’t mean anything, though.”
“There’s talking and then there’s talking.”
“You think he was talking with Hannah?”
“I can’t say,” I admit. “I wasn’t there for long at all.”
Amy studies me. “You don’t seem a big fan of JD.”
Oh no. I don’t want a guy to be a source of discontent between me and Amy.
