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She shrugged. “We’ve met. I wouldn’t say weknoweach other.”
In the biblical sense.
“You didn’t think to mention it.” It was hard to tell if Eli was hurt or angry.
“You were very insistent we not talk about him,” Kandace sounded matter of fact. “And it wasn’t as though I expected to see him again. It was one night in Italy.” She snapped her jaw shut and her blush grew.
Her words could mean a lot of things, but her reaction to them carried a heavy implication.
Was I smug? Disappointed? Not the second one. Not at all. I could swoop in and rescue Kandace from the man who wouldn’t let her talk about her past, but I was that past, and I was here to see him.
It’s not a big deal. There’s no way this is the first time we’ve slept with the same person. I’m sure you were fine, Eli.That could be fun, but it was mean and counterproductive. I really didn’t want Eli walking away again.
“It seems like we all have a lot to talk about,” I said. “I drove past a burger place on my way into town. Buy you both dinner?”
Was I crashing their date?
Probably.
Was I going to do it anyway?
Definitely.
9
joystick
I wassurprised that Kandace and Eli agreed to dinner, especially him. When he added, “Maybe this will get you to go away,” that was more like it.
I doubted I would, but we’d see how the night went. Once all three of us talked, and Eli and I got past the animosity, I could move forward. Though I’d been here to apologize to him, and make the past right, seeing him with Kandace made me realize how much I wanted them both. Together would be ideal, but separately would work if I had to settle.
Gage’s Grub was packed. Saturday night, at the only burger joint in town, I wasn’t surprised. It was too loud for conversation while we waited in line, and I hoped we’d be able to talk once we sat down.
We placed our order, and I handed over my credit card before Eli could pay. His brow furrowed in response. A large section of photo, the kind of strip that came out of those booths they used to have in the malls, slipped into view in my wallet, and I tucked it away again, before Eli could see and make whatever assumptions he was going to make.
“Can I get a name?” The girl behind the register asked.
She was probably about the same age Eli and I had been when we were split apart, all those years ago.
“Donovan,” someone shouted.
And I was pretty sure Eli’s scowl was testing the theory ofif you hold an expression too long it’ll freeze that way.I turned toward the shout, to see a man in his early twenties waving at me.
“It’s you, isn’t it?” His jaw dropped and his eyes grew wide. “Holy crap, it’s both of you.”
My smile came easily, the reaction having been ingrained in me since childhood. Who was I kidding? I loved the attention, but I doubted my dinner companions would. “It is.”
“No. Way.” He tapped the arm of the woman with him. “Dude,dude.”
“I see.” She was staring at us with a similar expression to her friend’s.
He shoved his phone at her. “Take a picture. Can I take a picture with you? Take a picture.”
“Sure.” I kept my body language open, while trying not to disrupt everyone around us.
It didn’t matter. Chaos unfurled in seconds, when people realized a celebrity was here. People were pushing in, getting pushed out, and questions were flying.
“Are you here for the movie?”
