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Without missing a beat, he nearly shouted, “Yes!”
So much for subtlety.I covered my laugh with a cough. “’Night, you two.”
Annie gave Aaron a waving salute, and within seconds Renee and Aaron were driving away.
I looked at my best friend. “Well.”
“Oh for two?” Annie asked with a smile.
“Big ol’ goose egg.”
Her laugh floated above us in the night air. “Come on. Let’s go back and get those pickle chips to go.”
Annie stepped toward me and smiled as we made our way back toward the Grudge.
SEVEN
ANNIE
“How isit that you can eat those in the most unladylike way possible?”
I grinned, my cheeks puffed out. “I simply do my best.”
I plucked the last fried pickle from the Styrofoam take-out container and swiped it through the spicy mayo.
Sitting at the edge of a water tower with your legs dangling 130 feet in the air was like being transported to a different world. Our quaint town stretched out in front of us. Our roads wound around each other, and you could track the line of Main Street all the way down to the lake. The rolling waves of Lake Michigan sprawled out for as far as the eye could see.
It was years ago, right after Margo’s accident, that Lee had found access to the landing high atop the water tower.
He had sneaked up there to spray-paint a childlike rendition of a cow wearing a crown.
In the years since, no amount of new locks nor a fancy new gate had kept the water tower from becoming a quiet place to sit and think.
Our place.
“All right, so Aaron was a wash,” Lee said as he sighed and licked the remnants of the spicy mayo from his thumb. I swallowed hard and forced my eyes to look away from where his tongue darted out.
His hand slapped gently against his thigh. “Okay, I’ll do it.”
I looked at him as my eyebrows crept up my forehead. Lee sighed and wiped his palms together. “I’ll talk to Connor. You’re right—he’s good looking, he’s a decent guy, and a good friend.”
I continued to stare at Lee, unsure of how to tell him I didn’t need him to set me up.
He misread my silence and immediately added, “It’s not like a pity date or anything.”
That elicited a laugh, and I shook my head. “It’s not that. I don’t need you to set me up with him.”
“Well, what do you mean? I thought we were helping each other out so that we had a date to the gala and wouldn’t be lined up like cattle at auction.”
I laughed at the image because, in reality, that was a lot like what it felt like. “This morning, Charles messaged me back. I would have said something, but I didn’t want to cancel on Aaron with such short notice. I thought that might be rude.” I shrugged but couldn’t seem to look Lee in the eye. “I think we’re going to go out again.” I offered him a sheepish smile. “I’m hoping that he might take pity on me and bid for dates at the auction. Maybe even go as my date so I can get around the whole thing.”
Lee scoffed, and his annoyance surprised me.
“What?” I asked, unable to read the curious expression that marred his handsome face.
“It’s nothing. I just ...” Lee sighed and looked down across our town. “I think relationships should come naturally. It just seems weird. Forcing someone into six dates.”
“Forcing?” My voice came out much more shrill than I had intended, but Lee had hit a nerve.
