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Since when? She hasn’t said anything. No, she’s just scared and overwhelmed and I can’t blame her. All of this pressure from Willa, from the app, from me, to make it work with Jake. More pressure is the last thing she needs. “Just talk to him tonight, and see what he does,” I say. “Tell him about what you need. That’s all I’m asking.”
“It’s better to spare everyone the pain of a hard conversation.” Lexi shakes her head as if to saywhy would I want to tell the guy he’s making me wait too long?Hard conversations are right up there with commitment on the list of things Lexi does not want to do.
Does she really have to end things, though? That’s not good for us. That isn’t going to convince Willa to invest. But I can’t force Lexi to stay with the guy, either. I don’twantto force her to stay with the guy, really, if she doesn’t want to be with him. I need to back off a bit and let her breathe.
“It’s your relationship,” I concede. “Your choice.”
She nods. “And the app?”
“We’ll think of something,” I say.
She nodsokayand moves into the kitchen.
I fix tea for both of us. Lexi takes hers to the patio. I bring mine to Dad’s study.
For an hour, I disappear into my favorite place: work. Is there anything better than dissolving into what you do?
I don’t love pitching the product or negotiating with investors, but I absolutely love programming.
It’s the one place everything makes sense.
My flow fades as the noise picks up. Someone is downstairs, setting up the bar. That means it’s about three hours until the party starts.
I can see the scene from Dad’s window. There’s a tall guy in the backyard, talking to Lexi, who’s sitting by the pool in one of her pink bikinis—
Wait.
Is that guy wearing a leather jacket?
Caterers don’t wear leather jackets. And the men from Dad’s company absolutely don’t wear leather jackets.
There’s no bow tie, either.
The caterers at Dad’s parties always wear bow ties.
I look closer—
What?That can’t be.
No…
It is.
The tall guy in the leather jacket isn’t a helpful stranger.
That’s River Beau, the boy next door. The extremely dorky, totally uncool boy next door.
Only he’s no longer a dweeb. He’s smoking hot.
For a moment, I just stare. Take him in. Process all the changes. His muscular physique, his confident manner, his lack of glasses, his… Is that a tattoo?Damn. He’s like Clark Kent in his Superman costume. Still River, just different. Better? Maybe. The way a man looks has never been the most important thing to me. He could be a hot asshole now, for all I know. He’s been living in New York. That can change a person, and clearly has, at least on the outside.
But even after all these years, he also clearly still wants Lexi. The way he’s looking at her is too familiar, reminding me of when we were all teenagers.
And now that he’s a hunk, Lexi is staring back. I know that look on her face, too.
Shit.
She’s found the perfect antidote for her cold feet. The ideal distraction from her dry spell. I could see her dumping Jake—dumping her future—in a rash, rush need to quench her thirst with River.
