Page 63 of Going All In

“It’s really coming down now,” JJ remarks, glancing outside. She pulls her hat off, letting her long curly hair spill down her back.

We order sandwiches—tuna for JJ, ham and Swiss for me—along with bowls of steaming soup and carry the food to an empty table by the window where we can watch the snow fall.

I unwrap my sandwich and hold it up. “Okay, JJ. Spill.” I bite into the bread. It’s loaded high with ham, with exactly the perfect amount of mustard.

She blows on her soup. “So. Um. Justin and me.”

I tilt my head, waiting. “Yeah?”

JJ puts her spoon on the table and looks at me. “Are you okay with this? I mean, really okay? I know you went out with him first, and I know you kind of liked him.”

I think for a minute. I did like him, but it was just that. I liked him. I enjoyed hanging out with him. After all, he was basically the male version of me.

No wonder JJ likes him. I snicker to myself.

“What?” JJ narrows her eyes at me.

Oops. She wasn’t supposed to hear that, but JJ and I don’t keep secrets. “I was just thinking that you like him because he’s the male version of me.”

JJ stares at me for a minute, then bursts into laughter. Then I laugh, and soon we’re both giggling so hard that tears are running down our faces.

JJ wipes her face with the back of her hand. “God, I love you so much.”

“Love you too, girl. So are you in love with man-me?” I tease.

But JJ isn’t laughing anymore.

“JJ?”

She looks at her lap, then back at me. “I, um… I think I am.”

Holy shit. “Wow. That happened fast.”

JJ shrugs, her cheeks flaming.

“I mean, I haven’t said it to him or anything,” she explains. “And I don’t know where it’s going. But yeah. I think this is the real deal, Holly. And I want to know that you’re okay with it. You know I’d never steal a guy from you, and I know you were okay with me going out with him, but this… this is bigger. And I feel like I need your blessing again before we keep going down this path.”

Now it’s my turn to pull JJ out of her seat and wrap her in a hug. “Of course, girl. He’s perfect for you. I can see how happy you are.” And I can. She’s practically glowing. “And maybe one of these days we can double date.”

We sit back in our seats, and JJ picks up her sandwich.

She says, “While I’m blissfully maybe in love and happy to talk about it nonstop, I think I need to hear about your life, too. I let a very nice gentleman into our apartment the other day who was there looking for you. I haven’t heard how that turned out.” JJ gives me a pointed look.

There’s silence.

Where do I start?

“I left the date with Zachary early,” I say hesitantly.

She nods, eating. “Probably good.”

“And Maddox was in our apartment when I got back.”

JJ nods again, moving her sandwich in front of her in a circle as tuna salad threatens to spill out from the sides. “Go on.”

“And I… told him everything. All the stuff from the incident, how it’s still buried deep. Why I even went out with the weird dry burger guy.”

JJ looks perplexed.

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