Page 57 of About That Night

Unless it’s Hank.

He says, “Maybe you need to not overreact. There’s a guy out there for you. Just have fun with it all. You’re still young.”

And…we’re right back in the friend zone.

Chapter Seventeen

Chastity

“Did Mr. Boucher next door cut the grass again?” I ask Nevaeh when I get home from my shift. “I’m going to have to bake him cookies.”

“No, it wasn’t the neighbor. It was Hank,” she says with a knowing look.

Instantly, I feel warm all over. “Oh. He just showed up?”

“With a lawn mower. And hedge clippers.” She’s eating a cup of instant oatmeal over the sink and shaking her head. “Then he said if I still need a job by the time his restaurant opens, I can be a server. I would start training about four weeks before open.”

Kicking my shoes off, I sit down at the kitchen table with a sigh. Today was my short shift of just eight hours, but I had done a lot of lifting. My back hurts. “That’s nice of him.”

“That’s him wanting to get with you.”

“Hush.” I immediately glance left and right, even though I walked right past Josiah in the living room watching cartoons. I know he can’t hear us. “Have you talked to your grandma? I’ve been meaning to call her, but time keeps getting away from me.”

“Because you spend every spare second with Hank.”

She’s right. He’s been over once at night after Josiah was in bed to watch a movie with me, and he’s brought me food four times at work during my break over the last ten days. Ostensibly, it’s when he’s visiting his grandfather, but Mr. Young himself told me Hank usually only visits him once a week. Which is still sweet and reminds me how much Hank loves his family, but four times is definitely a tiny bit suspicious. We also went to The Swamp Saturday night, but ended up sitting in Hank’s truck talking most of the time because bars aren’t really my scene.

I have not gone on any other dates since Nick. The Dylan date is on hold because he had a family emergency out of town, and I can’t say I’m disappointed.

“I don’t know if that’s true,” I say, because it feels like I need to put up a protest.

“Listen.” She points her spoon at me. “You know I support the idea of dating. But that’s not what you’re doing here. Or actually, that’s exactly what you’re doing, but with Hank instead of other guys, and y’all are pretending like you’re not. I feel like you need to have a conversation with each other about what is going on, because this isn’t nothing. The man is mowing your grass and trimming your bushes.”

We looked at each other and burst out laughing. “That sounded kind of weird.”

“It did, but you get what I’m saying. You can’t play around, Chastity. I know you. You’re going to end up hurt.”

That’s the last thing I want. “Why would I get hurt if we’re not even dating?”

“Because sooner or later, you’re going to hear that he hooked up with so-and-so, or you’re going to see him out with a woman who will have sex with him, and you’re going to be hurt. Admit it.”

I make a face. “I don’t like anything about what you just said. You’re right. I would be very upset if that happened, and why wouldn’t it happen? He’s thirty years old and enjoys a healthy s-e-x life.” I spell it out in case Josiah can hear us.

“At least someone is.” She tosses her oatmeal container in the trash. “I’m going crazy here, taking it slow with Parker. I don’t know how you do this whole dried-up prune thing.”

Prunes might be a slight exaggeration.

Then I remember there hasn’t been a penis inside me in five years, and I realize she’s one hundred percent right.

“Dried-up prune is a little harsh.” Nevaeh is pacing now, and it makes me nervous. “And why are you taking it slow with Parker if you don’t want to?”

“Because she wants to. And you’re still living like a seventy-year-old.”

It’s always been something of a joke between us, but she looks truly exasperated now.

“I like my life,” I tell her. “For the most part. Every part but the no man part. I’m still planning to see that Dylan guy when he gets back in town. He seems cool.”

“But you don’t really mean that. You want one man, and one man only. You want to settle down with Hank and make babies. God, just admit it.”

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