Page 52 of Pin-up Girl

I hated that both things had the potential to spoil tonight, and I needed to get rid of the lingering thoughts before I picked up Aubrey.

15

aubrey

I spent too much of my day thinking about the encounter with Sylvie and Peter this morning. I heard from her one more time, in a brief text that said she wouldn’t be staying at my place tonight.

What was I going to say? Get your ass back here right now, young lady. She was an adult, and she could make her own choices.

I couldn’t push the questions out of my mind though. Why did she quit her job? Why the rush to get married? Here? Why was she engaged to such a raging dickwad?

Was I missing the obvious?

When Clint reached my place and he was alone, I didn’t question it. I also didn’t push when he was as distracted as me. We talked enough to agree on walking down the street to get pizza for dinner. Once there, we ordered the same thing we always did when it was only the two of us—meat lovers with extra cheese—and we both sat silently at the table, each of us fiddling with our straw wrappers.

I wasn’t going to spend the night like this. If Sylvie’s life wasn’t keeping her from living it, it didn’t get to take my fun away either. “What’s on your mind?” I asked Clint.

He looked startled. “Say again?”

“Where are you, and is it nice?” I gave him a rueful smile.

He shook his head. “It’s not bad. Not yet. You’re far better company than my thoughts.”

“Answer the question, smooth talker.” I wouldn’t call him on the overinflated compliment by asking why he wasn’t here, if I was better company. I was just as guilty.

Clint’s smile slipped in, and like that, some of my tension drained away. “Weird day. When Regina picked up Dee, she said we needed to talk, but not then.”

“Ugh.” Not quite like what Sylvie had done to me, but close. “Why couldn’t she just tell you?”

He shrugged. “She said it might not be necessary.”

“Uh-huh.” I leaned back to let the waitress set our pizza on the table between us. “Then why bring it up at all?”

“Not a clue.” Clint dished out a slice for each of us.

I should be tired of pizza two nights in a row, but really, why would I get bored with pizza? “Whatever she’s hiding, you’ll make it work. You always do.” I took a huge bite of food while it was still too hot, because extra cheese was the best.

“Not always.” Clint picked up a knife and fork, studied them for a moment, then sent them down again before picking up his pizza slice.

“Fine. You always make the best decision you can at the time.” I wouldn’t let either of us spiral into moping tonight. We needed to climb out for a few hours. “And you will this time, too. But you don’t have enough information yet.”

I needed to take my own advice. There was no reason to dwell on what was going on with Sylvie until I knew more.

“You’re right,” Clint said.

And conversation lulled again. We were stuffing our faces, so it made sense we couldn’t talk much, but I wanted to keep things rolling. “Brodie didn’t find you and convince you to bring him with you tonight?”

Clint almost smiled again, but this time the thoughtfulness lingered in his eyes. “He found me. He gave up his mission when he realized tonight was just you and me.”

“That matters because…?” I had the answer already—it lingered in the back of my mind, refusing to reveal itself.

“Because he didn’t want to crash our date.”

Date. There it was. The word was straightforward. Simple. Direct. Why was I struggling to wrap my brain around it?

“Before you say anything, I need to be direct with you.” Clint kept me from having to come up with an answer. “Hear me out.”

Was that supposed to be reassuring? “Okay?”

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