Page 26 of Forever Wild

JT shakes his head. “No way I’m crashing your first date.” He must note the panic that shoots through me. “Oh, excuse me, your first casual hangout that is certainly not a date with a woman you definitely like.”

As I feel the plane start to move beneath us, I still don’t text her back, unsure of what to say.

“Just see if she wants to grab dinner together. It doesn’t have to be a thing.”

Me

I am actually going to be in LA tonight. Want to grab dinner?

I wait a minute, but she doesn’t respond. Fine. I’m already in, might as well commit.

Me

I’m on the plane, but text me back where and when you want to meet. I promise it’ll just be fun.

Knowing the Wi-Fi is shit and tends to kill my battery, I turn off the phone and tuck it into the front pocket of my black backpack at my feet. I look over at JT, who is reading a book he’d pulled out. I’m about to ask him why the dust cover is removed when I note the darkness is back in his eyes, so I decide to leave it alone.

As I sat there watching Colorado disappear below me, the movement of the plane must have lulled me to sleep, because the next thing I know, the jolt of the wheels touching down at Van Nuys Airport is waking me up.

I glance around, notice JT on his phone, and quickly grab mine out. After what feels like forever for it to turn on, I text myself to forcefully push my messages through.

Disappointment crashes through me when only mine arrives. I am about to demand the pilots take me directly back to Colorado when my phone vibrates with an incoming message.

Thank fuck. It’s from Bryn.

Bryn

Oo. I can’t wait to hear about what could’ve brought you last minute to California. I can only assume it’s for your big break into the porn industry. Meet you at The Grill at 7:30? I got us a table under my name.

I smile, unnervingly pleased with the fact that I get to see her tonight. It also did not escape me that she thinks porn could be a future for me. It’s not in my immediate plans, but I don’t hate hearing that she thinks it’s an option for me.

Me

Sounds perfect. I’ll see you there. I’ll be the one with the porn ’stache.

***

“Jameson Walker, you are a bald-faced liar.”

She’s already sitting on one side of a deep booth. The traffic to get here caused the trip to take longer than expected. I ended up sending my bags with JT so I could get here close to 7:30 p.m. At 7:40, I know I’m late. At least I had the foresight to text Bryn to let her know I was behind schedule when it became clear my Uber would not make it in time.

“I told you I would be late,” I defend myself as I slide into the opposite side of the booth.

“That is not what I am talking about,” she says, pulling her best stern-librarian face. “You said you would be rocking a porn ’stache, and I was very much looking forward to seeing it.”

A deep chuckle rumbles out of me as I take in Bryn sitting across from me. Her hair is down, the light brown shining from the light above the table. She’s got on a deep navy shirt, and her eyes seem blue, different from the light brown I remember from last time.

“Your eyes are different.”

“What?”

WHAT? Why in the name of all things holy is that what decided to come out of my mouth?

“Uhm.” Shit. No going back now. “Your eyes. They are blue tonight. I didn’t think they were blue last time.”

She laughs, a real, joyful laugh that leaves me no option but to laugh along with her.

It takes her longer to calm herself than expected, but when she does, the smile is still spread across her beautiful face as she says, “I’ve never had someone point it out in quite that way, but, yeah, I have hazel eyes. They fluctuate at will, generally depending on what I’m wearing.” She looks down at herself. “So it makes sense that they look blue, given I’m wearing a blue shirt.”

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