Page 36 of Attraction & Repulsion

“No. I haven’t mentioned you to Raegan yet.”

When Jax pulled the door open, the waft of deli meats and fresh-baked bread greeted Carson’s nose: salami, rosemary, olive oil, provolone. It made her stomach rumble.

The Sandwich Shack hummed with bustling patrons and loud voices. At first glance, it appeared all the tables were full. The line to the counter snaked between the tables, making Carson wonder if they would be able to order and eat before closing.

Then she spotted Raegan sitting amongst the crowd. Her gilded hair glowed under one of the ceiling lights, as if it had been strategically placed as a spotlight just for her. Raegan waved when she spotted Carson; then her eyes, already the size of saucers, grew into dinner plates at the sight of Jax. When he slipped his hand down into Carson’s, Raegan’s jaw popped open, and Carson could’ve sworn she heard the gasp from across the restaurant.

Heat flooded Carson’s body. This felt like bringing home a boy to meet the parents for the very first time. At least, that’s what she imagined; hermother never cared about the boys she dated, and she hadn’t had a father to bring a boy home to.

Raegan’s shell-shocked face didn’t change even after they had taken their seats.

“Where’s Hunter?” Carson asked, trying to ignore the awkwardness swirling inside her.

Reluctantly, Raegan peeled her eyes off Jax. “Bathroom.” It took a couple shakes to wipe the shock off her face. Her lips still twitched, and the wheels in her head appeared to be turning faster than normal. “Are you two—?”

Raegan’s eyes bouncing between the two of them reminded Carson of a ping-pong ball being smacked between two players. It made her want to crawl under the table and hide. All of the emotions and uncertainties from before came rushing back, threatening to drag her down again. She didn’t remember it being this uncomfortable when she had introduced Luke to Hunter and Raegan.

Apparently, Raegan didn’t need confirmation. “Wow,” she breathed. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Is that Jax?” Hunter had come up from behind, slapping Jax on the shoulder, and took a seat. “Did you hear about this place too?”

“Hunter,” Raegan murmured, patting his freckled arm.

“Huh?”

“He came with Carson.” Raegan said it so delicately as if speaking too loudly would shatter the words into pieces. Still Hunter’s mouth hung open and one of his eyes continued to squint. “They came together as acouple.”

Now Hunter’s eyes played ping-pong. “Wait. You two? Hell yeah,” he said a little too boisterously for Carson’s liking. He fist-bumped Jax, whohappily complied. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

“That’s what I said!” Raegan affirmed.

“If you two are done, I think we should order before they run out of ingredients,” Carson suggested.

“Oh, good idea,” Raegan said, turning to Hunter. “I’ll have the Italian chicken salad. No—”

“No croutons. I know.” Hunter stood from his chair.

“What would you like, Mr. Hoover?” Jax asked.

Carson peered past him to read the menu, a huge yellow rectangle hanging just behind the order counter. Except the script was so tiny, she couldn’t read the words from where she was sitting. “I’ll have the same thing as Raegan.”

The second the men were out of earshot, Raegan whirled on her. “Um, why didn’t you tell me about you and Jax?”

A sliver of guilt wedged its way under Carson’s skin, like a splinter. “I don’t know. It kind of just happened,” she said, shrugging one shoulder.

“You go riding dirt bikes one day, thenpoof, you’re together? I’m missing something.” The bangles on Raegan’s wrist clanked together as she wiped a stray hair from her face.

“That’s basically it.” Carson peeked up at Jax, who was chatting with Hunter in the line. “We stopped to take a break from riding, and Jax fell into the river.”

“He fell into the river?”

“Well, we both were in the river.”

“Youbothfell into the river?”

“Can I finish?”

Grinning widely, Raegan gripped an invisible zipper between her thumb and forefinger and pulled it across her mouth. Carson leaned in closer.

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