Page 10 of Wildly Inappropriate

“Sarcasm noted,” I say. “But now I’m on board too. It doesn’t make sense for me to have a date for tomorrow. We’re graduating this weekend anyway.”

“Wow, it’s like I’ve been saying that for the last week or something.”

“Have you?” I tease. “Okay, then. New plan. We’ll get dressed up, we’ll get a little bit tipsy, and we’ll celebrate with whatever guy sparks our fancy. Or we will celebrate sans guys and treat ourselves to a late-night ice cream run. It’ll probably be more fun anyway.”

“Because you’ve been ruined by counter sex?”

Because I’ve been ruined by JT Johnson sex.“Because these fools act like boys, and we deserve real men,” I say instead.

“And you’re going to find a man in Wild Bluffs?”

“Certainly.”

“As a small-town girl, I feel I must warn you again that dating is much more complicated in a town the size of Wild Bluffs than you think it is.”

Elise is from a small town on the western side of Colorado and has been filling me in on the political maneuvering that is required to live in a town where everyone knows everything about everyone. She somehow thinks I’m going to both be swarmed by single men and all the married women trying to set me up with said single men, and, at the same time, be totally alone after offending every person in town somehow. I can only hope she’s exaggerating.

“It will be fine. I can casually test out the dating pool without offending everyone I meet.”

She sits down next to me on the bed, her larger frame dipping the mattress down and pulling me into her side. I accept my fate and lay my head down on her shoulder. “I wish I could believe you, but you just don’t understand. Unfortunately, you can’t understand until you get out there. At least you’ll have the Harper sisters to help you navigate it, I guess.”

“Or you could just ask your big, fancy job if you could work remotely and come live with me…” I plead for what is likely the hundredth time.

“If only I could. Unfortunately, I will be stuck living downtown, working in a building that holds more people than my entire town growing up.”

“You can come visit me anytime you want. Especially for the first six weeks, when I’ll be living in Jameo’s rental on the golf course.”

“I cannot believe how lucky you are,” Elise says, leaning her head on mine.

I swipe one of her curly blonde hairs out of my face before replying, “What do you mean?”

“You are the only person I know who finds an awesome house to rent and then, when it won’t be ready for the first six weeks you’re there, your brother ‘just happens’ to be out of town traveling that whole time. And,and”—she’s really on a roll now—“instead of you having to ask him if you can stay there, he asksyouto stay there and even offers to pay you if you watch his girlfriend’s dog for them.”

I pat her leg in a consoling gesture. “It must be hard being best friends with someone as awesome as me.”

“You mispronouncedannoying.”

“Can’t be that. I exude awesomeness. It leaks from my pores.”

“Gross. You should really get that checked out.”

“Nothing can be done about it. They tried to tone it down, but the awesomeness just keeps shining through.”

I swear I can feel Elise’s eye roll from where her cheek still rests on top of my head. But instead of engaging again, she lets it go, tugging me back into a hug before getting to her feet and staring at her piles of clothes.

“Why is my maybe pile four times larger than the other two?” she asks.

“Because you’re terrible at making decisions,” I offer.

Her shoulders slump before she lowers herself back to the ground and starts sorting her maybe pile again.

“I hate packing.”

“You and me both. Though at least yours is all either going straight into your apartment or into the trash. I have to figure out what I need for the next six weeks so I can store the rest until my place is ready.”

“It’s nice your new landlord is willing to let you store your stuff in the garage while the work is done, though,” Elise says.

“True. I got pretty lucky with Tim. He seems like a decent guy to rent from. I mean, it sucks that I have to continue to rely on Jameson’s handouts, but it’s not like anyone could have predicted the pipes bursting and flooding the entire first floor. And housing options are slim in Wild Bluffs.”

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