Page 41 of Facial Recognition

“Good thing I don’t plan on marrying him.”

Brooks looked visibly relieved at my revelation. “Then why are you spending so much time with him?”

“Why do you care so much?”

“Because we’re friends, and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

If only he knew how much he had and was hurting me. “Julian and I are friends too, and he’s fun. A lot of fun. Besides, he understands all my General Hospital references, which is a huge plus for him.” And when I said a lot of fun, I meant it. We had done every ride at Zero Gravity, from bungee jumping to the skycoaster that had us zipping through the air at sixty mph. Not only that, he had been very gentlemanly and friend-like. No kisses other than a kiss on the cheek when he walked me to my door or each time we parted. Sure, he was flirty and so was I, but he hadn’t even tried to hold my hand.

Brooks snorted. “He probably studied up on that show so he could impress you.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing. Heaven forbid someone try to impress me. But that’s not what he did.” He’d admitted during lunch that General Hospital was the one thing he could bond with his mother about. Besides that, it sounded like she was a taskmaster, always pushing him to be better academically and professionally. She’d pushed him to be an OB-GYN because they are well respected, and their family had a connection to make sure he was a partner in a practice straight off his residency. It made me sad and almost had me feeling sorry for Morgan. I was lucky enough that my momma always wanted me to do what made me happy. And we got to bond over General Hospital because we both loved it.

“You know, I probably know more about General Hospital than he does, after the way you and Carly used to talk incessantly about it in high school.”

“I doubt it. He’s well versed.”

We walked out into the warm, muggy air. Summer was upon us. Memorial Day weekend was too.

“Ask me a question.” Brooks was determined, it seemed, to best Julian.

“No. This isn’t a competition.”

“I still don’t get his appeal,” Brooks growled.

“Of course not, because you’ve forgotten what it’s like to have fun.”

He shot me a scathing glare.

“Don’t look at me like that. It’s true. Now where do you want to eat? I’m starving.”

“Not the biscuit place. Morgan and I are on a low-carb, no-sugar diet.”

I refrained from rolling my eyes. “You just proved my point. All fun foods have carbs and sugar.”

“There’s no such thing as fun foods. Food is for sustaining life. If everyone realized that, there would be less disease in the world.”

He’d probably learned that from a TED Talk. I rubbed my hands over my cheeks. “I think maybe you should eat alone.”

His shoulders slumped. “I’m not as bad as you think, Grace.”

I took a moment to search his eyes. I noticed that the spark that used to be in them a long time ago was all but gone. “You’re not bad at all, simply different. And honestly, I miss the old you. Have a good night.” I turned and headed toward my car.

He didn’t take the hint and followed after me. “We can go to the biscuit place, if it means that much to you. I’m sure they’ll have something there I can eat.”

“They don’t.” It was empty carb heaven. I picked up the pace to my car.

“We can go anyway. Please just stop.”

I skidded to a halt and faced him. “What do you want from me, Brooks?”

He looked up to the clear blue sky and sighed. “I want us to be friends.” He lowered his head until our eyes met. “I’ve come to realize how much I missed our friendship. You always brought out my fun side.” He gave me a half smile, which was quite charming even if he was profusely using the F word.

“That was a long time ago. Maybe we should just admit we’ve grown up and grown apart. For your parents’ sakes, we’ll pretend in front of them that we like each other. You know, like when your momma used to tell you and Carly to pretend that you loved each other, but as soon as she turned her back, y’all were flipping each other off. I mean, we don’t have to do that part.” I laughed.

Brooks stepped closer and tugged on my ponytail. “Grace, I don’t need to pretend. I do like you. A lot.”

I swallowed hard, believing every word he said and trying not to get drunk on his amber scent and bedroom eyes. “Now that we’ve cleared that up, I guess I’ll see you later.”

“I thought we were going to have dinner together.”

I pursed my lips together in thought. “I have a better, more fun idea.”

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