Page 32 of Growing Into Love

Her eyes fly open.

“What?” she yelps.

“What?” I cry, then we both clap our hands over our mouths. My seatmate snorts but doesn’t wake. We both slouch lower in our seats.

“What did you just say?” Cass whispers.

“Er, nothing,” I stammer. Christ, I thought she was sleeping! I didn’t realize I was talking out loud.

Cass crosses her arms and fixes me with a no-bullshit look.

“The—you know—with all the words,” I stammer. “For the—other day—someone else.”

What. The Fuck. Am I saying.

Cass’s brow furrows.

“The text you sent the other day,” I say in rush. At least I got it all out in the right order this time. Her cheeks turn pink.

“Oh,” she says. “Right. That.”

“I figured it was for someone else,” I add.

“Yeah,” she says. “I meant to send it to Zara.”

An odd sense of relief rushes through me.

“Ah,” I say. “That makes sense.”

“Does it?”

“I mean, I thought it was for a boyfriend,” I say. “But obviously, you don’t have one.”

Cass bristles. “I do, in fact,” she says. “And he’s terrific. Zara wanted to know the sort of things we text each other, so I was trying to send her an example.”

My stomach does a backflip. “Oh,” I say, feeling an utter ass. Then add, “Right,” as if this was my theory all along. Why does the thought of Cass having a boyfriend feel like such a punch to the gut? Maybe because I haven’t known her to date all that much.

“You must like him a lot,” I say.

“I do.”

“Is he from Hart’s Crossing?” I ask.

“No. He lives in Stanley Law.”

“What’s his name?” I ask.

“David,” Cass says, glancing down at her fingers twined in her lap.

“What does he do?”

“He’s a dentist.”

David the Dentist. I don’t like him already. Cass shouldn’t be with a dentist. She needs someone who loves the outdoors, someone who rides horses.

“Does Declan know about him?”

Her head snaps up. “What’s with the twenty questions, Jaz? It’s not Declan’s business. Or yours, for that matter.”

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