Page 61 of Finding Hope

“Um, no…” Laughing, I fork in my own slice of bacon. “What was the lesson?”

“It was basically a textbook on how to get a guy to break up with you. So instead ofyoutrying to denyhim, you should say yes, then turn up the crazy. Make him break up with you?”

“Um…”I don’t get it.

“Act crazy! Call him six-hundred times a day. Meet his mom. Go super needy until he’s sprinting away and changing his number.”

“Say yes and act needy? No!”

“Nuh-uh.” Laine obnoxiously wags an oily finger. “He’d be into the needy thing. He’d lap it up, then he’d tie you to his bed.” She purses her lips. “And I don’t mean that in the sexy way.”

“Why not just start dating someone else?” Kari suggests. “Ignore Brad, make out with the new guy on Brad’s hood, let his presence do the talking.”

“Well, I kinda already did that. You guys remember that guy from the club?”

“The one with the nice ass?” Jess asks with a sassy smile.

“You mean the guy whose car you keyed?” Laine glares. Laine has a thing for cars, so what I did has created a wedge in a twenty-year friendship that might never heal.

I’m not even sorry… not really.

“Yeah, him. Well… I saw him again a couple weeks ago.”

“Where?” Kari asks excitedly.

“At school, actually.”

Laine sets her coffee mug down with a clank. “Is he a dad?”

“No.” I sip mine to hide my smile. “He’s the uncle to one of my students.”

“Which one?”

“I’m absolutely not telling you!” I laugh. “Anyway, he was picking up… a certain student. Brad was hounding me for a date, Jack saw.” I shrug. “He bailed me out, he kinda pissed on my leg, kissed my head, said we had a date. Brad saw the whole thing. In fact, I think Jack got extra pleasure out of laying it on thick.”

“Oh my god,” Kari fans her face. “So? How was your date?”

“No. We didn’t actually go out on a date. It was just a lie. I didn’t even know he’d be at the school, but he bailed me out anyway. Brad saw the whole show, but he’sstillasking me out. So your ‘date someone else’ plan ain’t gonna work.”

“Wait,” Laine snaps. “You key that sexy car like a damn Neanderthal and embarrassallof womankind, and yet, he still bailed you out?”

She’s super mad about the car.

“Well, I saw him again a few months back. He said sorry, I said sorry.”

“Wait up!” Jess snaps. “Are you seeing this guy?”

“No! I just saw him. Twice. But I didn’t see himbetweenthose times, and I haven’t seen him since.”

“That’s a shame,” she grumbles. “I’d approve of that relationship on the grounds of he’s so damn fine.”

Rolling my eyes, I toss a chunk of croissant that she simply swats away. “I’m glad to have your approval, Jess, but either way, we’re not… anything. We don’t hang out or anything. And now we’ve gonewayoff point. We’re talking about Brad, not Jack.”

“I’d much rather talk about Jack.”

I purse my lips. “Are you done? I’m desperate for advice to shake off a needy dude who wants to meet my mom, and you’re mentally screwing a man you’ve never met.”

She scoffs and sits back with her coffee. “I technically did meet him; I just didn’t talk to him, and he didn’t talk to me, but I sure as shit met him that night in my dreams.” Grinning, she licks coffee foam from the tip of her pinky. “But now you had to go and take him off the market.”

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