Page 19 of Clean Out of Luck

Jack grins and sits down in the seat Allen vacated. The waiter steps forward. “I’ll bring you all some drinks—on the house. Be right back.”

Scarlett lifts her head a little, and I keep a hold of her hair since she’s still leaning.

“I’m Jack Lowell. You probably don’t remember me, but we did go to high school together.”

She smiles at him, and all of a sudden she doesn’t look like someone who just had their date ruined. She looks like she’s ready to flirt with my roommate—while my fingers are still tangled in her hair. “Actually, I do remember you. I think you were a few years ahead of me. I figured you were too old and cool to notice me.”

“I was just scared of your brother.”

Even Scarlett laughs. “Well, I’m sorry you had to see thisembarrassing incident. It seems Phoenix has passed on his worrying to Wade. And because Phoenix isn’t here to ruin dates or make them weird, he’s sending Wade in his place.”

She seems to realize she’s still slumped over the table with me holding her hair back. She sits up abruptly, and I release her hair. She runs her fingers through it, straightening it. She looks at me with a serious face. “Thank you for saving the salsa from my meltdown.”

“Anytime,” I reply.

The waiter returns with three glasses of horchata and sets them in front of us. “This is Scarlett’s favorite. I figured you might want some.”

“This is Victor,” Scarlett introduces us. “He owns this amazing place. And he’s the reason I ever eat anything other than cold cereal.”

Victor laughs at that. “I’m trying to get her to try something other than the same burrito and mild salsa. It’s a work in progress.”

We thank him and order our own burritos. I ask him to surprise me.

“Why don’t you go out with him?” I ask Scarlett as Victor walks away.

She reaches over and smacks me in the chest, making me choke on my sip of horchata. “Because he’s married with two small children.”

Jack shrugs. “That does seem to be a problem, at least for decent people.”

Scarlett shovels a few chips loaded with salsa into her mouth, drains her glass of horchata, and attempts to stand up, waiting for me to slide out of the booth. “I’m going to pay my bill, and then I’m going to go home. It’s still light out. I’d rather ride home while I can still see. Jack, nice to meet you. Wade, please don’t ever interrupt one of my dates again. And I will see you—hopefully, not for a while.”

Oh, boy, is she mad. She might have been laughing, but sometimes that’s Scarlett’s stress response.

I watch as she walks over to Victor and hands him a stack of cash, then heads out the front door. Through the open window, I see her unlock her bike, put her pink helmet on, and pedal into the distance.

Jack stares out the window after her. “She’s funny. I like her.”

I want to tell him he’s not allowed to like her, but that would just be weird and make him ask nosy questions that he shouldn’t be asking. “Yeah, she’s a good kid.”

I don’t believe that at all. I believe she’s an amazing woman. I don’t think she’s a kid. She’s twenty-five years old and making her own life for herself—and unfortunately, she sucks at picking out dates.

Chapter Six

Scarlett

I pedal awayfrom the restaurant as fast as I can. My bike doesn’t go fast enough to put distance between Wade and me.

My sneakers squeak against the pedals and my thighs burn as I turn the gears to the highest possible level.

I shouldn’t have gone out with Allen. There were some subtle beige flags—possibly a faint red flag?—at our first coffee shop date. I hoped that a longer date would show his true colors. And boy, did it. Just not the way I hoped.

But I think the worst thing about tonight is the fact that Wade showed up to my date. It’s exactly something my brother would do. And even worse—he brought a friend. A cute friend, in fact.

So not only was my date horrible, but I probably ruined any chance with Wade’s cute friend.

I’d felt the urge to do or say something immature, like maybe threatening Wade with his life. Something minor like that. But I didn’t want to embarrass myself further, so I just fled the scene of the crime, avoiding the possibility of headlines like,Woman bludgeons her brother’s best friend to death with a chip basket.

It’s so frustrating when I’m just trying to live my life and people keep butting in. Obviously, I wasn’t going to go out on a date with Allen again. But Victor and I were handling it just fine. After tonight, I would never have seen him again. No one else would’ve needed to know it. But now I have witnesses, and it’s Wade’s fault.

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