Page 62 of Clean Out of Luck

I don’t even bother to change clothes when I get back to my apartment. I walk straight to the couch, flop down and start reading the book again. I need the enemies to kiss—again. I don’t know why I’m so invested in this.

WADE

You okay?

Usually, Wade texts me at the end of the day to make sure I’m alive and well. So him sending the ‘you okay?’ text in the middle of the day feels different…almost as if he’s checking up on me post-kiss.

SCARLETT

Yup.

I don’t send him my usual emoji, instead opting for those three little letters.

Because what else can I say? Do I pretend like nothing happened? Do I lay the blame for that kiss at his feet? I can’t really do that. Not when I was the one who asked him to kiss me.

But all of that is a problem for tomorrow. And I have tomorrow off too. I think I’ll just lie on the couch and finish reading this book Gloria gave me and pretend I won’t have to face Wade ever again.

Chapter Nineteen

Wade

I’m on shift again,and it’s been fairly slow. We’ve only been out on two calls, both minor fender benders. It’s a good day—no great tragedies or catastrophic losses. But it’s also a little nerve-racking because when things go smoothly, it feels like the calm before a storm. On the plus side, Linus is teaching me how to make sourdough bread. He learned from his wife’s crochet buddy, and now he’s been making it when he’s on shift. He promised me on a slow day he would teach me how, so I’ve been getting the lesson. Who knew the dough was so sticky?

I don’t know that I have the patience for sourdough after seeing how long the process takes. I’m more of a mood eater and a stress baker. But it’s still fun to learn.

I finish washing my hands and try to get the last bit of dough from between my fingers. Jack walks into the kitchen to refill his coffee cup.

“How’s it going? Is that bread ready yet?” he asks me.

“No, it’s going to be another couple of hours, I think, before we put it in the oven, if I’m understanding it right.”

“What about a little taste of the dough?” he says as hewalks towards it. Jack is one of those weird guys that eats bread dough. He thinks it’s delicious. I think there might be something fundamentally wrong with him. “So, about Scarlett...” Jack says slowly.

I shut off the water with a slam of my hand.

“You still haven’t answered me about what you think of me dating her. I was thinking about asking her out for real and making actual dinner plans,” he says as he walks over to the coffee pot and pours a full cup for himself. “I think it would be fun to get to know her.”

I slam the cupboard I had opened to grab the bread pans.

“I know she likes Mexican food, so that would be a great place to take her,” he muses. “I know she really likes the chips and salsa there.”

I clench my fists at my sides and spin around to just stare at him. There are no more cupboards to slam.

Jack’s grinning at me, taking a sip of his coffee. “That was fun,” he laughs.

“What the heck are you talking about?” I ask him.

“I mean watching you get jealous while I talk about Scarlett.” He has the smuggest look on his face.

“I don’t know what you mean by that.”

“I meanyoulike Scarlett. And honestly, I think maybe she might like you too.”

I relax my hands at my sides as I process this information. All this time Jack’s been talking about asking her out…just to tease me. “What makes you say that?”

Jack shrugs. He doesn’t say anything right away, and I don’t really want to beg. But I need to know.

“Yeah, I tried to ignore it.” My voice sounds rough, even to my ears. “But I do. I think I really like her. And I don’t know what to do about it.”

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