Page 15 of Memories with Fire

“Relax, bro,” he says, rolling his eyes. “I haven’t been sexting her at all, I promise. Once I said yes to my mom, she gave me Hailey’s digits. We just texted about what the plans were, and she said she needed a date for tonight for some party for her boss. She hoped I was free.”

His head snaps up then, and he looks at me inquisitively. “If it’s a party for her boss, doesn’t that mean it’s also your boss?”

“Yes, you moron,” I tell him, grabbing a packet of cream from the little bowl, ripping the top off of it to dump it in my coffee. “It is my boss, and I was already going to the party.”

“Brooo! It’s fate. How isn’t this perfect?” Carter looks like he’s just solved all the world’s problems. His chin is high, his chest is puffed, and the twinkle in his eye says that he’s feeling pretty darn good about himself.

“Hailey is going to be pissed,” I remind him. “I don’t need to give her another reason to be angry.”

Or to give anyone else a reason to be angry. Yesterday’s shift was definitely the best of the three I’ve worked, and I’m guessing it has to do with Nate. The ice that surrounded me and the station thinned to the point that Brody even handed me a cup of coffee this morning before the rest of the house was up. I half expected there to be salt in it, but was pleasantly surprised when it was normal.

Unless he spit in it.

If I show up as Hailey’s blind date, I can only imagine the way the house is going to react. And then what? I’m back to being frozen out? No thanks.

“Tell me again why you picked Santa Rosé?” Carter asks, lifting an eyebrow from across the table.

Forcing myself not to shift under his scrutiny, I grab my spoon and stir my coffee. “Because you’re here and you’ve been in my corner my whole life. That didn’t change even after the shit in Waco.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he waves dismissively again then takes his own spoon to dunk in his coffee. “You can spew that bullshit to everyone else, and sure, maybe I was a part of it since I stood behind you. But don’t try to tell me that the thought of Hailey didn’t factor into your relocation choice. You could have gone anywhere across the country.”

There’s no answering that without admitting out loud that she crossed my mind once or twice, and I refuse to acknowledge it. To him or anyone else.

When I don’t respond, he continues, “If she hates you, be your charming self. Get under her skin in the good way, bro.”

“She’s expecting a guy named Carter,” I finally say, and he nods, but shrugs, making me ask, “She seen your picture?”

“Yep,” he answers, stirring his coffee. “But if she recognized me, she didn’t let on.”

My eyes narrow at the man across from me, taking in his appearance, and how it’s changed in ten years. When we were kids, Carter carried more weight on him. He’s turned it into a lot of muscle these days. Getting into the carpentry business probably helped with that. The beard is new too. He was a fresh faced kid back then, and his hair was buzzed, much like mine was when I first got to Santa Rosé. Add in the tattoos that cover his arms, and he looks completely different.

It's not hard to believe that Hailey wouldn’t recognize him. Not to be a jerk, but he went from a four, max, to an easy nine.

“C’mon,” Carter nudges. “Where’s your sense of adventure? Where’s the guy who used to love giving Hailey hell and watching her reaction? This used to be your favorite pastime. Do you really want some other guy giving it to her and watching her love it?”

Looking away from him, I watch our waitress grab two plates of food from the service window. I’d be willing to wager that it’s our breakfast, though I don’t feel as hungry as I did when I first walked inside. My stomach swims with nerves. The kind I get whenever I’m about to do something reckless as heck that sets my soul on fire.

He’s right. It did used to be my favorite pastime. Heck, it still is, even though I know I shouldn’t antagonize her. I don’t shy away from the hard road, I embrace it. It wouldn’t be me if I didn’t rise up to this occasion.

Plus, I really, really don’t want it to be some other guy giving her hell. I’d be remiss to admit it out loud, but finding out she was single the other day sparked an ember inside of me I long thought extinct.

But that dang cup of coffee this morning. That peace offering from Brody… or at least what seemed to be one. If I show up at Hailey’s, does any ground I’ve somehow gained in the last shift disappear? And am I willing to let it?

My eyes slide to where Carter’s phone is on the table, recalling the picture of Hailey smiling. If I do this, I may never be allowed to consider myself smart again. This is the worst idea. She’s never going to smile like that tonight if I show up as her date.

But… what if she does?

I meet Carter’s eyes, and though I haven’t spoken a word to him, I see the triumph there. He already knows my answer. He’s probably known it since last night when he devised this asinine plan.

Inhaling a deep breath, I lift my head. “What time do I pick her up?”

CHAPTER 6

HAILEY

The smellof fried food assaults me as I step out of my car into the parking lot of the park across from the boardwalk. It’s where I told my date I would meet him so that I could have a few minutes to talk to him prior to throwing him into the chaos I know my friends can be.

My stomach swims with nerves. Not because the date makes me nervous—I couldn’t care less about this guy, even if he is the cutest one my mom has set me up with. It’s not going to go anywhere. I’m using him. Which was a total knee jerk reaction on my part after Nate made the confession yesterday that Luke was going to be at the party tonight. I realized that I couldn’t go through with this without coming clean to my date.

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