Page 66 of The Love Haters

“I had to drive him under the bridges three times before he noticed. And then, when he finally saw it, he refused to give me an answer.”

“He—what?”

“He said that guys should propose to girls, and not the other way around.”

A new type of frown from Hutch. AThat’s crazyfrown.

“So he never answered. But then he took me to a fancy restaurant a month later and did it ‘right.’ Like with flowers and candles.”

“Your way was better.”

“Right?! Thank you.”

“If somebody proposed to me that way, I’d have said yes before the last bridge.”

“Exactly! That makes me feel better.”

“Were you feeling bad?”

“No. It’s just… He’s a singer, and he just released a new song, and it’s about me. So that’s been a little weird.”

“Wait,” Hutch said. “Your ex-fiancé Lucas isn’t—?”

“Lucas Banks. Yeah.”

“And so his new song ‘Katie’ is—?”

“About me. Yes.”

Hutch kept driving, trying to take it in. “Are you messing with me?”

“Nope.”

“You used to be engaged to Lucas Banks?”

“He wasn’t famous when we met. He was just a dude playing guitar in coffee shops—for free.”

After a moment, Hutch said, “But are you sure that song is really about you?”

“Yes?” I said. “The name kinda gives it away.”

“Yes, but it’s about a girl with hazel eyes.”

“So?”

“Your eyes aren’t hazel.”

“They aren’t?”

Hutch shook his head. “Hazel’s like a brownish green, and yours are a bluish gray.”

I pulled down the visor mirror to check. “Are they?”

“You don’t know what color your own eyes are?”

“I always just called them hazel.”

“Maybe the pie piece was throwing you off.”

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